A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



BISHOP MIDDLEHAM 



The parish of Bishop Middleham included in 1831 

 the townships of Bishop Middleham, Cornforth, 

 Garmondsway Moor, Mainsforth, and Thrislington, 

 and had an area of 5,940 acres. These townships 

 constituted the ancient parish,' but for some reason 

 Garmondsway Moor was regarded in 1865 as an 

 extra-parochial place, and has since been treated 

 separately. 



The old parish area occupies the north-west corner 

 of Stockton Ward, and, except for part of Garmonds- 

 way Moor, lies on the west of the main high road 

 from Stockton to Durham. It is bounded by Croxdale, 

 Ferry Hill, and Aycliffe on the west, Sedgefield on 

 the south, Trimdon on the east, and Kelloe on the 

 north. It lies almost entirely on magneiian lime- 

 stone, and the surface of the parish is widely diversified 

 by limestone hills and marshes. There are numerous 

 quarries, some disused, in all the townships. In the 

 16th and 17th centuries lime-working was apparently 

 confined to Cornforth. A payment for ' 4 futher of 

 lyrae ' was made to the tenants of that vill by an 

 official of Durham Priory between 1541 and 1548,- 

 and in 1649 the limestone quarry of Cornforth is 

 mentioned.'' A coal-mine in Cornforth is mentioned 

 in 1401 and 1454.'' At the present day there is a 

 colliery in Thrislington township on the borders of 

 Cornforth and another in Bishop Middleham. Of 

 the whole area, 2,297 acres are arable land, 2,906 

 acres permanent grass, and 2 i 3 acres are woodland.' 



The south-east part of the parish is occupied by the 

 large township of Bishop Middleham. The village, 

 in the centre of the township, has two streets at right 

 angles. The first runs east and west along a limestone 

 hill. The second runs south from the west end of the 

 first into the valley and up a second hill, on the 

 highest point of which stands the church of St. 

 Michael. South of the church the hill forms a 

 triangular promontory, from which there is a sharp 

 fall to the marsh below. On this height stood the 

 manor-house of the bishops of Durham. Surtees has 

 pointed out ^ that for purposes of defence the whole 

 hill on which it stood could have been cut off by 

 water. The building was probably used as the 

 bishops' residence from the 12th century to the 14th. 

 Bishop Pudsey may have had a house there about 

 I 183, when the demesne of the manor was in his 

 own hands'; Bishop Philip de Poitou (1197-1208) 

 certainly stayed at Middleham,* and charters and 

 letters were frequently dated here from 1 24 1 onwards.' 

 Two bishops died at their manor-house of Middleham — 

 Robert of Holy Island in 1283,'" and Richard 



Kellaw in 1316." Bishop Louis Beaumont, successor 

 of Kellaw, built a kitchen here and began a new and 

 fine hall and chapel,'- and from an account roll of 

 1349-50 it seems that Bishop Hatfield was at that 

 date executing extensive repairs." In 1384 the 

 manor-house was worth nothing beyond reprises,'' 

 and after that date the references to the bishops' 

 occupation of it cease. It seems probable that they 

 gave up using it as a residence at the end of this 

 century. 'The manor-house or site of the manor' 

 was sold by the Trustees for Church Lands in 1649." 

 Probably the house was then in ruins. The remains 

 now consist of the grass-grown lines of the walls and 

 a few fragments of masonry showing here and there 

 above the turf" Surtees, writing about 1820, says, 

 ' the last remaining portion of the building, a low, 

 oblong, arched room, was removed several years ago.' " 

 The house stood within the park." 



The bishops had a fish-pond at Middleham, pro- 

 bably on the marshy ground immediately below the 

 house to the south. In 1313 Bishop Kellaw ordered 

 his bailiff to deliver to Robert de Hilton two cygnets 

 from his vivary here."' The ' Viver banks' are 

 mentioned in i 349-50.-" The park, which existed 

 at least as early as 1349,-' ''^* ^° ^^^ south of the 

 village. Its extent in 1 649 was about 70 acres,^^ 

 and it was still a walled inclosure in Surtees' day.^' 

 There are still some fragments of walls and an entrance- 

 gate.-' 



Bishop Middleham Hall, a manor-house attached 

 to the rectory, is on the east side of the churchyard. 

 The freehold successively helJ by the Freville and 

 Surtees families had a capital messuage attached to it -^ 

 which was known in the 18th century as the Old 

 Hall. It was taken down in about 176 1, when 

 George Surtees lost the lease of the park and demesnes. 

 A new house was built on the site, and within its 

 inclosure there still stood about 1820 an old stone 

 dovecot.-'' It is now occupied by Mr. Thomas F. 

 Smith. Among the field names of the demesne of 

 Bishop Middleham mentioned in 1384 are ' Grew- 

 hondes place,' -' ' Edmundesmedow,' ' Spornlawos- 

 medow,' ' Redkar,' ' Horseker,' and ' VVylowker.'-* 

 Several of these are mentioned again in the 15th and 

 16th-century leases,-^ and there are frequent references 

 to a meadow called ' Eland,' ^^ perhaps the farm called 

 the ' Island ' in Surtees' time." 



From Bishop Middleham a road runs west for 

 three-quarters of a mile to the little village of Mains- 

 forth. Mainsforth Hall, the seat of the Surtees 

 family, is at its west end. Here Robert Surtees spent 



' Finchdle Priory (Surt. Soc), pasum. 



' Dur. Acct. R. (Surt. Soc), iii, 722. 



' Close, 1649, pt. zii, no. 15. 



* Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 13, fol. 364; 

 1 5, fol. 706. 



' Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (1905). 



^ Hist, and Antiq. of Dur. iii, 3. 



' BolJan Bk. (Surt. Soc), 12, 51. 



^ Feod. Prior, Dunelm. 250, 301. 



' Finchale Priory (Surt. Soc), 170, 179, 

 190; Hisl. Dunelm. Script. Tret (Surt. 

 Soc), 70, App. p. cxxv ; Feod. Prior. 

 Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), iSzn. ; Reg. Palat. 

 Dunelm. (Rolls Scr.), paisim. 



'" Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres (Surt. 

 Soc), 63. 



834. 



13 



Soc) 



13 



16 



i; 



18 

 19 



4S0. 



10 



Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (Rolls Scr.), ii, 

 He died in the * small chamber.' 



Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres (Surt. 

 119. 



Hatjield's Surv. (Surt. Soc), 239. 



Ibid. 183. 



Close, 1649, pt. xii, no. 15. 



Proc. Soc. Antiij. Netucastle, x, 89. 



Surtees, op. cit. iii, 3. 



Proc. Soc. Antip Neivcastle^ X, 89. 



Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), i, 



Hatfield's Surv. (Surt. Soc), 237. 



Ibid. 



Close, 1649, pt. xii, no. 15. 



Surtees, op. cit. iii, 3. 



204 



-* Inform, kindly supplied by Gen. 

 Surtees. 



^ It may have been the capital mes- 

 suage sold to George Freville by Richard 

 Heighington (Surtees, op. cit. iii, 4), or 

 a messuage with a dovecote attached 

 which he bought from William Jackson 

 (Dur. Rec cl. 3, R. 94, no. 26). 



•'^ Surtees, op. cit. iii, 4 n. •' See below. 



" Hatfield's Surz,. (Surt. Soc), 180, 

 183-4. 



>' Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 14, fol. 351, 

 590; 17, fol. 34; 18, fol. 21 ; 19, fol. 

 27 d. 



'" Ibid. no. 14, fol. 590 ; 18, fol. 21. 



8' Surtees, op. cit. iii, 9. 



