A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



for the proposed fortifications were drawn up," but 

 the scheme was not carried out. In 1640, when the 

 Scots seized Newcastle, the king was warned to make 

 Hartlepool secure." 



Lord Lumley and his family were Royalists, and 

 on the outbreak of the Civil War Hartlepool was 

 garrisoned for the king, under the command of 

 Sir Edmund Carey. In April 1644, when Leven 

 invaded England, it was reported that Hartlepool 

 had fallen to him,*" but the town lay out of the 

 Scots' line of march, and it was not surrendered until 

 Callendar advanced to Leven's support, when on 

 2 5 July 1 644 its defenders were allowed to march out." 



A Scotch garrison was placed in the town under 

 the command of Lieut. -Colonel Richard Douglas," 

 who repaired the walls and apparently caused earth- 

 works to be thrown up across the peninsula." 

 The Scots' occupation of this and other northern 

 towns was very disagreeable to the English Parlia- 

 ment, but they could not rid themselves of their 

 allies until the tre.ity at the end of 1646-7." On 

 26 February 1646-7 the House of Commons ordered 

 that the new works at Hartlepool should be thrown 

 down and the town disgarrisoned.'^ The first part of 

 these orders may have been carried out, but the 

 second certainly was not, as references to the garrison 

 at Hartlepool occur in 1648, 1650, 1652, and 1658, 

 while from 1647-9 'cesses' were imposed upon the 

 inhabitants 'by reason of a garrison here.'*' 



In 1657 the m.iyor and burgesses petitioned for 'a 

 brief for a collection towards building up their pier,' " 

 and in 1662 a similar petition was referred to the 

 Lord Chancellor.'' 



During the Dutch war of 1664-7 the attention 

 of the government was attracted to Hartlepool. A 

 report and map of the place was drawn up in 1664. 

 It was said to possess a competent harbour which 

 would receive a ship of 100 tons. The port provided 

 a place of safety for passing colliers in bad weather 

 and in war time.'' \'essels pursued by the Dutch 

 frequently took refuge in the harbour,'" and the 

 government continued the garrison there until the 

 end of the century." 



In 1665 an attempt was made to obtain Parlia- 

 mentary aid for the repair and maintenance of the 

 pier, but the Bill was defeated." In 1719 a small 

 duty for the maintenance of the pier was imposed on 

 exported grain." Every inhabitant of the town was 

 liable to be called upon to furnish work on the pier, 

 but repairs of this kind were, of course, haphazard 

 and unsatisfactory." Between 1721 and 1732, how- 

 ever, the greater part of the pier was repaired by the 

 generosity of the successive mayors." 



The price of corn in I 741 suddenly rose from 6/. 

 to I 5/. per boll, causing serious riots in Hartlepool. 

 These were stopped only by the public-spirited action 

 of William Romaine, a member of a Huguenot 

 refugee family who had settled in the town as a corn 

 merchant and become a capital burgess. He sold his 

 jtock to all comers at the old price, and in this way 

 relieved the immediate discontent." 



In the course of the 1 8th century the trade of 

 Hartlepool diminished and the harbour was allowed 

 to fall into disrepair. Hutchinson in 1794 suggested 

 improvements which might be made in it to the 

 great advantage of the town." In 1795 R. Dodd, 

 an engineer, issued a Report on the various Improvementi, 

 Ciyll and Military, that might be made in the Haven or 

 Harbour of Hartlepool^* but nothing was done and the 

 town continued to deteriorate. By the beginning of 

 the 19th century it was known only as a health resort, 

 and even in this capacity it was not very successful, as 

 the accommodation was poor, and the streets were 

 dirty and insanitary.*' The inhabitants lived in such 

 complete isolation that they preserved many ancient 

 customs, forgotten elsewhere. The fishermen and 

 fishwives wore a distinctive costume, and by constant 

 intermarriage practically everyone in the town was 

 related. """ There is a local tradition that during the 

 Napoleonic wars a foreign ship was driven into the 

 port with a monkey on board, and that the people of 

 Hartlepool, never having heard of such a creature, at 

 once hanged it as a French spy. 



