A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



The survey of about 1384 gives the extent of the 

 arable land attached to the manor-house of Middleham 

 as 3 carucatcs or 270 acres."' There were also 90 acres 

 of meadow. '^ A messuage called ' Grewhondes place,' 

 on the demesne, was held in 1384 by Robert 

 Reginald, who also held 10 acres of demesne land. 

 John Atthegate had 41 acres and half a rood of 

 demesne."* There were only six bondage or villeinage 

 tenements in Middleham,'' each consisting of a mes- 

 suage and 2 oxgangs of I 5 acres, the tenants paying 

 6/. for cornage. The vicar had two of these 

 villeinage holdings.^" Thirty-two tenants held 

 ' exchequer land ' generally in small holdings of 6 or 

 7 acres, some of which are described as newly-inclosed 

 from the waste.*' Under this heading Is placed the 

 common bakehouse, which was held by John Atthegate 

 at a rent of 4^. 6i^.'- 



In 1406 the whole of the demesne, with the 

 customary works, was leased to Thomas Randson for 

 six years at a rent of /lo." A similar lease, with 

 the exception of certain meadows retained by the 

 bishop, was made to William Wright in 141 3.''* The 

 vicar had a lease of the demesne in 1 478.'^' In the late 

 15th and early i6th century the demesne was leased 

 to the bishop's bailiff,''* and from the end of the 

 1 6th century till the later part of the I 8 th century the 

 leasehold tenure was continuous. In 1564 Henry 

 Eure was in possession of the park and demesnes,*' 

 and in l 594 his son William released certain demesne 

 meadows to George Freville.** He must also have 

 released the rest to him, for the leasehold of the park 

 passed with the freehold land of George Freville 

 through the hands of the Bradshaws and the Halls to 

 George Surtees.*^ About I 761, however, one of the 

 lives on which the lease depended expired, and before 

 George Surtees had renewed it the other two expired 

 also, so terminating the lease. It was not renewed 

 to the Surtees family, but was granted to Nicholas 

 Halhead, their steward,"" whose daughters, Katherine 

 wife of Francis Burton and Elizabeth Halhead, held 

 it in 1823.^' It was subsequently held by the Russell 

 family.'^ 



There were two free tenants in Middleham in 

 1183, Arkell, who held 4 oxgangs and paid 14/., and 

 Ralph, who held 2 oxgangs for 10/. and five cartloads 

 of wood.'' There is no evidence as to the descent of 

 their holdings between that date and 1359, when 

 Thomas de Coxside and Alice his wife received licence 

 to grant a messuage and 100 acres here"* to Richard 

 de Hett.'' Richard died in or before 1373'* 

 seised of this estate, which was held in chief for one- 

 eighth of a knight's fee and a rent of 24/. at the 



exchequer.'' His son John, who succeeded him,'* 

 was said about 1384 to hold 89 acres in Middleham 

 and to pay 26/." John's daughter and heir I'^lifot 

 married John Webster, and had a daughter and heir 

 Alice, wife of Hugh Chambre.*" John Chambre son 

 of Hugh"' died in possession of this holding (100 acres) 

 in 1462, leaving daughters and co-heirs Agnes, Maud, 

 and Isabella."^ His lands were evidently divided 

 among them, and cannot be certainly traced. Between 

 1588 and 1619, however, George Freville united by 

 purchase several freeholds in the vill. Richard Heigh- 

 ington conveyed to him in 1588 his capital messuage 

 in Middleham.*' John Shawe of Thrislington released 

 to him in 1599 a messuage here, evidently that mes- 

 suage with 22 acres attached which belonged about 

 1384 and 1420 to Roger Washington or Usher, and 

 was acquired by the Shawes with land in Thrisling- 

 ton "■* and Cornforth. Another messuage, called ' le 

 front in the feilde,' with a dovecote and garden, was 

 purchased by Sir George Fre- 

 ville of Old Park from William 

 Jackson in 1 609,*' and a fourth 

 from Thomas Lawson at a date 

 unspecified."* He bequeathed 

 all the premises to Elizabeth 

 his wife for life, with remainder 

 to his nephew Nicholas Fre- 

 ville, and died in 1619.*" In 

 1668 Nicholas conveyed his 

 estate in Bishop Middleham to 

 William Bradshaw,*' who with 

 Troth his wife and Troth and 



Mary his daughters sold it in i 704 to Nicholas Hall.*' 

