A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



1781 to Thomas Gibbon, whose granddaughter 

 conveyed it before 1824™ to Mr. Francis 

 Taylor, the tenant in 1840. 



The property was afterwards acquired by a 

 member of the Cochrane family. 



According to Surtees ATKLET HEADS 

 originally formed part of Crookhall, and was 

 granted as a quarter of that manor by Thomas 

 Bellingham to Richard Harrison in 1651.^ 

 Harrison was acting as trustee for Clement 

 Reade, of Butter Crambe, Yorks, and he devised 

 it to Richard Reade, his son.'* Clement, son 

 of Richard Reade, conveyed it to George Dixon 

 in 1706, Dixon being trustee for Ralph Bain- 

 bridge.*- By his will of February 1724-5, 

 Ralph devised the estate to his widow, and she 

 sold it to Thomas Westgarth in 1729.** Later 

 in the i8th century it came into the possession 

 of George Dixon, who was succeeded by John 

 Dixon, his son and heir.** John died without 

 issue, and Aykley Heads was inherited by 

 Francis, son of his sister Tabitha, by her husband 

 Christopher Johnson.** Francis, who was living 

 at Aykley Heads in 1804,** died in 1838, his 

 heir being his son, Mr. Francis Dixon Johnson.*' 

 Mr. Johnson was called to the Bar in 1833 ; 

 he survived his eldest son, and on his death 

 in 1893 Aykley Heads passed to his second son, 

 Cuthbert Greenwood Dixon Johnson. He died 

 six years later, his heir being his son, Capt. 

 Cuthbert Francis Dixon Johnson, the present 

 owner. 



At the southern end of South Street lies the 

 ground known as THE BELLASIS (Belasis 

 xiii cent., Bellasis, Bellasyse 

 XV cent., Bellaces xvi 

 cent.). It takes its name 

 from German de Bellasis, 

 the 13th-century tenant, 

 whose daughters Agnes and 

 Sybil granted it to the 

 Prior and Convent of Dur- 

 ham.** An orchard in Bel- 

 lasis, formerly held by 

 Isabel Payntour, was held 

 by Sir William Bowes of 

 the Prior in 1430,*' and land here remained in 

 the hands of the Bowes family until the i6th 



'9 Allan, Hist, and Descr. View of the City of Dur. 

 119; Surtees, loc. cit. 



** Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 141. 



*i Ibid. 82 Ibid. *» Ibid. 



** Burke, Landed Gentry. 



*5 Ibid. 



** An Acct. of DuT. (1804), p. 41 ; of. Allan, op. cit. 

 131 ; Mackenzie and Ross, Dur. ii, 438. 



*' Burke, op. cit. 



** Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 135 n. German's widow 

 Julian quitclaimed her right to the Priory in return 

 for a yearly payment of corn and wood. 



«» Feod. Prior. Dun. (Surt. Soc), 78. 



Bellasis. Argent a 

 cbeveron guUi between 

 three fieurs de lis azure. 



century.*" In the early 19th century the land 

 was in the possession of Dr. Cooke, professor of 

 anatomy at the University of Durham, but he 

 sold his interest in 1842 to the governors of the 

 grammar school,'' which now stands on part of 

 the site. 



Much obscurity has gathered round the early 

 history of BROOM (The Brome, Broum xiv 

 cent.), which in 1362 was divided into Over 

 Broom, held of the Priory, and Nether Broom, 

 held of the Bishop but rendering rent to the 

 Prior.»2 



Constance del Broom was holding a messuage 

 and 30 acres of land here of the Bishop at her 

 death about 1336,'^ when she was succeeded by 

 Thomas her son. Thomas was a party to 

 various recognizances** and is last mentioned in 

 1348.** It seems possible that this land was 

 that inherited by Margaret wife of Alan de 

 Marton and her sister Emma who married 

 Richard de Aldwood, the manor of Broomhall 

 being divided between them in February 

 1357-8.** At this date a rent of 5 marks yearly 

 from the manor was payable to Richard and 

 Emma de Aldwood, and in 1375 a similar sum 

 was still being paid by Thomas de Hexham.*' 

 Thomas was succeeded by his son Hugh, then 

 a minor,** but no further history of this holding 

 is known unless it be identified with the land 

 obtained by the Prior and Convent.** 



In 1464 the Priory held a waste and 8 acres of 

 land with 5/. free rent here,* and in 1580 rent 

 was paid for free farm here by Thomas Bate- 

 manson.^ 



'Thomas Batemanson, gentleman, a man godlie, 

 good to the mentenance of the poore and aspecial 

 a verie honest man a monge his nighbors, beinge 

 of the aige of Ixxx yeares,' died in 1615.^ By his 

 will he left his leases from the Dean and Chapter 

 to Christopher his son and heir.* Both Christo- 

 pher and Eleanor his wife were Roman Catholics 



*o Dur. Rec. cl. 3, ptfl. 166, no. 26 ; no. 4, fol. 54 ; 

 no. 3, fol. 12 ; ptfl. 173, no. 37; cf. Dur. Acct. R. 

 (Surt. Soc), iii, 705 ; Dur. Halmote R. (Surt. Soc), i, 

 192 ; Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 134. 



»i V.C.H. Dur. i, 384. 



»2 Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, fol. 65 d. 



*3 Ibid. no. 2, fol. 10. 



*•" Ibid. no. 29, m. 19 d., 30, m. 4. 



*5 Ibid. no. 30, m. 4. 



** Ibid. m. 12 d. Alan and Margaret paid Richard 

 and Emma an additional 10 marks yearly. 



*' Ibid. no. 2, fol. 92 d. 



»* Ibid. 



** Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 178 n. The 

 instruments connected with the transfer are to be 

 found 2''* 6"" Spec, (in the Treasury), but are not 

 of sufficient interest to merit being printed. 



1 Ibid. 178. 



2 HalmoU R. (Surt. Soc), i, 205. 



3 Headlam, St. OswaWs Par. Reg. 55. 

 * Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 104 n. 



158 



