A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



Christopher Biggins.** The moiety came into 

 the hands of Richard Lambert before 1622 when 

 he and Henry Biggins, brother of Christopher, 

 with Mary his wife sold the estate to Ralph 

 Younge.''^ Ralph Younge died at Sunderland in 

 January 1635-6, his heir being his sister Katharine 

 Cunningham,*^ an aged widow, whose heir was 

 George Cunningham her son.** No further 

 history of this moiety of the manor has been 

 found. 



The moiety inherited by Ellen wife of John 

 Hedworth was probably identical with that 

 ' half of the manor of Sunderland ' that Sir 

 Reynold Carnaby bought in 1 5 38 from Sir Thomas 

 Wentworth, captain of Carlisle Castle.*^ Three 

 years later Carnaby sold the moiety to John 

 Swinburne of Chopwell, an elaborate settlement 

 being made on various members of the purchaser's 

 family.*® This settlement does not, however, 

 seem to have prevented the forfeiture of the land 

 by John Swinburne for his part in the Rebellion 

 of the Earls,*' though John Hedworth made a 

 conveyance of two parcels of land here to him in 

 1571.** In 1571-2 the Crown granted his lands 

 here to George Bowes, who in January 1584-5 

 conveyed them to Gerard Salvin of Croxdale.** 



Gerard Salvin devised the Sunderland Bridge 

 property in 1587 to his younger sons Richard 

 and Thomas Salvin in survivorship^ and it seems 

 possible that throughout the 17th century it was 

 employed in a similar way. Gerard Salvin of 

 Croxdale died in 1663 ; he settled the estate on 

 his eighth son Anthony ,5* who died in 1 709*- and 

 was succeeded at Sunderland Bridge by James 

 Salvin his son." From him it descended in 1753 

 to his son Anthony, and his son Lieutenant- 

 General Anthony Salvin" sold it to William 

 Thomas Salvin of Croxdale in the last decade of 

 the 1 8th century." From this time it has 

 remained in the possession of the senior branch 

 of the family. 



The Exchequer land called WINDY-HILLS 

 (Windy hill, Wyndy hill, Windy side, xv cent., 

 Wynoghills, xvi cent.) was in the hands of John 

 Bowman at the close of the 14th century.** It 



"■ Dur. Rec. cl. 3, ptfl. 189, no. 67. 



*2 Ibid. 



*3 Ibid. no. loi, m. 20. 



** Ibid. ptfl. 187, no. 41. 



*5 Close R. 30 Hen. VIII, pt. iv, no. 21-2. 



** Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 80, m. 2, cl. 12 (i-i). 



*' Ibid. ptfl. 193, no. 16. 



*8Ibid. cl. 12(1-2). 



*9 Ibid. cl. 3, ptfl. 193, no. 16. » Ibid. 



^* Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 123 ; Burke, Landed Gentry 

 (1906). 



s- S/. Oswald's Par. Reg. (ed. Headlam), 213. 



53 Burke, loc. cit. 



" Father of Anthony Salvin, F.S.A., of Hawksfold, 

 the distinguished architect (Diet. Nat. Biog.). 



^ Burke, loc. cit. ; Surtees, loc. cit. 



** Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 13, fol. 213. 



passed through the hands of Isabel his widow 

 and in 1396 Joan daughter of John took it 

 from the Bishop at the ancient rent of 3/. 4^." 

 The 4i acres of land called Windy-hills and 

 Snawdon were afterwards held by Thomas 

 Copper but were surrendered by Agnes his 

 widow to Hugh Boner in 1419.** Land here 

 formed part of the endowment of the chantry 

 of St. James in St. Nicholas church and rent 

 from it was inherited in 1488 by Isabel daughter 

 of Robert Erne.** Isabel died in 1535 when the 

 reversion descended to Robert Melot,her son by 

 her first husband, though the rent was received 

 by her second husband Roger Smith until his 

 death. ^ Robert Melot died in possession in 



J r-2." 



The church of ST. OSWALD 

 CHURCHES stands on an elevated and pic- 

 turesque situation above the 

 wooded bank of the Wear, the churchyard com- 

 manding a fine view of the Cathedral and city 

 to the north-west. The site is an ancient one 

 and fragments of pre-Conquest sculptured stones 

 have been found,*^ but the oldest part of the 

 existing structure dates only from the end of the 

 1 2th century. The building consists of chancel, 

 49 ft. 6 in. by 18 ft. wide, north vestry and organ 

 chamber, clearstoried nave, 81 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft. 

 4 in., with north and south aisles, and west tower 

 15 ft. by 12 ft.," all these measurements being 

 internal. There were formerly north and south 

 porches." The aisles are the full length of the 

 nave but differ in width, that on the north side 

 being 12 ft. 6 in. and the other 15 ft. 8 in. 



A great deal of alteration and rebuilding 

 carried out in the 19th century has made nearly 

 the whole of the outside of the church, with the 

 e.xception of the tower and part of the north 

 wall, of modern date, but it still preserves to a 

 large extent its ancient appearance. The history 

 of this later work may be thus summarised. In 

 the first quarter of the century the building was 

 declared in danger owing to the working of coal 



" Ibid. 



'8 Ibid. fol. 1085, 1 191. 



5» I bid. file 168, no. 12. 



•* Ibid, file 177, no. 20. 



" Ibid, file 178, no. 17. 



•2 V.C.H. Dur. i, 224-5 ; Reliquary, new ser. 

 viiij 77 ; Stuart, Sculp. Stones of Scotland, ii, 63-4 ; 

 Trans. Dur. and North. Arch. Soc. iii, 32, and iv, 

 281-5. 



'3 This is the measurement at the ground floor level 

 inside the tower arch, where the outer walls are about 

 5 ft. 6 in. thick. The ringing chamber measures 

 internally 14 ft. 5 in. by 14 ft. 11 in. The greater 

 length in each case is from west to east. 



•^ They are mentioned by Surtees, Hist, of Dur. 

 iv, 74, and the south porch is shown in his view of the 

 building. They were pulled down on the rebuilding 

 of the aisles and not re-erected. 



174 



