STOCKTON WARD 



HARTLEPOOL 



it was found that Ralph Lumley had destroyed Maud 

 de Clifford's market and f.iir at Hartlepool." In 

 1410 the Mayor and commonalty of Hartlepool 

 again gave a recognizance to preserve the peace with 

 certain persons, but it does not appear whether these 

 were adherents of the Lumleys." 



At least one Hartlepool man took part in Hotspur's 

 rebellion of 1403," and in 14.05 the mayor and bailiffs 

 were ordered to send victuals and ships to Berwick for 

 Henry IV and his army, who was coming to punish 

 the rebellion of the Earl of Northumberland." 



At the time of the Reformation the people of 

 Hartlepool long remained faithful to the old religion. 

 In October 1536, on the outbreak of the Pilgrimage 

 of Grace in Yorkshire, Sir Francis Bigod, who had 

 made himself obnoxious as one of Cromwell's agents, 

 attempted to escape to London by sea, but his ship 

 was driven by contrary winds to Hartlepool, where 

 Sir Francis took refuge in the late mayor's house. 

 As soon as his presence was known the townsfolk 

 rose to capture him, and he was obliged to flee again." 



During the religious conflicts of the 1 6th century 

 Hartlepool was noted by both parties as a suitable 

 place for the secret landing of foreign troops." At 

 the siege of Dunbar in 1560 it was said that the 

 French had a ' platt ' or map of Hartlepool, ' where 

 they mind to set men a land, and to fortify the place; 

 which being done they hoped to make York the 

 bounds of England. This came out by an Italian 

 who is the fortifier of Dunbar."" In 1565 Hartle- 

 pool was entered as one of the three ports of the 

 bishopric in a government list of ports and harbours 

 drawn up with a view to the suppression of piracy." 



In August I56l,when the English Government 

 was very much excited by the departure of Mary 

 Queen of Scots from France to Scotland, orders were 

 sent to Hartlepool to keep a watch on the shipping, 

 and to search foreign craft coming into the port." 



At the Rising of the North in 1569 the Spanish 

 ambassador advised the earls to seize Hartlepool, 

 in order that Alva might land troops from the 

 Netherlands there to support the rebels." On the 

 outbreak of the rebellion the Earl of Sussex gave orders 

 that Hartlepool should be garrisoned by 200 men," 

 but the order was not obeyed in time, and Christopher 

 Nevill, at the head of 300 rebels, seized the town.'"'' 

 All the ordnance which the rebels possessed, a falcon 

 and two slings, was taken from Brancepeth to Hartle- 

 pool." Both Sir George Bowes and Sir William Cecil 

 were very uneasy over the loss of Hartlepool. A royal 

 ship which was sailing from Scarborough to Tyne- 

 mouth fired on the town about 17 December. The 

 rebels returned the fire, but the ship captured a 

 fishing coble with three poor and half-naked men in 

 it. The prisoners declared that there were 200 foot- 



men in the town under the command of one Stafford, 

 and that Christopher Nevill made it the headquarters 

 of his 100 horsemen, 'and as for shipping there is 

 none there, nor was not a great while, but 4 five-men 

 cobles and 16 small cobles.'" By 18 December the 

 rebels had fled from the town," and the Earl of 

 Sussex sent Sir Henry Gates to garrison it with 

 300 men.'" This garrison was maintained somewhat 

 longer than those in the other northern towns, but 

 on 27 December Sussex had decided that it was a 

 superfluous charge, as the town was very ruinous and 

 the walls down in many places." On 1 7 January 

 I 569-70 he went to view the town himself, although 

 ' platts ' of it had been prepared for him, as the 

 government considered it a matter of importance." 



It does not appear that the government took any 

 steps to repair the walls of the town. In 1588 a 

 Bill was passed in the House of Lords for repairing 

 the pier of Hartlepool, but its provisions are un- 

 known." 



