A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



south-west is the parish of Grindon, and on the west 

 the township of Embleton, from which Elwick H.iU 

 is divided by Amerston Beck. 



The boundaries of the parish are entered in the 

 Parish Register as follows under the date I 744 ' : — 



The first boundary at tht gate going out of the glebe in the 

 road to Trimden, John Speck's land on one side the road, and 

 William Jourdison's on the other. The iiJ in high Stotfold 

 Moor, in a corner beneath a hill close by the beck side, butting 

 on Mr Mairc's land, in the parish of Sedgefield. The iii*' in a 

 corner of Amerstone farm, North west of the Gill, between 

 Sir Edward Smith's land and Mr Mairc's. The iiii'li in Close 

 farm in the Gill by the beck side, where the water makes a 

 peninsula, butting on Sir Edward Smith's land, and near 

 Mr Tempest's. The v''^ in Poplar row farm, in the corner 

 of a field butting on Mr Tempest's and Mr Spearman's land. 

 The vi'*' in Newton-Hansard, in a field butting on Mr. Tempest's 

 land in Grindon parish, and on Mr Hogg's land in Wolvistnn 

 Chapelry. The vW^^ in High Bruntoft, at a gate in the Gill, 

 butting on John Grange's land in Wolviston Chapelry, The 

 viii'ii in the Stobb farm, close by the beck side, butting on the 

 glebe land, and on Mr Smith's, in the township of Newton. 

 The ix'*i m Low Stutfold, in the meadow-field near the beck 

 side, butting on Claxton lands, in the parish of Grcatham, and 

 on Brearton lands, in the parish of Stranton. The x^l' in Middle 

 Stotfold pasture, and the gate going into the landing (sic), and 

 butting on high Stotfold grounds and on Grace Ranson's and 

 William Chilton's lands in the parish of Hart. 



Elwick Hall is known as the West parish, to dis- 

 tinguish it from Elwick in Hart parish, which is called 

 Elwick Eastwards. The only hall in the parish 

 is the rectory, and it is unknown how the name 

 of Elwick Hall came to be attached to the whole 

 parish. 



Elwick Hall contains 4,438 acres, of which 1,375 

 acres are arable land, 2,046 acres permanent grass, 

 and 442 acres plantation.'-' The parish contains the 

 estates of Amerston in the north-west, Burntoft in the 

 south-east, The Close in the south-west, Newton 

 Hanzard south-south-west, and Stotfold in the north- 

 east. The highest point is Beacon Hill (435 ft. above 

 the ordnance datum), which lies to the north-west of 

 the church. The church itself stands on the steep 

 bank of the Char Beck, at an elevation of 282 ft. It 

 is on the northern boundary of the parish, and below 

 it, in the valley of the Char, lies the village of Elwick 

 in the next parish. It was this fact which caused 

 Hutchinson to write in 1794 : ' It is said that in this 

 parish there is neither town nor village, cottage house 

 for the poor, surgeon or apothecary, midwife, black- 

 smith, joiner, house-carpenter, mason, bricklayer, cart 

 or wheelwright, weaver, butcher, shoemaker, taylor, 

 or barber, school-master or school-mistress, alehouse, 

 public bakehouse, grocer or chandler's shop, or a corn- 

 mill.' 2 



The only industry is agriculture. The soil is cla)-, 

 the subsoil Magnesian Limestone, and the principal 

 crops are wheat, barley, oats, clover, and peas. 



The main road from Sunderland to Stockton runs 



north and south through the parish close by the 

 church. The road from Ferryhill to Wolviston runs 

 north-west to south-east through the southern part of 

 the parish. There is no railway. 



Five men of Elwick Hall joined in the Rising of 

 the North, and one was executed.'' Elwick was 

 occupied by the Parliamentary forces in 1 644, and 

 the grass of Baxter's garth there was ' eaten up by 

 troopers' horses.' ' 



The manor of ELH'ICK comprised 

 MJNORS the whole of the township of Elwick 

 in Hart parish, and part of the parish of 

 Elwick Hall. As it is impossible to distinguish between 

 the two portions, they will here be treated together 

 for the sake of convenience. 



Elwick Hall and Elwick lay within the district of 

 Hartness (see Hart). The Anglo-Saxon sculptured 

 stones within the church show that the place existed 

 some time before the Conquest,^ but nothing is known 

 of its history before the 1 2th century. It was within 

 the wapentake of Sadbcrgh, and so does not appear in 

 the Boldon Book. 



