A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



village to West Hartlepool is the little village of 

 Newton Bewley. The present corn-mill at its east 

 end has replaced the old windmill. The site of the 

 manor-house of Bewley, from which the village is 

 named, is not certainly known, but there are traces of 

 a moat at Low Grange, a farm midway between 

 Newton and Cowpen,-'" and a tiny stream near by 

 would supply the necessary power for the water-mill 

 attached to the manor.-' 



The remaining township of Cowpen Bewley occu- 

 pies the marshy ground on the banks of the Tees to 

 the north of Havcrton Hill. The village, which 

 consists of one wide street with a narrow green in the 

 middle, is just above the marshes. On Cowpen 

 marsh were the old saltworks of the township, now 

 disused. Salt Holme, a large and important farm 

 between Cowpen Marsh and Haverton Hill, existed 

 in 1338, as part of the estate of the priory of 

 Durham. It was leased by Henry VIII in 154.1 to 

 Roger Lascelles, and was granted in the same year to 

 the dean and chapter of Durham. ^^ In 164.9 'twas 

 sold with the manor of Billingham (q.v.) by the 

 trustees of church lands.-' It subsequently reverted 

 to the dean and chapter, and was part of the cathedral 

 estate in 1823.-* It now belongs to Durham 

 University. 



The inclosure of Billingham took place in about 

 1620.2* 



BILLINGHAM was given to the 

 MANORS congregation of St. Cuthbert by Bishop 

 Ecgred (830-46), described as the 

 founder of the vill.^* It was seized about thirty years 

 later by Ella, King of the Northumbrians, but seems 

 to have been recovered at his death.-' Bishop Cutheard 

 granted it about 901 to Elfred son of Birchtulfinc, 

 who was seeking a settlement 

 out of reach of the Danes, and 

 became the bishop's vassal.-* 

 Afterwards, however, Regen- 

 wald. King of the Danes, 

 ravaged that part of the 

 country, and gave the lands of 

 St. Cuthbert, from Billingham 

 to (Castle) Eden, to his knight 

 Scula.^* Billingham was re- 

 stored to the servants of St. 

 Cuthbert by William the Con- 

 queror, who granted it in aid 

 of their maintenance.^ It was 

 subsequently part of the possessions of the priory of 

 Durham, and appears in the forged charters of Bishop 



Priory of Durham. 

 Azure a crois paty ht- 

 rwten four liont argent. 



William de St. Calais/** A charter of William II is 

 in existence granting Billingham to the monks, with 

 all the privileges they had in their lands between 

 Tyne and Tees.*^ There are also confirmations by 

 Henry II, Richard I, and John.*^ 



These grants included the whole of Billingham, 

 which in the 14th century was held in three parts. 

 The prior had a grange or manor-house with a 

 garden, dove-house, and fish-pond.** There were a 

 few freeholds,** and the rest of the township was held 

 in ' husbandries ' of nearly uniform size.** The farmers 

 of these husbandries had the usual organization of 

 tenants in the prior's vills, electing their officers and 

 allotting to each tenant his common of pasture in 

 their assembly or ' bicrlawe.' *' The men of Billing- 

 ham, however, were specially favoured by the priors 

 in being allowed a 'gild hous,' ** in which probably 

 these meetings were held. They ground their corn 

 either at Billingham Mill or one of the other mills 

 within the parish*^ and owed services to the manor of 

 Bellasis as well as to Billingham. 



An important appurtenance of the manor was the 

 ferry over the Tees, which appears to have existed 

 from the 12th century.''*' It seems that only half the 

 responsibility and profit of the ferry belonged to the 

 prior,*! t[^g other half belonging to the lords of the 

 Yorkshire land across the river. In 1 379-80 the prior 

 made a payment to Sir Thomas Boynton, then owner 

 of land on the opposite bank,*- for half a ferryboat.** 

 The ferry existed till the 1 6th century, but was 

 ' decayed' in i 580.** 



On the Dissolution the manor of Billingham, with 

 the sixteen villeinage holdings,** and all its rents and 

 profits except the water-mill, was leased to John 

 Leigh of the Household.*' In the same year (1541) 

 the possessions of St. Cuthbert here were granted to 

 the dean and chapter of Durham.*' The manor was 

 seized under the Commonwealth by the Commis- 

 sioners for Church Lands, and in 1649 was sold to 

 James Clement and John Pickersgill.** At about the 

 same date the water-mill of Billingham and a wind- 

 mill there *^ were sequestered for the delinquency of 

 Captain Gascoigne Eden, then lessee.*" After the 

 Restoration Billingham remained in the possession of 

 the dean and chapter till 1872, when part of the 

 manor was vested in the Ecclesiastical Commis- 

 sioners.** 



In the early 13th century the priors claimed the 

 privilege of taking customs from ships landing at or 

 taking cargo from their land along the Tees bank.*^ 

 The claim was opposed by the Bishop of Durham, 



'" In 1435 a payment was made for the 

 clearing out of Me Goters ' round the 

 manor of Bewley [Dur. Acct. R, [Surt. 

 Soc. ], 624). 



»' Dur. Acci. R. (Surt. Soc.),'i, 31. 



=2 L. and P. Hen. nil, xvi, p. 725 ; 



g- 878 (33)- 



^ Close, 1649, pt. vili, no. 35. 



** Surtees, Hhf. af Dur. iii, 150. 



** Sec below ; Surtees, op. cit. iii, 145. 



" Simeon of Dur. Of>era (Rolls Ser.), 



i. 53- 



"Ibid. 55. "Ibid. 208. 



•* Ibid. 209. 30 Ibid, ,og_ 



" FeoJ. Prior. Dune/m. (Surt. Soc), 

 pp. xli, Iv. 



" Ibid. 138. 



" Ibid. p. Ixxiiii, 94 ; Cn!. Chan. R. 

 '3^7-4'. P- 324- 



" Halmoie R. (Surt. Soc), i, 6, 133, 

 179, 241 ; Dur. Acci. R. (Surt. Soc), i, 

 46 i ii, 536. 



'^ The manor-house is not mentioned 

 after the 14th century. 



3« See below. 



3^ Hatmote R. (Surt. Soc), i, patiim ; 

 Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 333, no. 3. 



^^ Mentioned \^'io{Feoii. Prior. Dunelm. 

 [Surt. Soc], 44). 



" Halmoie R.{S,n^t. Soc), 6%, 121, 166. 



*o FeoJ. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 144, 

 215; Hill. Dunelm. Script. Trei (Surt. 

 Soc), App. p. ccxcvii ; Dur. Acct. R. 

 (Surt. Soc), iii, 645. 



^* FeoJ. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 

 318 ; Dur. Acci. R. (Surt. Soc), 645. 



" r.C.H. Yorh. N.R. ii, 271. 



■" Dur. Acct. R. (Surt. Soc), iii, 589. 



" L. and P. Hen. VIII, nvi, p. 728 ; 

 Halmote R. (Surt. Soc), 241. 



*^ The services of sixteen bondage or 

 villeinage tenants were leased in 1373 

 (sec below). 



« L. and P. Hen. VIII, xvi, p. 728. 



« Ibid. g. 878 (J3). 



" Close, 1649, pt. viii, no. 35. Farm- 

 holds not included in this sale were pur- 

 chased in the next year from the trustees 

 by Adam Baynes of Knowlesthorpe (Add. 

 Chart. 12628). 



*' Perhaps the Newton Mill. 



^ Royalist Comp. Papers Dur. and North. 

 (Surt. Soc), II, 23, 184. 



" Lond. Caz. 10 Dec. 1872, p. 6199 

 et seq. 



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

 220-301. 



196 



