CITY OF DURHAM 



Durham, coiner, entered into bond with certain 

 persons to pay so much to the bishop for the 

 farm of the coinage, delivering up the dies and 

 instruments used after the expiration of a year.^* 

 He was also to answer to the bishop for any 

 defect. In 1473 a goldsmith of York was 

 licensed to make the coining dies,'* but in 14.76 

 the grant was to one William Omoryghe, gold- 

 smith of Durham, to make, grave, and print 

 coining irons for the mint of the bishop of 

 Durham, under the supervision of John Kelyng, 

 Chancellor of Durham, and John Raket." In 

 1490 there was another bond on the appointment 

 of mintmaster," and in 1493 there was a bond 

 in ;^200 entered into by five tradesmen of Durham 

 for the due execution of the office of keeper of 

 the mint of Durham.'* The mintmaster was 

 one of the five, and his name was William 

 Richardson, merchant. The danger of false 

 coining naturally led to such precautions as these 

 bonds and covenants suggest, and that vigilance 

 was needed is attested by the fact that in 1475 

 false money had been issued, for which oflence 

 the king's pardon was sought and obtained." 



It is now necessary to return to the history of 

 the city in the 15th century. The period opens 

 with many evidences of founding and repairing. 

 Much of this is due to Cardinal Langley, who 

 became bishop in 1406. He left his mark upon 

 Durham in various ways. It is, once more, a 

 little difficult to assign dates to his work, but it 

 is probable that the considerable changes at the 

 north gate of the castle are to be attributed to 

 the early years of his episcopate. At all events 

 in 141 3 a lease of a chalk-pit and quarry at 

 Sherburn was granted to Thomas Alanson on 

 condition of rendering 120 horse-loads of chalk 

 ' to the works of the castle of Durham.' ^* The 

 chronicler ascribes to Langley ' the whole of 

 Durham gaol, and the very costly stone gates of 

 the gaol, where in old times was the ancient 

 gateway at that period in disrepair.' ^^ Until 

 Langley's time the gaol was in an entirely 

 different part of the castle precincts, and he 

 built the great gaol tower over Saddler Street 

 which lasted until 1820. It is not improbable 

 that the older gaol occupied the site of the 

 exchequer buildings rebuilt by Neville about 

 1450. In any case it must have been near them. 

 Langley's rearrangement of the ground at the 

 top of Saddlergate and behind Owengate, 

 towards the castle, cannot be followed in detail, 

 as no exact description survives, and later 

 adaptation introduced alterations. There were, 

 however, various alleys and spaces running back 



'* Dep. Keeper^! Rep. xxxv, 107. 



'^ Ibid. 102. "* Ibid. 142. 



" Ibid, xxxvi, 13. '* Ibid. 52. 



'9Ca/.P<j/. 1467-77, p. 511. 



^^ Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 14, fol. 533. 



" Hist. Dundm. Script. Ires (Surt. See), 146. 



towards the mound of the keep, both above and 

 below the great gateway. In 1453 there was a 

 lease to Richard Raket, clerk of the exchequer, 

 of ' a small garden lying next the wall of the 

 castle which leads from the north gate to the 

 tower of the castle . . . and a parcel of waste 

 land lying next the said wall between the tene- 

 ment of Ralph Earl of Westmorland and William 

 Prior of Durham on the one part, and the said 

 wall as far as the entrance which leads to the 

 great house of the seneschal in the said north 

 gate on the other part.' '^ All the parts here 

 named appear to be on the Palace Green side 

 of the great gate. 



Langley, probably, pulled down a good deal of 

 old work on the west of the Green. There had 

 been a wall from the keep to the cathedral 

 running along the east side of the Green, origi- 

 nally built by Flambard, and its foundations can 

 still be traced underneath existing houses. 

 When the cardinal founded in 14 14 his two 

 schools, the one for grammar and the other for 

 music, he probably destroyed this wall. For a 

 description of the schools and for the story of 

 their refoundation by Cosin in the time of 

 Charles II, the reader must be referred to the 

 first volume of this series. Cardinal Langley 

 also founded the chantry in the Galilee, and 

 restored the Galilee itself, at considerable cost. 

 Under the chantry his tomb in time was placed.*^ 

 In the midst of these operations a terrible \asit 

 of pestilence fell upon Durham in 1416,** and 

 also, later, in Langley's last year, 1438."' In 

 between these two pestilences occurred one of 

 the most notable calamities in Durham history, 

 when in 1429 a terrific thunderstorm burst *^ 

 over the city and destroyed the upper part of 

 the central tower of the cathedral. Prior Wes- 

 sington wrote a pathetic account to the bishop 

 concerning the damage done. The storm was 

 not only terrible but quite unheard of in those 

 parts, lasting from ten o'clock at night to seven 

 next morning. Just before i a.m., when the 

 monks were at matins, a crash so aw^ul came 

 that they thought the building was collapsing. 

 Probably at this time the wooden top of the 

 bell-tower was struck, but the fire was not dis- 

 covered until the storm abated, and then until 

 noon the flames gained an increasing hold, 

 whilst the molten lead began to pour through 

 the roof on to the pavement below. The people 

 rushed up to the church as the news of the con- 

 flagration spread, and at last by their efforts and 

 prayers the flames subsided after raging for about 

 twelve hours, whereupon monks and populace 



8= Dur. Rcc. cl. 3, no. 15, fol. 612. 

 ** Hist. Dundm. Script. Jres (Surt. See), 146. 

 s-* Dep. Keeper^ s Rep. xxxiii, 1 10. 

 ** Ibid, xxxiv, 227. 



*^ Hist. Dundm. Script. Tres (Surt. See), p. ccxrii ; 

 Arch. Ad. ii, 59. 



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