STOCKTON WARD 



DILLINGHAM 



the vill." They ground their corn at the mill of 

 Newton. 1" There were fifteen bond tenants in 1300, 

 and the same number in 1536.'^ In 1539, however, 

 only ten are mentioned, the remainder of the land 

 being held by cottiers. ^'^ In the 13th and 14th 

 centuries the saltworks from which the priors derived 

 a large part of their revenues in Covvpen were 

 attached to various tenements and held on lease by 

 the tenants, a rent of salt being paid to the prior.-'^ 

 In 1432-3 the tenants of the vill are first found hold- 

 ing the saltworks in common and paying [^1 3/. ^d. 

 as an equivalent for a salt rent of 35 quarters 

 6 bushels 2 pecks."' This arrangement continued 

 throughout the 15th and i6th centuries.-- In 1536 

 and I 580, however, the rent was £"] 6s., the price of 

 36 quarters 4 bushels.-'' In I 539 the tenants of the 

 vill similarly leased the common bake-house.-* 



Six cottier tenants in Cowpen paid a rent called 

 Candlewick silver.-* 



The land of this township was divided in 1872 

 between the dean and chapter of Durham and the 

 Ecclesiastical Commissioners.^'' 



The whole of NEIITON 5£/AX£r belonged from 

 an early date to the Priors of Durham, probably as 

 part of Blllingham -' (q.v.). It was held under them 

 in nine 'husbandries' or villeinage holdings, the rent 

 of which in 1539 was ^4 o/. ohd. each and three 

 cottier holdings.-'* The windmill was leased separ- 

 ately,-^ and there were no freeholds of any importance. 

 In 1358 an order was made that no tenant was to 

 exchange his land with another without licence.'"-' 



The vill was granted to the dean and chapter in 

 1541,-'" and was anne.xed to the cathedral till 1872, 

 when portions of it were vested in the Ecclesiastical 

 Commissioners.^- The abolition of customary tenant 

 right in 1576 '^ caused some friction here. There are 

 two suits of the late 1 6th century setting forth the 

 grievances of tenants who could not obtain from the 

 dean and chapter new leases of what they claimed 

 were their ancestral holdings.''* Two farms here were 

 sold by the trustees for church lands to Henry Barker 

 in 1650.-'* 



Some land in irOLFISTON (Wlveston, Olvestona, 

 xi cent. ; Wolston, Wolveston, xvi cent.) probably 

 passed to the church of St. Cuthbert by the grant of 

 Billingham. This did not include the whole vill, 

 however, for Wolviston occurs among the places 



released to Bishop William de St. Calais by Robert, 

 Earl of Northumberland.-'' Bishop William perhaps 

 made a grant of it to the convent ; the vill of Wol- 

 viston is introduced into the forged charters attributed 

 to him.'' One carucate in Wolviston was 'restored' 

 to St. Cuthbert by Bishop Ranulf Flambard (1099- 

 1128).'* It was then in the tenure of a certain 

 Clibert de Hetton.'' Geoffrey Rufus, successor of 

 Ranulf Flambard, gave half a carucate here held by 

 Clibert son of Aelstan, probably the same tenant, to 

 buy a light in the chapter.'"^ Finally, in I 185, 

 Roger de Kibblesworth, son of Clibert de Helton, 

 surrendered to Prior German his tenancy in drcngage ^' 

 in return for the vill of Cocken.*'- 



Another holding bought in by the prior and con- 

 vent during the I 2th century was a freehold created 

 by themselves. Richard ' the engineer ' quitclaimed to 

 Prior German all the land he held of him in VVoIviston 

 in return for a carucate in Pittington.'" Richard had 

 a tenant, Ralph son of Gamel son of Aelsi son of 

 Arkil, who held in drengage, a tenure dating from 

 before the Conquest.*'' He was perhaps the ancestor 

 of the William and Henry de Wolviston who quit- 

 claimed land here to the prior in the 13th century.'" 



There still remained a large freehold in Wolviston 

 held by the Belasis family. Between 1270 and 1280 

 John de Billingham released to John de Belasis of 

 Wolviston and Alice his wife all the lands and tene- 

 ments which he had in Wolviston by gift of John.""' 