In 1804 the corporation made another attempt to 

 obtain Parliamentary aid for the repair of the pier, 

 as the town was evidently in no position to undertake 

 the work, but again they were unsuccessful.' 



In 1808 'a grant of the harbour was unfortunately 

 made to an individual . . . who immediately enclosed 

 it for the purposes of agriculture.' ' A crop of corn 

 was grown upon the dry Slake, but in 1 8 i 3 William 

 Vollum, one of the capital burgesses, indicted the 

 inclosure as a nuisance. The case was tried at 

 Durham, and a verdict was given in favour of the 

 town, thus saving not merely the Slake but also pro- 

 bably the harbour, which would have silted up with- 

 out the scouring action produced by the sweep of the 

 backwater in the Slake.' 



Meanwhile the severe storms of 18 10 carried away 

 a great part of the ruined pier. Again petitions were 

 presented to the House of Commons, pointing out 

 that Hartlepool w.is the only safe harbour between 

 Sunderland and Bridlington, a distance of 90 miles 

 on a stormy coast, but still nothing was done. A 

 committee was therefore formed to collect subscriptions 

 for the purpose, and in 181 3, largely through the 



" Ca/. 5. P.flom. i638.9,pp.435-4,5 3i;. 



" Ibid. 1 640- 1, p. 202. There was a 

 talk of putting foot and horse into it, but 

 it ii not clear whether anything was done 

 ibid. 201, cf. 4''>4). 



»> Arch. All (New Ser.), xxi, 175. 



8' Ibid. :82; Hht. MSS. Com. Rip. 

 »ii, App. i, 97a; liii, App. i, 181. The 

 Earl reported that there were 9 pieces of 

 cannon in the town and a small quantity 

 of ammunition. He proposed to establish 

 a magazine at Hartlepool {Thurht Start 

 Papers, i, 4 1 ). 



" Welford, Mon. in St. Nicholai, Ne-w- 

 ctille, 1 35. 



'^ Sharp, Hilt, of Hartlepool, 60, 148 ; 

 Cal. S. P. Dam. 1645-7, P* 54* 



^ Sharp, Hilt, of Hartlepool, 59.60 ; 

 Hilt. MSS. Com. Rep, liii, App. i, 232 ; 

 Arci. Ael. (New Ser.), xxi, 140-2. 



^ Journ. Ho. of Com. V, 98. 



" Ric. Com. for Comp. in Northumb. 

 an J Dur. (Surt. Soc), 92, 93 ; Sharp, 

 Hist, of Hartlepool, 60, 82 n. ; Cal. S. P. 

 Dom. 1657-8, pp. 338-9, 360; 1658-9, 

 pp. 38, 78, 94 ; Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. 

 vi, App. i, 159, 160. 



•■' Cal. S. P. Dom. 1657-8, p. 251. 



"' Ibid. 1661-2, p. 339. 



'• Ibid. 1664-5, P- ■4*- The plan 

 shows a number of platforms for guns 

 round the coast of the peninsula. 



*" Ibid. p. 215 ; 1666-7, pp. 81, 97 ; 

 »«7Z-3. P- 77 i >673. PP- 3*9. 376- 



268 



" Ibid. 1666-7, p. 64 ; 1693, p. 

 67. 



" Journ. Ho. of Com. viii, 595, 602. 



^^ Sharp, op. cit, 157. 



»< Ibid. 



^^ Hutchinson, op. cit. iii, 32. 



" Sharp, Hist, of Hartlepool, 89 n. 



'' Hutchinson, op. cit. 28-32. 



" ArcA. Ael. (Ser. 3), iii, no j Sharp, 

 Hist, of Hartlepool, 163. 



'' Proc. Soc. Antij. Netvcastle (Ser. 3), 

 iii, 273 ; Sharp, op. cit. Suppl. 8-10. 



>* Sharp, Hist, of Hartlepool, 175, 



'73- 



• Ibid. 158. 

 »Ibid. 151. 

 ' Ibid. 



