TEXT OF THE 



BOLDON BOOK' 





In the eleven hundred and eighty-third year of 

 our Lord's Incarnation, at the feast of St. Cuth- 

 bert in Lent,' Lord Hugh, Bishop of Durham, 

 caused to be described in the presence of himself 

 and his court all the returns of his whole bishop- 

 ric, assizes and customs, as they then were and 

 as they had been aforetime. 



But the city of DUNOLM' [Durham] was at farm 

 and was rendering 60 marks. 8 The mills of the 

 aforesaid town and of Quarringtonshire 36 marks. 

 The mint (cunei moneti) used to render 10 marks, 

 but the Lord King Henry the Second reduced the 

 rent of 10 marks even to 4 marks by reason of the 

 mint which he first appointed at Newcastle, and 

 at length he took away the mint, which had been 

 used from times long previous. The land of 

 Reginald the fuller in the same town renders 

 3 shillings ; the land of Lefwin the reeve, 

 across the water and near the meadow, 1 6 pence ; 

 the land in the same place of Waleran of Chester 

 renders 8 pence. Thurstan of the chapel holds 

 one toft near the orchard (virgultum) of the 

 lord bishop by the grace and favour of the bishop 

 himself. The bakehouse (furnum) of the same 

 town renders 10 marks. 



William, sometime abbot of Peterborough (de 

 Burgo) holds NEWTONAM [Newton] near Durham 

 by the grace and favour of the bishop himself, 

 and renders for the half of the demesne which 

 Richard the engineer (ingeniator) held, I mark. 

 In the same vill Ralf the cleric holds 60 * acres 

 partly of the land which used to be Robert Cuk's 

 and partly of the assarts which the bishop gave 

 him in exchange for 2 bovates in MIDILHAM 

 [Middleham] at 40 pence, but he is quit of this 

 rent as long as he is in the service of the lord 

 bishop. 



PLAUSWORTH [Plausworth] which Simon Viel 

 (yitulus) holds renders 20 shillings and carts 

 ((juadrigat) wine with eight oxen and goes on 

 the great hunt (caza) with two hunting-dogs. 



GATESHEUED [Gateshead] with borough, mills, 

 fisheries and bakehouses and with three parts of 

 the arable land of the same town renders 60 marks. 

 The fourth part of the arable, with the assarts 

 which the lord bishop caused to be made, and 

 the meadows, are in the hands of the lord bishop 

 with the stock of two ploughs. Osmund's land 

 renders 22 shillings and 6 pence. 



PARVA USEWORTH [Little Usworth], which 



1 Stowe MSS. 930 ; alternative readings supplied 

 by the Auditor's MS. (Surtecs Soc.) are given in foot- 

 notes and indicated by the letter A. 



1 i.e. 20 March. 'A: 24 marks. *A: 24. 



William holds, renders IO shillings and carts 

 wine with eight oxen and goes on the great 

 hunt with two hunting-dogs. 



Ulkill's BEDYK [Biddick] does the service of 

 the sixth part of one knight's fee. 1 



CESTRIA [Chester] with the villeins and the 

 demesne without stock and with the fisheries 

 and mills of the same town, renders 24 marks. 



The mill of Urpath is at farm and renders 

 4 marks. 



PELOWE* [Pelaw] and the half of PIKTRE 

 [Picktree] which Waleran of Chester holds render 

 2 marks. 



William of Hertburn holds WESSINGTON [Wash- 

 ington] except the church and the land belong- 

 ing to the church, in exchange for the vill of 

 Hertburn which he quitclaimed for this, and he 

 renders 4 pounds and goes on the great hunt 

 with two hunting-dogs, and when the general aid 

 comes he ought to give in addition i mark of the aid. 



In BOLDONA [Boldon] there are twenty-two vil- 

 leins, every one of whom holds 2 bovates of land 

 of 30 acres and renders 2 shillings and 6 pence 

 of scotpenny and the half of a scot-chalder 

 (seatcheldram) of oats and 1 6 pence of averpenny 

 and five wagonloads of wood (quadrigatas de 

 wodelades) and two hens and ten eggs, and works 

 through the whole year three days in the week 

 except Easter and Whitsunweek and thirteen 

 days at Christmastide, and in his works he does 

 in the autumn four boon-days at reaping with his 

 entire household except the housewife (huswyva) 

 and they reap moreover 3 roods of the standing crop 

 of oats (averipe)and he ploughs 3 roodsof oat-stubble 

 (tnitrere) and harrows (it). Every plough (team) 



1 The following passage is interpolated between the 

 Biddick and Chester entries in the Auditor's MS. It 

 forms no part of the original text, but is added here 

 as it has a certain value : 



John son of Eustace and Alexander his brother 

 who were arraigned as serfs were acquitted by a jury. 



Gilbert son of Humphrey of Durham holds 34 acres 

 of land in Newbottle moor to himself and his heirs 

 for ever, rendering annually to the exchequer at 

 Durham z8/. 4^. at the four terms appointed in the 

 bishoprick of Durham and he shall have eight oxen 

 on Newbottle moor by the charter which he has 

 from the lord bishop. 



Roger son of Robert Bernard holds 48 acres in 

 Helmygdene by metes as is more fully contained in the 

 charter which he hat of lord Walter bishop of Dur- 

 ham, rendering annually 101. to the exchequer at 

 Durham at the four terms appointed in the bishoprick 

 of Durham. 



A : Pelhou. 



327 



