14 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 
Denisesburn must be held, I think, almost conclusive on this 
point, for it is very unlikely that there should be in the same 
neighbourhood two places of that name. The charter contains 
the following entry :—“ Know ye that I, Thomas de Whittington, 
have granted to Walter, Archbishop of York, a third part of 
Hoggesty, which I hold by the gift of Ranulph de Porchet, and 
for this grant the Archbishop of York has given to me in ex- 
change twenty acres of land out of his waste in Ruleystal, 
between these bounds, to wit, between Deniseburn, and Divelis 
(Devil’s Water), beginning on the east part upon Divelis and 
ascending to the great road which leads as far as to the forest of 
Lilleswude.”* I believe the name Deniseburn is not now known 
on Devil’s Water, but the locality mentioned in this charter 
would not be difficult to identify, and it would be well worth the 
time for any of our members, resident in that neighbourhood, to 
make out the place. It would be beyond the limits of my 
address to enter more fully into this question, which demands a 
separate paper for its consideration. The subject is undoubtedly 
one of very great interest, as it concerns most nearly the 
establishment of Christianity in the north of England; for had 
Oswald been defeated, it is possible that the spread of the Christian 
faith might have been retarded for many years, and the whole of 
Northumbrian history altered. By the death of Cxdwalla, one 
of the greatest of the British princes, and who had, in many 
battles, shewed his own prowess and the valour of his followers, 
and so gained possession of a considerable portion of the land 
held by the Anglo-Saxons, Oswald recovered his parental 
kingdom of Bernicia, and he added to it Deira, to which he was 
entitled through his maternal descent from Aella. He became 
the sixth Bretwalda, and through his influence Christianity 
became firmly established in his dominions. Brought up in his 
* The charter is taken from the British Museum, Lansdown MSS. 402, 19. It s 
endorsed “ Carta Thome de Widington de tercia parte de Hogesty,” and contains the 
following extract :—“Omnibus &c., Thomas de Whitinton salutem. Noveritis me concessisse 
Waltero Ebor. Archiepiscopo terciam partem de Hoggesty, quam tenui de dono Ranulphi 
de Porchet, de qua cartham suam habui. Pro hac concessione dedit mihi dictus Archiep- 
iscopus in escambium xx acras terre, de vasto suo de Ruleystal, inter istas divisas" 
videlicet, inter Deniseburn et Divelis, incipiendo, ex parte orientali, super Divelis, et ascen- 
dendo ad magnam yiam, que ducit usque ad forestam de Lilleswude.” 