Robert de Brus granted Elwick in Hartness as dower 

 to Agatha, his daughter by his wife Agnes de Paganel, 

 on Agatha's marriage with Ranulf son of Ribald lord 

 of Middleham in Richmondshire.'' The date of this 

 grant lies probably between 1145 and 1154"^; it 

 has been conjectured, however, that the marriage took 

 place before 11 29,' but as Ranulf was living as late 

 as 1 167-8,** a later date seems more probable. 



Ranulf and Agatha were succeeded in turn by their 

 son Robert, living in 1206-7, their grandson Ranulf, 

 who died in I 25 I, and their 

 great-grandson Ralph.'' The 

 last-named died in 1270, 

 leaving three daughters, among 

 whom his lands were divided.'" 

 Elwick is not named, but it 

 seems to have been allotted to 

 Mary, the eldest daughter, who 

 married Robert Neville," as it 

 henceforward descended in the 

 Neville family until the attain- 

 der of the last Earl of West- 

 morland in 1570 (see Brance- 

 peth). It is always described 

 as held of the heirs of the Lord of Hart.'- 



After the attainder the manor was granted out 

 in small freeholds, no one of which has any long 

 history." 



The Earl of Westmorland appointed a bailiff of 

 Elwick to collect his rents and hold his courts, and 

 the tenants were charged with the service of leading 

 the bailiffs coals from Spenimoor colliery. In 1612 

 the inhabitants of Elwick endeavoured to free thcm- 



N e V 1 L LK . 

 a iattire argent. 



CuUi 



' For * the out bounders of Elwicke and 

 Dalton River* in 1614 see Spec. Com. 

 3765, 12 Jas. I. 



'* Statistics from Bd. of Agric. (190^). 



■ Hutchinson, liiit. and Antiq. of Dur, 

 iii, 4.6. 



^ Sharp, Mtm. of the Rebellion of 1569, 

 250. 



' Rec. Com. for Com/.. (Surt. Soc), 25. 



» V.C.H. Dur. i, 229. 



' Cott. Chart, viii, 21 ; Farrtr, Ear/y 

 Yorks. Chart, ii, 3; Surtees, Hist, and 

 Anttq.af Dur. iii, 97 ; Dugdale, Baronage, 

 i, 52. 



'a Farrcr, loc. cit. 



' Vroc. Soc. Aniiq. Ne'wcaitle (New 

 Ser.), vi, 179; cf. Mag. Rot. Scacc. 31 

 Hen. I (Rec. Com.), 27. 



" Dugdale, op. cit. 53 ; Pifie R. 14 Hen. 

 It (Pipe R. Soc), 22 ; I'.C.H. Torh. 

 N.R. i, 254. 



" Dugdale.loc. cit.; /'.C.W.ysr/t. loc.cit. 



'" Excerpta e Rot. Fin. (Rec. Com.), 

 ii, ^oS ; Cal, Inj. p.m. Hen. Ill, i, 237. 



" Dugdale, loc. cit. 



'■ Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, fol. 263, 306, 

 307 d. ; R. 48, m. 19 ; file 168, no. 14 ; 

 file 169, no. 3 I ; R. 70, m, 23 \ file 177, 



236 



no. 82 ; no. 6, fol. 18, 42 ; Chan. Inq. 

 p.m. (Ser. 2), clxi, 7. 



"Cal. S. P. Dom. 1581-90, p. 679; 

 I'at. 3 Jas. I, pt. vii,m. 2; 14 Jas. I, pt. 

 X, m. 9 ; 4 Chas. I, pt. xxxiii, m. 1 5, m. 9 j 

 Close R. 9 Chas. I, pt. xviii, no. 22; 

 Proc. Soc. Antiq. Newcastle (Ser. 3), il, 

 176; Dur. Rec. cl. 3, file 1S9, no. 25, 

 66 ; Welford, op. cit. ii, 2;, 36, 37 ; Cal. 

 Com. for Comp. iv, 3103 ; Feet of F. Dur. 

 Trin. 5 Jas. I ; Com. Pleas D. Enr, 

 Hil. 25 Geo. n, m. 52. Surveys will be 

 found in K..R, Misc.Bks. xxxvii, fol. 3 14 d ; 

 Land Rev. Misc. Bks. cxcii, fol, 35, 70. 