 Alice widow of John made a release to William de 

 Belasis in 1316.'^ In 1380 the whole estate of the 

 Belasis family, amounting to seven messuages, 1 60 acres 

 of land, and 8 acres of meadow, held of the prior 

 per ccrta servitia, was granted to the prior and convent 

 in exchange for the manor of Henknowle.*' At the 

 same time the prior acquired land here late of John 

 de Wolviston, Richard de Aske, Robert de Masham, 

 and others, tenants of the priory.*" 



About 1384 some 500 acres in Wolviston were 

 held of the prior by free tenants. °'' The rest of the 

 vill was divided between bond tenants, of whom 

 in the 1 6th century there were thirteen, and 

 cottiers-^o^ A water-mill was attached to it.^'"' 

 The possessions of the priory were granted to the 

 dean and chapter in 1541.*' One of their tenants 

 here, a certain William Thorpe, was among the 

 leaders in the agitation for tenant right settled in 



*' Halmote R. (Surt. Soc), passim ; see 

 especially pp. 58, 79. 



" Halmote R. (Surt. Soc), 40. The 

 park mentioned la 1375 and i;j8o (ibid. 

 127, 165) was probably that attached to 

 the manor of Bewley (q.v.). 



^^ Halmote R. (Surt. Soc), 12. Dur. 

 Acct. R. (Surt. Soc), iii, 674. 



"» Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 

 314. See also Halmote R. (Surt. Soc), 

 242-3. The ten holders of the hus- 

 bandries paid in 1539 a uniform rent of 

 60J. 2./. [Feod. Prior. Dunelm. [Surt. Soc], 

 314) ; those in Billingham paid 751, yd. 

 (ibid. 316). 



'" Halmote R. 7, 79, 133. 



" Dur. Aat. R. (Surt. Soc), iil, 622. 



" Ibid, i, 66 ; iii, 623. 



" Ibid, iii, 675 ; Halmote R. (Surt. Soc), 

 243. In 1580 the tenants of Cowpen 

 petitioned against the sale of salt at Yarm 

 by the Scots free of custom {Cal. S. P. 

 Dom. 1547-80, p. 695). 



" Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 314. 



" Dur. Acer. R. (Surt. Soc), 674 ; 

 Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 314; 

 Halmote R. (Surt. Soc), 243. 



^^ Lond. Gav. 10 Dec. 1872, p. 6199 

 et scq. 



'' No grant mentioning Newton separ- 

 ately has been found. 



" Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 31 5. 



" Ibid. ; Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres 

 (Surt. Soc), App. p. ccxcvi ; Dur. Acct. R. 

 (Surt. Soc), iii, 675. 



'» Halmote R. (Surt. Soc), 25. 



" L. and P. Hen. nil, xtI, g. 878 (35). 



'^ Land. Ga'z. 10 Dec. 1872, p. 6199 

 ct seq. 



^ See below, Wolviston. 



'< Chan. Proc (Ser. 2), bd'.e. 214, 

 no. 47 ; Cl. of Rcq. bdle. 6s, no. i. 



" Close, 1650, pt. xxiit, no. 46. 



'« Fe^d. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 

 p. Ixxxii. 



" Ibid. p. Iv. as n,ij. ,^5. 



" Ibid. 141, 145. 



•» Ibid. 140. " See below. 



199 



*' Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 20, 

 141-2 n. " Ibid. 140-1. 



** F.C.H. Dur.x, 314. 



*' Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), I43. 



<« far. Coll. (Hist. MSS. Com.), ii, 14. 



" Ibid. 15. 



*' Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App. i, 

 275 ; Surtees, op. cit. iii, 148. 



*^ Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxii, App, i, 

 274; Cal. Pat. 1381-5, pp. lo-ll. It il 

 possible that John de Wolviston is to be 

 identified with John de Belasyse. 



'" For the history of the freeholds see 

 Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 27-40, 

 315-16 ; Halmote R. (Surt Soc), 246-7 ; 

 Rentals and Surv. (Gen. Ser.), R. 987 ; 

 Dur. Rcc. cl. 3, file 166, no. 37 ; file 

 169, no. 16 ; file 174, no. 5 ; file 182, 

 no. 46; file 183, no. 42; file iSS, 

 no. I II. 



♦"a Rentals and Surv. (Gen. Ser.), R. 

 987. 



"b Halmote R. (Surt. Soc), i 82. 



■■■I L. and P. Hen. nil, xvi, g. 878 (33). 



