A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



The church of Grindon, described 

 ylDFOlf'SON as then newly built in honour of 

 St. Thomas the Martyr, was given 

 by Bishop Hugh Pudsey to Sherburn Hospital at the 

 foundation of that house,"' to which it seems to have 

 been at once appropriated. Mention of a vicar occurs 

 in 1 1 94.'' The governors of Sherburn Hospital sold 

 the patronage in 1858 to the 6th Marquess of 

 Londonderry, whose descendant the present Marquess 

 now owns it." 



There was a chapel at Whitton about 1 184, when 

 land attached to it was granted to Sherburn Hospital," 

 and one in Wynyard in 13 12, when Henry de 

 Langton, lord of Wynyard, undertook to find two 

 chaplains to celebrate for the soul of Henry de Lisle, 

 one in the church of Grindon, the other in the chapel 

 within the manor of Wynyard."' Neither of these 

 chapels is again mentioned. 



In 18 16 George Fleetham, by a 



CHJRITIES codicil to his will, bequeathed ^^80, 



the dividends arising therefrom to be 



applied in schooling, clothing, or apprenticing of four 

 poor children under the age of fourteen years residing 

 in the township of Thorpe Thewles. The legacy is 

 now represented by ^^88 11;. consols with the official 

 trustees, the dividends of which, amounting to £z 4/. 

 yearly, are applied in small rewards to school children 

 to encourage attendance at the Grindon National 

 Schools, Thorpe Thewles. 



The Burton Holgate Grindon Church charity, for 

 the promotion of religious education in the parochial 

 schools and for the distribution of religious literature, 

 was founded by the Rev. William Cassidi by deed, 

 dated 7 January 1876, to perpetuate the memory of 

 the Rev. Thomas Burton Holgate, formerly vicar 

 of Bishopton. The trust funds arc invested in 

 stock of the North Eastern Railway Company 

 and consols held by the official trustees. By an 

 order of the Charity Commissioners of 4 February 

 1907 the stock was apportioned to the educa- 

 tional foundation and the endowment of the church 

 charity." 



HART 



Hert (xiv to xvi cent.). 



The parish of Hart is bounded by the sea on the 

 north-east. It contains the townships of Hart on the 

 north, Elwick on the west, Dalton Piercy on the south 

 and Throston on the east, also Thorpe Bulmer and 

 Nesbit Hall. Under the provisions of the Local 

 Government Act of 1894,' Throston was divided 

 into two parts, the eastern half forming the district of 

 Throston in the borough of Hartlepool, while the 

 western half is known as Throston Rural. Rather 

 less than half the total area is under cultivation. 

 There are 2,400 acres of pasture land and 24 of 

 plantation.* The soil is clay, subsoil Magnesian 

 Limestone. The coast of the parish is composed of 

 sandhills, forming a break between the rocks of 

 Hartlepool and those of Monk Hesleden. The sea 

 is slowly encroaching. Behind the sandhills arc open 

 links called Hart Warren, where there is a rifle 

 range. There are village greens at Dalton Piercy 

 and Elwick. 



The road from Durham, which runs east and west 

 through the village of Hart, divides into two branches, 

 one Iciding to West Hartlepool, the other to Hartle- 

 pool. The road from Wolviston to Easington passes 

 through the villages of Elwick and Dalton Piercy, 

 running north and south. 



As early as 1832 a railway for minerals was con- 

 structed which passed through the parish of Hart, and 

 in 1 85 1 the Hartlepool Railway line was opened. 

 The latter has since been taken over by the London 

 and North Eastern railway.' 



The principal occupation of the inhabitants is 

 agriculture. 



There is a Wesleyan chapel in Elwick village. 



There are earthworks at Low Throston.* 



On the south of the parish of Hart is the township 

 of Dalton Piercy (Dalton in Hertncss xili cent.; later 

 Dalton Percy). A branch from the Sunderland and 

 Stockton road runs north-east to the little village of 

 Dalton Piercy. Dalton Beck flows north and south 

 on the east of the village, and immediately to the 

 north of it passes through a wooded valley called the 

 Howls. The addition of Piercy is derived from the 

 Percys of Alnwick, who held the manor in the 13th 

 and 14th centuries. 



Its near neighbourhood to the port of Hartlepool 

 produced in Hart an unenviable number of witches 

 and women of immoral life. In 1454 ' Helena de 

 Inferno, alias morans in inferno, alias Meldrome,' 

 seems to have been as bad as her name implied.^ On 

 28 July I 582 Alison Lawe of Hart was prosecuted for 

 being ' a notorious sorcerer and enchanter.' Two 

 women of the neighbourhood had consulted her and 

 asked her for cures for the sick. Fortunately this was 

 before the outbreak of the witch superstition in the 

 1 7th century, and Alison was condemned only to 

 stand with a paper on her head once in Durham 

 market, once in Hart Church and once in Norton 

 Church. She w^as peacefully buried at Hart six years 

 later on 5 August 1588.* In 1596 Ellen Thompson 

 'fornicatrix and excommunicated' 'was buried of ye 

 people in ye chaer at ye entrance unto ye yeate or 

 stile of ye church-yard on ye East thereof.' On 

 12 February 1641 Old Mother Midnight of Elwick 

 was buried, but it does not appear how she earned 

 her name.' 



Seflat in Elwick is referred to about 1 1 50.' At 

 the beginning of the 13th century Kirtel in the field 

 of Nelson and Caldewelleflat are mentioned.' 

 Thruscross in Hart occurs in I 539.'° Thick Meadows 



'' Allan, op. cit. 



^* Surtees, op. cit. lii, 76. 



'* Inform, from Mr. H. Jepson, clerk 

 to the governors of Sherburn Hospital. 



'^ Allan, op. cit. 



"^ Rtg. Palai. Duntlm. (Rolls Scr.), ii, 

 1 108-1200. 



" See y.CH. Dur. i, 406. 



' Stat. 56 & 57 Vict. cap. 73. 



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



^ Sharp, Hist, of Hartlepool, Supplement, 

 1851, p. 19 ; Fordyce, Hist, and Antiij, 

 the Co. Palat. of Dur. ii, 246. 



* y.CH. Dur. i, 358. 



254 



' De[>. and Ecd. Proc. (Surt. Soc), 35. 



* Surtees, Hist, of Dur, iii, 97 ; Sharp, 

 Hist, of Hartlepool, 1 1 2- 1 3 n. 



' Hart Parish Reg. 



® Brown, Guishro' ChartuL (Surt. Soc.), 

 ii, 323. 



' Ibid. 324. '° Ibid. p. xxxiv. 



