CITY OF DURHAM 



escaped from the hands of the Bishop's servants 

 on the bridge in 1300, the guards fled, thinking 

 that armed men were concealed in the park. 

 The bridge is first mentioned in the 13th 

 century, when land in Upper Elvet was given 

 for its support.'" It was repaired by the Priory 

 in 1 361-2,''' and John Ogle left 100 silver 

 shillings for its maintenance in March 1372-3.''^ 

 After inquiry into its condition and revenues'"^ 

 it was entirely rebuilt by Bishop Skirlaw 

 (1388-1405).'^ A flood in February 1753 swept 

 two of its arches away, but these were repaired,*' 

 and it was not until 1824 that the bridge was 

 condemned as narrow and beyond repair. The 

 present bridge was then begun, and opened in 

 September i826.'« Shincliffe Mill, on Old 

 Durham Beck, lay within the Prior's fee and 

 is first mentioned in 1303." The dam was made 

 in 1367-8,'* and in 1458-9 the mill was entirely 

 rebuilt.'* Richard Marshall held it on lease 

 from the Dean and Chapter when he died in 

 1580.'" The policy of leasing the mill has been 

 followed to the present day, and Miss Johnson 

 is the present occupier. 



North of Old Durham Beck and east of the 

 Wear the land slopes gradually upward to 

 Gilesgate Moor. A single stone is all that 

 remains of the 17th-century manor-house 

 of Old Durham, the successor of the capital 

 messuage that the Rector of St. Nicholas had 

 here in 1268.*' The inventory of the goods 

 of Robert Booth, who died here in 1586, speaks 

 of the chapel chamber, the parlour with its 

 pair of virginalls, the ' chambers in the 

 courtyne,' the lower chamber and the little 

 and great chambers."- In the 17th century 

 the Heaths and, later, the Tempests lived here. 

 Both families were Royalist in sympathy. John 

 Tempest (1710-76) left Old Durham for 

 Wynyard, and little was done to the property 

 until 1849, when the Marquess of Londonderry 

 sank a coal pit a little south-east of the house. 

 The house was then dismantled,** and the 

 gardens, attached to a neighbouring inn, became 

 a favourite public resort for summer afternoons. 



*" Surtees, Dut. iv (2), 108 n. 



'1 Dur. Acct. R. (Surt. Soc), i, 126. 



'2 Dur. Wills and Invent. (Surt. Soc), i, 34. 



'3 Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 30, m. 3 d. ; 32, m. 8. 



'■* Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres (Surt. Soc), 144. 



" A'. Co. Diaries (Surt. Soc), 193. 



" Surtees, op. cit. 109. 



" Dur. Acct. R. (Surt. Soc), i, 113. 



'8 Ibid. 128. 



'* Ibid, i, 152. 



«o Dur. Wills and Invent. (Surt. Soc), ii, 26. 



" Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 91. 



*2 Dur. Wills and Invent. (Surt. Soc), ii, 207. 



«3 Fordyce, Dur. i, 389. A sculptured stone, sole 

 remnant of the house, is built into the wall on the 

 river bank. 



The history of ALDIN GRANGE 

 MANORS (Aldingrige, Aldingrig xi-xiv 

 cent., Aldyngrigge, Aldyngrange 

 xvi cent., Aldingrange xvii cent.) is closely 

 connected with that of the neighbouring vill 

 of Broom. It was in the hands of the Bishops 

 of Durham until the second half of the 12th 

 century, when Hugh de Pudsey granted 6 score 

 acres of waste on the west bank of the River 

 Browney, and the wood which stretched to 

 the cultivated land of Aldin Grange, to his 

 kinsman Henry de Pudsey." Henry gave this 

 land to the canons of Baxter Wood^ as the 

 endowment of his foundation there, and to this 

 he added the vill of Aldin Grange," which 

 he had obtained under a mortgage from Bertram 

 de Hetton in 1187.*' On the suppression of the 

 Baxter Wood house these lands passed to the 

 Priory of Finchale.** Somewhat later the manor 

 of Aldin Grange, ' with the service of Broom 

 and Relley,' was quitclaimed by the Priory 

 to Bertram de Hetton in exchange.** There may, 

 however, have been a later conveyance, for in 

 the 15th century the manor was held by the 

 Priory of Durham," which paid a ' fee rent ' 

 for it to Finchale.'' The manor, with Aumener- 

 halgh and Bear Park Moor, was let at farm 

 in 1438-9,'^ but in 1446 all these were in the 

 hands of the Bursar.'* The priory lands here 

 were granted by the Crown to Durham Cathedral 

 in 1541,''' and probably formed with Relley 

 and Amner Barns part of the endowment of the 

 9th stall." 



Aldin Grange has long been the subject 

 of leases. According to Surtees it was held 

 in 1609'* by Sampson Lever, and followed the 

 descent of their property at Scout's House, 

 in the parish of Brancepeth, until 17 16, when it 

 was sold by the sons of Robert Lever to the 

 family of Bedford." John Bedford, M.D., 

 lived here until his death in 1776, and on the 

 death of his son, Hilkiah Bedford, in 1779, 

 Aldin Grange passed with Old Burn Hall (q.v.) 

 to Alice, wife of John Hall.'* She sold it in 



*•' Charters of Endotvment, etc., of Finchale (Surt. 

 Soc), 8. 



«* Ibid. 9. 66 Ibid. 54. 



6' Surtees, Dur. i, 213. 



6* Charters of Finchale (Surt. Soc), 20. 



68 Surtees, Dur. i, 213. 



'" Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 191. 



'1 Dur. Acct. R. (Surt. Soc), iii, 705. Many small 

 parcels of land here were acquired by Durham 

 Priory in the 14th century (Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 

 105 n.). 



'2 Dur. Acct. R. (Surt. Soc), i, 66. 



'3 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres (Surt. Soc), p. ccci. 



'•> L. and P. Hen. Fill, .xviii, g. 878 (33). 



" Rec of the D. and C. of Dur. C. iv, 33, fol. 148. 



'6 Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 105. 



" Ibid. '* Ibid. 



157 



