A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



the passage way being divided into two rectangu- 

 lar vaulted compartments each measuring about 

 l6 ft. by 13 ft., the total length of the passage 

 being 33 ft. 6 in. The building belongs to the 

 first part of the 14th century, having been 

 erected during the episcopate of Richard de 

 Bury (1333-45), whose arms are on one of two 

 shields on either side of the window above the 

 west gateway. The other shield is said to have 

 borne the arms of Edmund Howard, master of 

 the hospital in 1341, but is now obliterated. 

 The west elevation is of some architectural 

 merit, the archway being flanked on either side 

 by a buttress of three stages, between which 

 runs a band of quatrefoil ornament immediately 

 over the crown of the arch. Above is a pointed 

 window with external hood mould, the head and 

 jambs of which now alone remain, with the 

 shields already mentioned on either side, and 

 the wall terminates in a gable rising well above 

 the roof. The walling is of rubble and the 

 roofs are now covered with red pantiles, but the 

 building has been much neglected, no adequate 

 renovation having been carried out. It is 

 now used as a tenement, and approach to the 

 upper rooms is by means of an external stone 

 staircase on the north-east. The original newel 

 stair on the inner, or east, side of the gateway is 

 partly broken away. On each side of the passage 

 way are the porter's rooms, the whole extent 

 of the present west front being about 62 ft. 

 The two outer arches are each of two chamfered 

 orders, that on the west side having an external 

 hood mould, and its inner order springing from 

 moulded caps, below which the chamfer is con- 

 tinued to the ground. The vaulting ribs of the 

 western compartment have a wave moulding, the 

 others being chamfered, but in both cases they 

 meet in a carved boss. The middle arch is 

 chamfered only on the west side and the staples 

 of the door hinges remain in the walls. The 

 eastern, or back, elevation is very plain, but 

 derives a good deal of picturesqueness from its 

 being well broken up, the north part of the 

 building standing back about 15 ft. The 

 gateway on this side has been a good deal 

 mutilated, the upper part of the newel 

 staircase, which probably finished as a turret, 

 having been destroyed and the window over 

 the archway provided with a wooden sash. 



About twenty yards to the south-east of the 

 gatehouse are the ruins of the residence of the 

 Heath family, a brick building with an open 

 stone arcade of three round arches on the ground 

 floor facing south. The house was long used 

 as an inn, and was only dismantled in the last 

 decade of the 19th century. Only the ground 

 floor now remains, including the arcade and a 

 portion of the brick walling above, the height at 

 the highest point being only 14 ft. Too little is 

 left to form an adequate idea of the original 



appearance of the building, but it seems to have 

 been of late i6th or early 17th century date. It 

 formerly contained a broad balustered oak stair- 

 case and some carved oak panelling, but this was 

 in a dilapidated condition before the house 

 was dismantled.** 



East of Kepier is the High Grange, or Hither 

 or West Grange as it was called in 1629.*' A 

 little to the east of this is the modern settlement 

 of Carr Ville that owes its existence to the 

 Grange Iron Works, established here in 1866. 

 This hamlet is almost one with Broomside, and 

 both are served by the church of St. Mary 

 Magdalene, built in 1857. In 1869 a Primitive 

 Methodist chapel was built at Carr Ville, and 

 this was followed by a chapel of the Wesleyans in 

 1881. 



The Low Grange lies north of Carr Ville, 

 and a track leads hence westward through the 

 fields to Woodvvell House by the river side. There 

 is a considerable amount of wood in this neigh- 

 bourhood, and a large park surrounds Belmont 

 Hall, the 17th-century Ramside. 



Gilesgate Moor lies between the Sherburn and 

 Sunderland roads. It was inclosed under an Act 

 of 18 16,^*' and the hamlet of New Durham has 

 been built in the angle between the two roads. 

 The Primitive Methodists built a chapel here in 

 1852, and a chapel has also been established by 

 the Wesleyans. 



When Bishop Ralph Flam- 

 MANORS, ETC. bard founded the Hospital 

 of St. Giles in U12 he gave 

 as part of its endowment the episcopal 

 vill of CALDECOTES"^^ (Caldcotes, xv cent.), 

 which in 1430 was identified with KEPIER 

 GRANGE.^ This ' manor ' would seem to have 

 included the site of Kepier, as no further grant 

 of this appears among the muniments of the 

 hospital."' 



The hospital was surrendered to the Crown in 

 January 1545-6,^* and in the following month it 

 was bought by Sir William Paget. ^* Sir William 



18 Pro. Soc. Ant. {Newc), iv, 1 39. 



19 Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 106, m. 4 d. 



20 Priv. Act, 56 Geo. Ill, cap. 58. 



21 Mem. of St. Giles (Surt. Soc), 194. 



22 Feod. Prior. Dun. (Surt. Soc), 77. 



23 The muniment room was burnt in an attack 

 by the Scots in 1306, but exemplifications of the most 

 important deeds were allowed in 1445, and these are 

 printed in Mem. oj St. Giles (Surt. Soc), 192 et seq. 

 At some time in the episcopate of Hugh Pudsey 

 (1153-95) Gilbert the Chamberlain gave the hospital 

 leave to make a mill pond on his land, but this does not 

 necessarily mean in Kepier (ibid. 202-3). Gilbert was 

 holding I and -I'.-s knight fees of the Bishop in 1 166 

 {Red Bk. oj the Exch. [Rolls Ser.], i, 416). 



21F.C.//. £)«r. ii, 113. 



25 I. and P. Hen. VIII, xxi (l), g. 282 (14). With him 

 was associated Richard Cokkes, S.T.P., chaplain to 

 the King. 



