STOCKTON WARD 



EGGLESCLIFFE 



at the junction with the same company's Darlington 

 and Stockton branch — the original railway opened 

 in 1825. Before the Northallerton line was made 

 there was a short branch joining the Darlington 

 line with Egglescliffe ' at the bridge bank, 'whence 

 there used to be a great trade in coal to packmen, 

 who carried it in bags on donkeys, mules and horses 

 into Cleveland. As many as a hundred animals would 

 be waiting their turn for loads at one time.' ' 



There is little to say of the early history of Eggles- 

 clifFe. Though a piece of land with which the manor 

 was thought to descend was called Castle Holme,'" 

 there is no record of the building of any cistle here, 

 but it has been suggested that the Devil's Hill was 

 a fortified mound. Four men from Aislaby joined 

 the Northern Rising of 1569, and one of them was 

 executed " ; perhaps this was Peter Kirke of Eggles- 

 cliffe, who was indicted for taking part in it.'- James 

 Young alius Dingley, a seminary priest under arrest, 

 made his submission and promise of conformity in 

 I 592 ; he was the son of Thomas Young and a native 

 of Egglesclifte, educated at Durham and over the 

 seas.'^ At an inquiry made in I 593 it was stated that 

 there was a decay of tillage in Aislaby o^ving to a 

 partition between the freeholders and the tenants ; 

 thus there were fewer men for the defence of the 

 border.'^ 



On 29 September 1640 Sir Thom.is Colepepper 

 wrote to Viscount Conway, ' I find here a hill of 

 great advantage close before the bridge where Sir 

 William Fennyman had begun a small work. I have 

 begun a greater work, where I intend to make two 

 batteries and dispose two pieces ; the other two pieces 

 I have planted on the bridge whence I can take them 

 to answer any alarm on the river. '^''^ 



The Protestation of 1641 was signed in this parish,''^ 

 but the rector, Isaac Basire, D.D., was a zealous 

 Royalist and the local gentry appear to have taken 

 the same side. From a letter of Colonel |ohn 

 Hilton to the rector dated 14. February 1642-3, it 

 appears that p.irt of the Yarm bridge had been altered 

 so as to make a drawbridge "^ ; probably the arch 

 nearest EgglesclifFe had been broken for the purpose, 

 according to a tradition mentioned by Surtees. A 

 soldier, 'slain here at the Yarm skirmish,' was buried 

 I February 1643-4." The Mercmtus Riiit'uanus of 

 that date s.i) s : ' Lieut. -Genl. King and Lieut. -Genl. 

 Goring coming from Newcastle with a great convoy 

 of much arms and ammunition and being faced at 

 Yarm with 400 foot, three troops of horses and two 

 pieces of ordnance of the rebels, fell upon them, slew 

 many, took the rest of the foot and most of the horses 

 prisoners with their ordnance and baggage.' "* By 

 the Treaty of Ripon (art. viii.) the river Tees was 

 made the boundary between the armies ' except always 



the castle of Stockton and the village of EggsclifFe.' 

 In September 1681 there was a serious riot. William 

 Bowes of Streatlam, by his agents, gathered a number 

 of men, 'at beat of the drum,' from the country 

 around, in order to destroy a dam in EgglesclifTe which 

 was injurious to him. In all about sixty assembled, 

 armed with pistols and other weapons. Arrived near 

 the place, Mr. Chaytor and Mr. Killinghall called 

 for ale and drank Esquire Bowes' health and gave 6/. 

 to be spent in drink. Then shouting and whooping 

 ' A Bowes ! a Bowes ! ' to the beating of the drum, 

 they went to the dam and pulled down as much of it 

 a? they could." About a year later the fishgarth 

 above the ford at Newsham was condemned as a 

 public nuisance and was taken away.'" More recently 

 the formation of the railways has caused a new village 

 to grow up around the junction, partly in EgglesclifFe 

 and partly in Preston-upon-Tees. 



A prophecy attributed to ' Mother Shipton ' declares 

 that 'when Egglescliffe sinks and Yarm swims Aislaby 

 will be the market town ; ' it is not in the early 

 editions of her s.iyings. 



A field path to Darlington is called Darnton Trod. 

