CITY OF DURHAM 



as prelate only, but as Higli Commissioner under 

 Letters Patent of 1561.'" Bishop Barnes, his 

 successor, continued the policy, and was par- 

 ticularly zealous in disciplining his diocese/^ 



About this time we get the commencement 

 of several parish documents which throw some 

 light upon life in and near Durham. Thus we 

 have the Gilesgate Grassmen's Accounts from 

 1579. It was the duty of the Grassman to 

 take charge of the common lands of the parish. 

 In the parish of St. Giles these lay to the east, 

 on what is known as Gillygate Moor. The two 

 officers elected yearly on the Sunday after 

 Ascension Day presented their accounts on going 

 out of office. The returns are interesting 

 mainly from the narrower parochial point of 

 view as giving some brief notes of local changes 

 and local names. Thus we appear to trace the 

 surrounding of the moor dike with a quickset 

 hedge about 1580. Houses and allotments for 

 the poor of the parish had been apportioned on 

 the moor."*- The vestry books of St. Oswald 

 begin in 1580, and are largely of the usual type 

 of churchwardens' accounts, with notes of 

 repairs to parish buildings, while entries here 

 and there reflect passing occurrences. These 

 accounts of St. Oswald's are of some importance 

 owing to the large extent of the parish in those 

 days, far beyond the boundaries of the city. 



The latent sympathy of many in the city with 

 the older order is a constant factor in Durham 

 life, so that a cathedral set and a set of irrecon- 

 cilables were characteristic of the place for 

 many a long day. How readily this latter 

 portion of the populace took the side of the earls 

 in 1569 has already been seen. The disappointed 

 rebels acquiesced from that point with an ill 

 grace, and were probably ready to join in any 

 new enterprise if occasion offered. At the time 

 of the Armada there was considerable fear of 

 some sympathetic movement, and an elaborate 

 muster was made. Reference has already been 

 given to the romantic side of the story in the 

 chequered fortunes of the Jesuit and secular 

 missionaries who began to give trouble from 

 about 1580.'" Durham was largely a centre 

 from which they worked. 



A great deal of local Roman Catholic history 

 is interwoven with old Elvet, which was their 

 particular resort." Gibbet Knowie, or Knoll, 

 near the present county hospital, was the scene 

 of several executions. In 1591 four seminary 

 priests were put to death on one day, and a story 

 was long told in Durham which is worthy of 



*' Pat. 3 Eliz. pt. X, m. 34 d. 



" V.C.H. Dur. ii, 37. 



« Mem. of Si. Giles's, Dur. (Surt. Soc), lo. 



« y.C.H. Dur. ii, 38. 



■" The name ' Popish Elvct ' is still recalled in 

 Durham. Many of the old Roman Catholic county 

 families had residences in Elvet. 



some primitive martyrology and evidently made 

 a deep impression. The young bride of Mr. 

 Robert Maire of Hardwick was present with her 

 husband, and the pair were so much moved by 

 the constancy of the dying priests that they both 

 went over to the Roman Church, to which their 

 descendants have belonged ever since. The lady 

 was niece of John Heath, who had settled at 

 Kepier some years previously, founding a family 

 long connected with the city and ultimately 

 the ancestors of the Vane-Tempests. Her father 

 was Mr. Henry Smith, who diverted his estates 

 from his ' graceless Grace,' as he calls her, and 

 made them over in large measure, as we shall see, 

 to the city of Durham. 



It may be supposed that there was some stir 

 of trade after the incorporation of the city. At 

 all events, more than one trade gild was estab- 

 lished or confirmed in Elizabeth's reign, viz., the 

 mercers, grocers, haberdashers, ironmongers and 

 salters in 1561, the fuUers in 1565, and the 

 curriers and chandlers in 1570. The charter of 

 the last-named shows the same subservience to 

 the bishop which is characteristic of the city 

 charter. The title of the fullers' company is 

 ' Clothworkers and Walkers.'*-' The latter name 

 is still seen in Walkergate, near St. Nicholas' 

 Church, which has been recently revived instead 

 of the colloquial and customary Back Lane. The 

 oldest of all the city gilds, that of the weavers, 

 was refounded, or at all events rehabilitated 

 towards the end of the reign.** Some reference 

 will be found above to the inception of the earlier 

 gilds,"" but it may be convenient to repeat here 

 the chronological order of their commencement 

 so far as it is known : Weavers 1450, cord- 

 wainers 1458, barbers 1468, skinners and glovers 

 1507, butchers 1520, goldsmiths 1532, drapers 

 and tailors 1549. Constant changes, however, 

 were made in the lilies and the composition of 

 the gilds in the 17th century. The gilds, with 

 their curious inclusion of unallied arts, were 

 probably incorporated together according to 

 locality. Then the mercers and their allies 

 centred round the market place, whilst modern 

 names indicate the habitat of walkers, saddlers, 

 and fleshers. Recent use, however, has merged 

 Fleshergate into Saddler Street (properly Gate), 

 and Sutor Pell, the old locality of the cobblers, 

 has long since given way to Elvet Bridge. There 

 does not appear to be sufficient evidence to 

 follow the development of trade under the super- 

 vision of the gilds during the Elizabethan period. 

 The general impression given by a cursory survey 

 of their meagre records for that time tends to 

 show a stagnant condition of affairs in this par- 

 ticular respect. It is not improbable that some 



*^ Surtces, op 



« Ibid. 



*' See above, p. 26. 



cit. IV, 21. 



31 