An incident in the perpetual quarrel between the 

 Bishop of Durham and the lord of the manor, as 

 to whether Hartlepool lay within the bishopric,'* 

 occurred in 1581, when a ship carrying Thomas 

 Brown and about thirty men was driven by stress of 

 weather to take refuge in the harbour. Brown was 

 believed to be a pirate ; he and his men were arrested, 

 and the biahop claimed that they ought to be confined 

 in his gaol at Durham, but instead of this they were 

 sent to Newcastle. The bishop produced evidence 

 that in the time of Bishop Pilkington (i 561-77) the 

 men of Hartlepool had been assessed for service to 

 the queen as being in Stockton Ward, and that when 

 they refused to pay, a distress was taken, namely, ' two 

 kye,' which were put in the poundfold at Durham." 

 The dispute with the bishop was adjusted in 1598, 

 when two arbitrators decided that Hartlepool was 

 within the liberties of the bishopric." 



In January 1638-9 it was proposed to establish a 

 magazine of arms at Hartlepool, as being a more 

 defensible place than Durham." Early in February 

 Sir Thomas Morton viewed the town, and reported 

 that ' the town and walls are very ruinous, and will 

 require a great charge, and a great time to repair, 

 boih of which I suppose, will not be agreeable to the 

 present service ; yet the cutting of 60 yards of ground 

 makes it a perfect island, and no access to it but at 

 low water. In the town are sufficient granaries for 

 corn, and now, for the most part, well stored. The 

 country adjacent is fruitful in corn and grass, and fit 

 for quartering an army, if not too far remote. Those 

 of the corporation affirm, that with six weeks warning 

 they can provide corn for an army, and the like for 

 butter and cheese, if there be an inhibition for carry- 

 ing them out.' A plan of Hartlepool and an estimate 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. 4 Hen. IV, no. 37. 



" Dur. Rcc. cl. 3, R. 34, m. 5. 



" Cal. Par. 1401-5, p. 280. 



'* Ibid. 1405-8, p. -'4. 



" L. and P. Hin. Fill, xii (l), 578. 



"> Ibid, xviii (i), 755. 



" Sharp, Mem. of the Rebellion 0/1569, 

 79 n. 



*' Acts of Privy Conn. I 558-70, p. 278 

 et icq. ; for ihc commissioners' report on 

 Hartlepool lee Cal, S. P. Dom, 1 601-3, 

 AJJ. 1547-65, p. 573. The delenccless 

 state of the town is shown by a petition 

 of 1544 addressed to the Earl of Shrews- 



bury, then Captain-General of the Army 

 of the North, relating an attack by 

 pirates on a ship at Hartlepool, where 

 at the time tllere was no gun or powder 

 in store (Add. MS. 32655, fol. 251). 



''^ Proc. Soc. Aniij. Neiicaitle (New 

 Ser.), viii, 140, 232. 



" Sharp, TV/cm. of the Rebellion of \ 569, 



PP- 79. '^2. 363- 



" Ibid. 64. 



*• Ibid. 79 n. i Sharp, llitt. of liarilt- 

 pool^ 5 1-2 n. 



'■'' Sharp, Mem. of the Rebellion of l$6g, 

 pp. 79-80. 



«8 Ibid. ^'■' Ibid. p. 109. 



'» Ibid. p. no. 

 " Ibid. p. 79 n. 



"' Ibid. For the Rising of the North 

 cf. Cal. S. P. Dom. Add. I 566-79, pp. 1 29, 



13'. >32. '3+. '45. 1+6. '+7. '54. '6'. 

 164, 165, 175. 



'^ Journ. of the Home of Lordt, ii, 

 149-152. 



'* See Hart parish. 



" Eich. Dep. Mich. 28 & 29 Elir. 

 no. 1 3. 



'• Dur. Rcc. cl. 3, R. 92, m. 26 d. 



"' Cal. S.P. D^m. 1638-9, pp. 325, 349. 



267 



