A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



Heath died in 1599,*' when this land passed to 

 John, his son.*' Edward, son of John Heath of 

 Ramside, was christened in 1607,^ and John was 

 still living here in the third decade of the 17th 

 century." 



Nothing more is known of the history of this 

 holding until 1679, ^vhen, according to Surtees, 

 a settlement of Ramside was made by Anthony 

 Smith on the marriage of Richard his son with 

 Ann Crosier.^^ Richard, whose son Crosier was 

 born here in 1695,'' inherited the estate under 

 his father's will of 1698.^ In 1709 Richard Smith 

 conveyed it to Eleanor, his mother,** but the 

 family circumstances became embarrassed and 

 various mortgages were effected,*' ' the equity 

 of redemption ' at one time belonging to Joseph 

 Martin husband of Eleanor, a daughter of the 

 elder Richard Smith.*' According to Surtees the 

 estate was vested in John Hutton of Marske, 

 by a Chancery decree of 

 1737,** and he in 1746 con- 

 veyed Ramside to Ralph 

 Gowland.** Ralph died in- 

 testate and the property 

 descended to his nephew 

 Ralph Gowland, who in 

 1769 conveyed it to John 

 Pemberton. The estate was 

 sold by Stephen Pember- 

 ton, M.D., son of the new 

 owner, to Walter Charles 

 Hopper, but again passed 

 to the family of Pemberton 

 in 1820, when Thomas Pemberton pulled down 

 the old grange and built in its place the house 

 he called Belmont.'" The present owner is Mr. 

 John Stapylton Grey Pemberton of Hawthorn 

 Tower, Seaham Harbour. 



The church of ST. GILES 



CHURCH stands in a fine situation at the top 



of Gilesgate, the ground falling 



rapidly on the south side to the river Wear. It 



« Mem. of St. Giles (Surt. Soc), 33. 



^' Dur. Rec. cl. 3, ptfl. 192, no. 129. 



*o Mem. of St. Giles (Surt. See), 125. 



*i Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 68 n. In 1625 John Heath 

 gent, and Isabel his wife conveyed by fine about 

 210 acres of land in Ramside to Isabel Shawdforth 

 and Thomas Shawdforth (Dur. Rec. cl. 12, no. 4, 

 m. 2). 



*2 Surtees, Dur. iv (2), 68 n. 



*3 Mem. of St. Giles (Surt. See), 159. 



** Surtees, loc. cit. 



** She was still living in 1719 (Dur. Rec. cl. 5, no. 

 98). *« Ibid. cl. 4, no. 4, fol. 442, etc. 



*' Surtees, loc. cit. 



** No trace of this has been found among the records 

 of the Palatinate of Durham. 



*' George Vane and Anne his wife in 1746 quit- 

 claimed property here to John Hutton, with a war- 

 ranty against the heirs of Anne (Dur. Rec. cl. 1 1 [22-3] ). 



*•• Surtees, op. cit. 69 



PlMBEBTON. Argent 

 a cheveron ermine be- 

 ttueen three griffons* 

 heads sable. 



forms a prominent landmark in all views of 

 the city, its tower rising above the trees which 

 clothe the hillside. The building consists of 

 chancel, 34 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft., with organ chamber 

 on the south side, nave 73 ft. 6 in. by 20 ft., 

 south aisle 20 ft. 9 in. wide, north porch and 

 west tower 14 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft., all these measure- 

 ments being internal. There is also a vestry 

 on the south side of the organ chamber. 



The oldest part of the building is the north 

 wall of the nave, which dates from the time of 

 Flambard, c. 11 14; the chancel is of Pudsey's 

 period, c. 1 190-5, and the lower part of the tower 

 is of early 13th-century date. The upper stages 

 of the tower belong to the first quarter of the 

 15th century, and the remainder of the building 

 is modern. 



Flambard's church consisted of a chancel 

 and nave of equal width, the total length of which 

 was about equal to that of the present nave, 

 which practically represents the early 12th- 

 century building with the chancel arch removed. 

 The arch stood between the first and second 

 windows (from the east) on the north side, the 

 length of the original chancel having been 

 19 ft. and of the nave 52 ft. This building was 

 lighted by small round-headed windows placed 

 high up in the walls, and had north and south 

 doorways. It remained unaltered till the end of 

 Pudsey's episcopate, when it was lengthened 

 eastward, theold chancel arch being taken down,'* 

 and a new one erected just outside the line of 

 the old east wall. The old chancel space was 

 thus thrown into the nave and a new chancel 

 formed. The addition of the tower in the early 

 part of the 13th century caused the destruction 

 of Flambard's west wall. In 1414 Bishop 

 Langley rebuilt the upper stage of the tower and 

 inserted the window in the remaining lower 

 stage. The side walls of the nave were raised 

 at some period, but whether before or during 

 the 15th century is uncertain. ' Two or three 

 clearstory windows''^ with square heads in the 

 upper part of the old south wall appear to have 

 been of 15th-century date, but they may have 

 been insertions. In the 18th century, ap- 

 parently, sash windows were inserted.** In 



'i ' When the old north wall was first stripped of 

 plaster the point of junction between it and the 

 transverse wall of the original Norman chancel in 

 which the arch was situate was very clearly defined ' : 

 Trans. Dur. and North. Arch. Soc. v, 5. See also 

 Pro. Soc. Ant. {Newc), new ser. iii, 431 : ' It pushed 

 out the wall and ensured its demohtion down to 

 within a few feet of the ground.' 



«2 Trans. Dur. and North. Arch. Soc. i, 130. The wall 

 now, of course, no longer exists. 



*3 Sir Stephen Glynne, who visited the church in 

 1825, wrote : ' Modern taste has not allowed one of the 

 original windows to remain in its primitive state — some 

 have been stopped up and others altered into sashes . . . 



186 



