CITY OF DURHAM 



grant of the view of frankpledge and the assizes 

 of bread and ale.^* 



No 16th-century lease of the borough has 

 survived, but on 13 October 1627 the bishop 

 leased it to Thomas Man, Thomas Cook, 

 Thomas Tunstall and William VVaUton, of whom 

 both Cook and Man figure in the list of mayors. 

 The lease includes the Tolbooth with all shops, 

 houses and buildings under the same, borough 

 rents, landmales, rents, free rents, duties, 

 customs and services of the burgesses, free- 

 holders and inhabitants, benefit of admitting 

 freemen, markets kept weekly on Saturday, fairs 

 kept yearly from time to time, the profits, 

 commodities, perquisites, pickages, stallages, 

 scavilhires, scavilcorn or scavage corn, tolls, 

 customs, duties and usages of the said markets 

 and fairs, borough court, court leet, court 

 baron held before the steward of the borough 

 together with suit and service of burgesses, 

 freeholders and inhabitants at the said head and 

 other courts and all profits of court. The term 

 of the lease was 20 years and the rent [zo : in 

 addition the lessees were responsible for the 

 repair of the Tolbooth.^" 



During the Commonwealth the borough, as 

 part of the bishop's possessions, was sold on 

 18 April 1651 for ;^200 to the mayor, aldermen 

 and commonalty of the city of Durham. The 

 parcels include all the propel ty, rights and 

 privileges set out in the 1627 lease together 

 with the house or building called the Tolbooth, 

 the office of Bailiwick, the court of piepowder, 

 passages, pontage, and the office of clerk of the 

 market. As the clauses relating to the borough 

 court are the only accurate source of information 

 on the subject, they are set out in full. They 

 are as follows : — ' the courts usually held within 

 city as well as courts leet, view of frankpledge, 

 courts baron and borough courts, with their and 

 every of their appurtenances, also the charter 

 court and court of pleas heretofore usually 

 holden or to be holden within the said city or 

 borough every Tuesday from fifteen days to 

 fifteen days before the steward there. Together 

 with suit and services from time to time of all 

 and every the burgesses, freeholders, freemen 

 and inhabitants of the said city of Durham and 

 of the borough of Durham and FramweUgate 

 aforesaid to the said courts respectively belong- 

 ing, with full power and authority to nominate 

 and appoint all officers and ministers incident 

 and belonging to the charter court, for executing 

 the precepts of the said court, and for the 

 hearing and determining of all and all manner 

 of actions, suits, plaints and demands, real and 



*' The charter is printed in Hutchinson, op. cit. 

 ii, 29; see above, p. 33, as to circumstances attending 

 the granting of these charters. 



M Mickleton MS. i, 4iod. 



personal, as well as of debts amounting to any 

 sum or sums of money, as of accounts, trespasses, 

 detentions, deceipts, actions upon the case, 

 matters and contracts, whatsoever and all other 

 causes and pleas, personal, real, and mixed 

 happening or arising within the said city or 

 borough of Durham and FramweUgate, or within 

 the limits, bounds and precincts, to be levied 

 and offered in the said charter court, and the 

 parties, defendants in the said suits, actions, 

 plaints, and demands, to bring into the said 

 court by summons, attachment or distress, if 

 they be sufficient, and if they be found not 

 sufficient, that then by the attachment of the 

 bodies of such parties.' 



With the Restoration the old state of affairs 

 was restored and the leases of the profits of 

 the borough continued to be granted.^^ In 

 1835 the Municipal Corporations Commissioners 

 reported that the toUs were leased to trustees 

 in trust for the mayor and his successors. The 

 rent was [lo and the lease was renewed without 

 fine although the corporation then let the tolls 

 for £213.^2 



Bishop Crewe's charter granted in 1685 is, as 

 we have seen, almost exactly similar in terms to 

 Bishop Matthew's, and, as already stated, the 

 charter soon ceased to be operative.** 



The circumstances in which the grant of a 

 new charter by Bishop Egerton in 1780 was 

 rendered necessary have already been stated.** 

 In general terms the charter confirms the rights 

 given by Bishop Matthew's charter; the points 

 in which it differs from the latter charter are 

 that the mayor isto hold office untU his successor 

 is appointed, that no quorum of aldermen is 

 necessary at an election, and that mayor, alder- 

 men and common councillors need no longer be 

 resident within the somewhat narrow borough 

 limits, but may be drawn from an area which 

 corresponds with that of the present city. The 

 power to appoint a recorder and town clerk is 

 also given.** This charter remained in force 

 until the Municipal Corporations Act. 



We know little of the early government of the 

 borough. It had its court held at the Tolbooth 

 in the Market Place, and the burgesses were 

 apparently the burgage holders within the 

 borough. William Folker, in the middle of the 

 14th century, held five burgages in Durham, of 

 which four were held of the bishop by fealty 

 and three suits a year at the bishop's court at 

 the Tolbooth, and doing all other services as 



*i This appears from the constant litigation as to 

 tolls in the i8th century. 



^'^ Municip. Corp. Rep. 1835, p. 1515. 



*' See above, p. 41. 



** Hutchinson, op. cit. ii, 50. This charter is in 

 English. 



** For lists of recorders and town clerks, see 

 Hutchinson, op. cit. ii, 70, 71. 



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