A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



The 15th-century buildings to the east of the 

 prior's lodging were probably the bakehouse 

 and brewhouse. In the vicinity of the prior's 

 chamber, but in a position not exactly known, 

 was the camera ludencium, or ' le player 

 chambre,'"" apparently a recreation room for the 

 monks from Durham, who stayed on leave at 

 Finchale according to regulations made in 

 1408. There is reference also to the camera 

 hospitii^'^ or guest house chamber, probably 

 near the prior's lodging, but its exact position 

 is also unknown. 



To the west of the priory buildings are vestiges 

 of the west gate mentioned in 1490^"^ and 

 other outlying structures, and the farmhouse 

 on the north of the church incorporates part 

 of the priory mill. 



The priory was made accessible from the left 

 bank of the Wear by a ford which Bishop Skirlaw, 

 according to tradition, replaced by a bridge.^ 

 Leland describes it as ' of 2 Arches, or rather 

 one Arche withe a Pillor in the middle of it,' 

 and says that it fell down some two or three 

 years before his visit ' for lake of Reparations 

 in tyme.'^ 



North of Finchale the Wear makes yet another 

 sudden turn, and a tongue of land lies low 

 between the river on the south and east and the 

 Black Dene Burn on the north. Harbourhouse 

 Park occupies most of the neck of this peninsula. 

 Harbour House itself lying beyond a field to 

 the north. Its secluded position, surrounded 

 by streams and woods on every side, made it an 

 admirable centre for the Jesuit priests, who car- 

 ried on their mission in the i6th and early 

 17th centuries. The Forcers, its owners, 

 were Roman Catholic recusants, and at one time 

 a regular college was established. Father Ralph 

 Corby being among those who lived there.^ 

 The tolerance of the neighbourhood, remarked 

 on by Defoe in 1723,* made it possible for 

 various members of the Forcer family to be 

 buried in the chapel attached to the house.^ 



West of Harbour House and beyond the 

 railway line the land rises to the moor, in- 

 closed and yet bare, with its bleak colliery vil- 

 lages new or half deserted. Much of this country 

 lay within the Prior's hunting ground of Bear 

 Park. Most of the park is within the parish of 

 Witton Gilbert, but a detached portion of the 



103 Priory of Finchale, pp. civ, ccxcv, ccxcviii. 



IM Ibid. p. ccci. 



*** Ibid. p. ccclxixvi. 



1 Leland, Itin. (ed. L. Toulmin Smith). The 

 Prior of Finchale had a garden by the ford {Feod. Prior. 

 Dunelm. [Surt. Soc] 20). 



" Leland, loc. cit. 



' Foley, Rec. 0/ the Engl. Prov. of the Soc. of Jesus, 

 iii, 127. 



* Defoe, Tour, description of Dur. 



6 Cf. Headlam, Par. Reg. of St. Oswald's, Dur. 193. 



modern civil parish is in St. Oswald's, and con- 

 tains the hamlet of Relley, once a grange of 

 Durham Priory.* A quarter of a mile to the 

 east the River Browney winds gradually south- 

 ward, and is joined at Langley Bridge by the 

 River Deerness. On the Browney the monks 

 of Durham had a water mill used for fulling 

 in the 15th and early i6th centuries.'' Nothing 

 is known of the origin of the name Spyttller- 

 haugh, given to a field near Relley bridge in 

 1536,* but traces of earthworks were still visible 

 here in 1840, and it has been conjectured that 

 the close was the site of the early Brunspittle.* 



The hamlet of Baxter Wood,** a little north 

 of Relley, is in Broom, and so outside the Priory 

 lands. It takes its name from the Bacstane 

 Ford, near which Pudsey founded the house of 

 Austin Canons at New Place, so soon crushed 

 by the Benedictines of Durham. No trace of 

 this house remains, but a hamlet" was in exist- 

 ence here in the 17th century, and Peter Smart, 

 prebendary of the 6th stall and vehement Puri- 

 tan, is said to have died here in or about 1625.*^ 



Aldin Grange, some distance north-west of 

 Baxter Wood, has been associated with owners of 

 a very different political complexion, for it was 

 the house of the nonjuring family of Bedford.*' 

 The property is leasehold, under the Dean 

 and Chapter, as successors of Durham Priory, 

 and great alterations were made both to the 

 house and grounds early in the 19th century.*'' 

 To the west of the house and beyond the rail- 

 way line Aldin Grange Terrace and the church 

 of St. Edmund have sprung into being as a 

 result of the neighbouring colliery of Bearpark, 

 so that Aldin Grange is still connected with 

 that coal getting that made it a valuable pos- 

 session to Durham Priory in the 15th century.*^ 



Tracks and rough roads lead across the moor 

 to Broom,** with its rows of colliery houses, 

 its chapel, and mission church of St. Katherine. 

 Broom Hall lies in the fields at some distance 

 north-west of the village. There was a capital 

 messuage here in 1358, when the house was 



« Dur. Acct. R. (Surt. Soc), i, 47, 50, 67, 72, 85, 

 iii, 683. 



' Ibid, iii, 216, 222, 252. 



8 Ibid, iii, 683. 



• Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 105. 



*" Bacstamforthwode in 1 362 {Chartul. of Finchale 

 [Surt. Soc], p. Ix). 



" See V.C.H. Dur. ii, 103, 109 ; Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 

 105. 



12 Diet. Nat. Biog. 



*' Mackenzie and Ross, Dur. ii, 438. 



W Ibid. 



*6 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Ires (Surt. Soc), p. ccci; 

 Dur. Acct. R. (Surt. Soc), iii, 712. 



1* In the spring of 1 343-4 Adam de Relley, clerk, was 

 fined 20^. for having obstructed a way from Broom 

 to Aldin Grange (Dur. Rec. cl. 13, no. 221, m. 3). 



154 