 Guise Hall son of Nicholas and Annabella widow of 

 Nicholas sold it in 1734 to George Surtees, who settled 

 it in 1 76 1 on the marriage of his nephew Robert 

 Surtees of Mainsforth (q.v.).'" General Surtees of 

 Mainsfbrth holds a freehold in Middleham at the 

 present day. 



CORNFORTH (Cornford, xii cent.), which may 

 have been included in the grant of the manor of 

 Middleham to the Sheriff Osbert,'" was claimed in 

 the late 12th century by Alan de Chilton. '^ Before 

 1 1 80, however, he surrendered all right in it to 

 Bishop Hugh Pudsey in return for the vill of Healey." 

 In 1 1 83 Cornforth was surveyed with Middleham, and 

 the reeve of the manor of Middleham held 2 oxgangs 

 here for his service."'' Except for a few freeholds 

 the vill remained part of the episcopal estate. Here 

 was the manorial water corn-mill, to which the tenants 

 of Mainsforth and Middleham owed suit. At the 

 beginning of the 14th century the mill was worth 



Frevillk. Gulei 

 three creuenli ermine. 



'« HatficU'i Surv. (Surt. Soc), 183. 



" Ibid. 



" Ibid. 180. 



" There were twenty in Cornforth, 

 giving the total of the earlier survey. 



«" UatfieU'i Suri,. (Surt. Soc), 183. 



« Ibid. 180-2. 



"Ibid. 182. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 14, fol. 87. 



" Ibid. fol. 590. 



•^ Ibid. no. 17, fol. 34. 



" Ibid. no. 18, fol. 21 ; Dep. Keeper's 

 Rep. xxxvi, App. i, 104 ; Surtees, op. cit. 

 iii, 3-4. 



" Surtees, op. cit. iii, 4. 



«« Ibid, (from title deeds). 



«» Ibid. See below. 



"> Ibid. " Ibid. 



'* Fordyce, op. cit. i, 395. 



" y.C.H. Dur. i, 330. 



'* They were said in the licence to be 

 in Middleham, Sedgeficld and Mainsforth, 

 but it is cyident from later documents 

 that they were nearly all in Middleham. 



'* Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 30, m. 12. 



"' His inquisition was dated Feb.: 373— 4. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, fol. 92. 



'8 Ibid. 



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



^ Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 50, m. 8 d. 



*' Ibid. 



*- Ibid. R. 50, m. 8 d. ; no. 4, fol. 21. 



^ Surtees, op. cit. iii, 4 (from title 

 deeds). Richard Heighington did homage 

 for land here in 1577 {Dep, Keeper's Rep. 

 xxxvii, App. i, 96). 



206 



'* Hatfield's Sur'v. (Surt. Soc), i8o ; 

 Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, fol. 210 ; Ale 191, 

 no. 127. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 94, m. 26. 



** Ibid. R. 107, no. 41. 



*' Ibid. R. 107, no. 41, file 189, no. 25. 



^ Surtees, op. cit. iii, 4. 



«' Ibid. ; cf. Reg. of Bp. Middleham 

 (Dur. and Northumb. Par. Reg. Soc), 41. 

 Troth, the daughter, married John Ingleby 

 (Dur. Rec. cl. 12, no. 16 (4)). 



"> Surtees, loc. cit. 



" See above. 



" A'.C.«.Z)Br.i,3 35 ; Cj/. Par. 1 46 1 -7, 

 p. 393 ; Boldon Bk. (Surt. Soc), App. 

 p. xlv. 



» Ibid. 



" y.CH. Dur.i, 330. 



