STOCKTON WARD 



HARTLEPOOL 



the warren at Han for the support of a light on the 

 high altar.'- Two charters to Fountains Abbey, 

 apparently belonging to the 13th century, mention 

 land in Hartlepool near St. Helen's Church.*' The 

 ' vicus Sanctae Helenae ' is mentioned in 1299.*^' In 

 1 3 14. a general sentence of excommunication was 

 pronounced against those who detained legacies and 

 other things bequeathed to the chapel of St. Helen in 

 the vill of Hartlepool.*'^ 



Ralph de Whitewell, a bastard, left instructions in 

 his will that his messuage in Hartlepool should be 

 sold and the money used as long as it lasted for a 

 stipend to a chaplain in St. Helen's chapel to pray 

 for him. This bequest was ignored by Bishop 

 Beaumont, but recognized by Bishop Bury on 3 April 

 1336.'* In 1548 the chapel had one bell and a 

 silver chalice." 



There was a chapel in the manor of Hart in which 

 Robert de Clifford founded a chantry before i 344, 

 with an endowment of £6 yearly.*^ In 1436 this 



chapel is mentioned among the appurtenances of the 

 manor of Hart.-' 



For the Fultiiorpe educational 

 CHARITIES charity, founded in 1707 by will of 

 the Rev. Christopher Fulthorpe, see 

 article on schools."^ 



John Farmer, by his will proved at Durham, 

 3 January 1879, bequeathed jf 100, the income to be 

 divided among the widows and orphans of fishermen 

 lately residing in the township of Seaton. The legacy, 

 with accumulations, is represented by £i<)^ 6/. lOd'. 

 India 3 per cent, stock, with the official trustees, 

 producing ;(| 5 19/. 4rf'. yearly. 



Thomas Barraclough, by his will, 27 May 1916, 

 bequeathed ;^300, the income to be divided among 

 deserving widows and spinsters over 60 years of age, 

 resident in the parish of Holy Trinity, Seaton Carew. 

 The legacy was invested in £^1^ 15/. loJ. 5 per 

 cent. War Stock, with the official trustees, producing 

 £1^ 15/. loa'. yearly. 



HARTLEPOOL 



Hiartapoll, Hertlepole (xii cent.) ; Hertcrpol (xiii 

 cent.) ; Hertilpol (xiv cent.) ; Hertylpull (xv cent.) ; 

 Hartinpooell (xv cent.). 



Hartlepool stands upon a rocky peninsula on the 

 coast of Durham. The peninsula forms the east side 

 of a large but shallow bay, the Slake, which extends 

 inland in a north-westerly direction. A neck of land 

 only 500 yards across at its narrowest point, formed of 

 blown sand, connects with the shore the headland of 

 magnesian limestone on which the town is built. It 

 has often been asserted that Hartlepool was once a 

 tidal island, but there is no proof of this.^ The east 

 and south coasts of the peninsula are defended by cliffs 

 between 30 ft. and 40 ft. high, and by rocks which 

 extend out to sea for a considerable dist.mce, but the 

 harbour has a sandy shore, and from the earliest times 

 must have been a refuge for ships, although its depth 

 at high water, before the 19th century, was not more 

 than 8 ft. or 10 ft. There was also a smaller but 

 deeper natural bay, the inner harbour, formed by a 

 promontory jutting out westw.irds from the end of 

 the peninsula. The outer harbour, on the south of 

 the promontory, was formed in the 15th century by 

 means of a pier. 



When the draining of the Sl.ike and the rebuilding 

 of the town were begun early in the 19th century the 

 trunks of trees and the antlers and teeth of deer were 

 discovered in large quantities embedded in the clay, 



showing that the land had once been covered with 

 forest^ ; even at the beginning of the 13th century 

 the ' wood of Hartlepool ' still existed.' 



The founder of Hartlepool was Hieu, a religious 

 woman, who, under the direction of St. Aidan, estab- 

 lished a monastery for men and women on the pro- 

 montory about 640.'' The cemetery probably of this 

 house was discovered in 1833 ; it lay on the south- 

 east end of the promontory close by the shore, about 

 I 50 yards south-east of the present church of St. Hilda.' 

 Although there was no tradition of the monastery's 

 site, the field where the remains were found was called 

 Cross Close. Hieu was succeeded as albess by Hilda, 

 who left Hartlepool for Whitby in 657 or 6;8. After 

 this nothing more is known about the monaster)-, and 

 it is said to have been destroyed during the Danish 

 invasions.^ 



In all probability when the monastery was founded 

 the peninsula of Hartlepool was uninhabited and 

 covered with thick forest, but here as elsewhere the 

 presence of the religious house would cause a settle- 

 ment to be made, and the advantages of the b.iy for 

 fishing would soon be used. Hartlepool is not men- 

 tioned by name again for the next 500 years. The few 

 references are to the district name only of Hartness, 

 which at the beginning of the 12th century came 

 into the hands of the Brus family.' By this time, 

 however, the town was in existence, as in 1 1 5 3 some 



" Burton, Monait. Ebor. 346. 



^ Ibid. 169. " See above. 



«^ Reg. Palai. Dunclm. (Rolli Ser.), i, 

 629. 



" Hutchinson, op. cit. iii, 36 ; cf. Reg. 

 Palar. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 283, 415. 



*' Bp. Barnei' Injunc. (Surt. Soc), p. xx. 



»* Cat. Inj. p.m. (Edw. Ill), viii, 384 ; 

 cf. Cal. Chic, 1343-6, p. 624. 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 15 Hen. VI, no. 55. 



*> r.C.H. Dur. i, 407. 



' A plan of 1639 shows that at spring 

 tides the dry land was not more than 60 

 yards across at its narrowest point (S.P. 

 Dom. Chas. I, ccccxii, 57 [I]). 



' Sharp, Hist, of Hartlepool (ed. 1852), 

 3, cf. Suppl. p. 13 ; P'.C.H. Dur. I, 27 ; 



Proc. Soc. Antij. Newcastle (Ser. 3), iv, 

 282. 



' Guisbro' Chartul. (Surt. Soc), ii, 324. 



* Arch. Aeliana, xvii, 202. Bede gives 

 the name as ' Hcruteu, id est insula 

 cervi.' In one of Bede's MSS. Heruteu 

 has been altered in a later hand to 

 Hcortesig and Heorutesig [BaeJae Opcrj 

 Historica, cd. Plummer, i, 178-9, 2^3). 

 Harteseie is the form given by Matthew 

 Paris {C/iron. Maj. [Rolls Ser.], i, 191, 

 302), who takes his account from Bede. 

 The medi.ieval tract. The L fe and Miracles 

 of St. Begi (ed. G. C. Tonilinson, 1 S42), 

 which attributes the foundation of the 

 monastery to this saint, calls the place 

 where it was founded Heriteseia, which 



is interpreted Hartlepool (pp. 14, 54—5 ; 

 cf. Leiand, Coll. iii [iv], 39). 



» KC.H. Dur. i, 212. 



' Legends of St. Cuthhert, by R. Hegge, 

 1663 ed. p. 33. The churches of Hart- 

 ness and Tynemouth were ravaged during 

 the Danish incursion of 800 (Matthew 

 Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), i, 367 j 

 I'.C.H. Dur. i, 212). The first mention 

 of Hart as distinct from Hartness that 

 has been found is early in the 1 2th 

 century, when the church of Hart was 

 granted to Guisborough Priory. Hartle- 

 pool seems to have h-id an altematire 

 name, the Isle of St. Hilda, in the 12th 

 centur)* (see Advowson). 



" See Hart parish. 



263 