 ' To take Darnton Trod ' is a saying which means to 

 slip away quietly.-' 



According to a 14th-century inquisi- 

 MANORS tion, the mznor of EGGLESCLIFFE was 

 held of the bishop by the service of half 

 a knight's fee and suit of court at Sadberge."'- Little 

 is known of its early history. The sheriff of North- 

 umberland rendered account of 4 marks from Eggles- 

 cliffe (Eggescliva) in i 163 and again in 1 165.-' The 

 place seems to have been held by .1 family using the 

 local surname. Thomas de EgglesclifFe paid 6 

 marks tallage in 1176 and is again mentioned 

 in 1184-5.-^ Haifa carucate of land and a capital 

 messuage were inherited by Walter the clerk of 

 EgglesclifFe before 1236, when he subenfeoffed 

 Geoffrey son of Robert de Aislaby of his capital mes- 

 suage and 2 oxgangs of land.'* No further descent 

 of this holding can be traced, however, and the manor 

 seems at this date to have been held by the successors of 

 Alan de EgglesclifFe. Alan de EgglesclifFe is mentioned 

 in the Durham Lil>(r Vilae,^^ and about 1 160 he gave 

 2 oxgangs of land in Neasham to the priory there.-' 

 His daughter Eve married Ralf de Gunnerton,-* 

 tenant of Gunnerton, Northumberland, part of the 

 Balliol fee.-' Peter son of Ralf de Gunnerton at 

 some time between 12 10 and 1222 granted all his 

 land in Egglescliffe and ' Lurlehou ' (? Urlay) to his 

 kinsman William Brito.'" William was tenant of 

 Hurworth, Trafford and Bindon in Durham as well 

 as of others in ' Crancemoor,' Thornahy and Scraying- 

 ham in Yorkshire." He was living in I 2 1 8,-'- but 

 died before 1236,''' when his daughter and heir 



yieiv of Dur 



' Mackenzie and Ros 

 (1853), ii, 69. 



' Inform, from Rev. A. T. Dingle. 



'" The site is now not certainly known. 



" Sharp, yi/.'W. of Rehellion of 1569, 

 p. 250. " Ibid. 231. 



" Ctil. S. P. Doni. 1591-4, p. 257, 



" S. P. Dom. Eliz. cclvil, no. go, fol. 

 i-S. 



'•as. 1>. Dom. 1 640- 1, p. -i:;. 



'^ }lhi. MSS. Coil. Rtp. V, App. 125. 



" VV. N. Darnell, C^rresf. of I. Basil r, 

 4o._ 



'' Extract from registers in Surtees, 

 Hist, iinti .liifip r,f Co, PaUt. of Dur. iii. 



201. Captain Nichols and his soldiers are 

 namt-d in 1640. 



'* This quotation is due to the Rev. A. 

 T. Dingle. 



" Surtees, op. cit. 203. 



'" Arch. Ael. (New Ser.), ii, 96. 



" Inform, from Rev. A. T. Dingle. 



■' Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. ;, fol. 167. 



" Pipi R. 9 Heu. II (Pipe R. Soc), 43 ; 

 1 1 Hen. II, 29. 



" Pifie R. 23 Ihu. II (Pipe R. Soc), 

 84 ; ibid. 31 Hen. II, 73. 



-■• Assize R. 224, m. i ; cf. ni. 1 d. 



™ Lihtr Viiae (Suit. Soc), 64. Walter 

 and William de EgglesclifFe also occ\ir. 



223 



••■ Arch. All. (New Ser.), xvi, 268. 

 " A'fw Hilt, of Noriiuir.b. iv, 

 325 n.; Setvmimttr Chiirtul. (Surt. Soc), 



•* New Hist, of Korthumh. loc. cit. ; 

 Testi He NeiHI (Rec. Com.), 385 ; Feud. 

 Aids, iv, 53. 



30 fJt^ }ii,t. of Korthumb. iv, 3 2 5 n. 



" Rievaulx Chartul. (Surt. Soc), 231, 

 400; Chan. Inq. p.m. Edvt. I, rile 31, 

 no. 3 ; Feod. Prior. Dunetm. (Surt. Soc), 

 148 n. ; Assize R. 224, m. 3. 



» Feod. Prioi . Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 

 148 n. 



" A<size R. 224, m. 3, 



