STOCKTON WARD 



HARTLEPOOL 



of goods such as the king has in the boroughs of 

 his barons.' Another saving clause was that the 

 bishop's men and the men of the Prior and convent 

 of Durham were to be free from toll in Hnrtlepool.'^ 

 This charter was confirmed by the Prior and convent 

 of Durham, as was a similar charter granted by the 

 bishop to Peter de Brus of Skelton, who was 

 holding Hartlepool during the minority of the heirs 

 of the immediate lord, Robert de Brus. In both 

 charters the prior and convent reserved their right 

 to buy food in Hartlepool and the liberties granted 

 them by William and Robert de Brus. In the 

 confirmation to Peter de Brus they reserved the right 

 of the heir when he should be of full age.'" Finally 

 the king himself inspected and confirmed the bishop's 

 charter in 1234.'^ 



In spite of the grant of market and fair to the 

 burgesses it was found by quo warranto in 1293 that 

 both belonged to Robert de Brus, then lord of the 

 manor.'"' Documents of the 14th and 15th cen- 

 turies make it clear that the lords of the manor 

 retained possession of the tolls and stallage.'" They 

 had besides control of the port with keelage and 

 prisage of fish, perquisites of court, and the rents 

 from the burgage tenements, the mills, bake-house and 

 common oven.''- Sometimes the profits of the borough 

 were let to farm. 



In 1 3 14, on the death of Robert de Clifford at 

 the battle of Bannockburn, Bishop Kellaw seized 

 Hartlepool'" and at once farmed it to Richard 

 Mason, who paid ^^84 yearly for the vill with the 

 ovens, water-mills and the mill of Hart. ^'' In 1389 

 the borough was let to various tenants, who possibly 

 represented the burgesses, for j^io.^^ 



When John in 1 201 granted to Hartlepool the 

 liberties of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the latter town 

 was governed by bailiffs.'"' The first civic officers of 

 Hartlepool were, therefore, probably bailiffs, but by 

 Bishop le Poor's charter the burgesses were em- 

 powered to have a mayor. 



The earliest reference to a mayor of Hartlepool is 

 in 1306, when he appealed to Edward I about 

 damage done to one of the ships of the port by 

 Norwegians.'" From 1315 a mayor regularly 

 appears as chief officer of the town.^* There were 



still town bailiffs, who were apparently elected 

 officers subordinate to the mayor, and should be 

 distinguished from the bailiffs and collectors of 

 customs appointed by the lord of the manor, the 

 bishop and the king. In 1393 the mayor, bailiffs 

 and some of the burgesses were bound over as 

 representatives of the community to keep the peace 

 with Ralph de Lumley.^' Grants of murage were 

 made during the 14th and early 15th century to the 

 mayor and bailiffs on behalf of the burgesses. These 

 grants illustrate one feature of the history of the 

 borough — the continual rivalry between king and 

 bishop for the supreme influence there. The burgesses 

 took advantage of this rivalry to obtain charters first 

 from one authority and then from the other, so that 

 their right to take murage was almost continuous for 

 nearly a century.^" In 1410, however, the king 

 revoked his most recent grant, declaring that it was 

 to the prejudice of the bishop.^' 



During the 15 th and i6th centuries the municipal 

 organization seems to have merged in that of the 

 gild merchant authorized by Bishop le Poor in 

 1230. No records exist of the early history of the 

 gild, but it is probable that the gild officials, who 

 controlled the trade of the town, must have had 

 more power than the municipal officers. An undated 

 petition to the Crown, probably of the 14th 

 century, asking that the burgesses of Hartlepool 

 might be quit of toll throughout the realm as were 

 the burgesses of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was perhaps 

 presented by the gild.'^- By i 544 the bailiffs had 

 given place to aldermen, who were perhaps originally 

 gild officials,^' and the mayor, who was elected by the 

 aldermen,^'' was probably, also, the chief officer of the 

 gild. It seems clear, also, that the terms ' free burgess ' 

 and ' free merchant ' were interchangeable at the end 

 of the 1 6th century.'" The original qualification 

 for a burgess had been the possession of a burgage 

 tenement. Of these there were 120 in 1437,^*' but 

 a large number were then in the possession of 

 religious bodies," and some were waste.^' In 1565 

 there were 66 householders, many of the houses being 

 in decay. The greater number belonged to the 

 queen, as successor of the ecclesiastical lords. ^' 



In 1587 Lord Lumley bought the manor of 



^' Sharp, Hilt, of Hartlepool^ App. p. i. 



^^ Ibid. 69 n., 70 n. ; CkihWo'' Ckartul. 

 (Surt. Soc), ii, 325 (a more correct 

 version than Sharp's of the prior and 

 convent's deed consenting to the Bishop's 

 charter lo Peter de Brus) ; see also 

 Lansd. MS. 902, fol. 71, where there is 

 a copy of a charter of confirmation from 

 the prior and convent, containing a more 

 ample clause a? to their right of buying 

 victuals. This refers to the prior and 

 convent's right of pre-emption as against 

 the borough custom of * lot,' i.e. the 

 practice of sharing a purchase of pro- 

 visions among the burgesses, who might 

 each chim sufficient for the needs of 

 his household at the price paid by the 

 original p\irchaser (Bateson, Borough 

 Customs [Selden Soc.],ii, pp. Ixvii ct seq., 

 166 n., 180 n.). 



" Chart. R. 39 4 40 Edw. Ill, m. 8, 

 no. 27. 



<" Plac. de Quo IVarr. (Rec. Com.), 604. 



*' Chan. Inq. p.m. 13 Ric. II, no. 14 ; 

 4 Hen. I'V, no. 37. 



" Ibid. ; Pldc. de Quo IVarr. loc. cit. ; 

 Cal. ln<f. p.m. (Edw. Ill), viii, 384; Chan. 

 Inq. p.m. 15 Hen. VI, no. 55, Some of 



these rights had probably been reserved 

 by the Brus family in charters which no 

 longer exist. At the end of the 12th 

 century Bishop Hugh Pudsey in the 

 charter which created the borough of 

 Sunderland reserved to himself the same 

 right of pre-emption of fish as Robert de 

 Brus had at Hartlepool (Surtecs, Hist, of 

 Dur. i [2], 298). 



*■* See Hart parish. 



" Reg. Paint. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 

 1265. Richard Mason was bailiff in the 

 following year (Sharp, op. cit. 70). About 

 1380 the herring-house, common oven, 

 windmill, and tolls within the borough 

 were entered among the bishop's posses- 

 sions {Hatjield's Surv. [Surt. Soc], 

 197-8). It is uncertain how they came 

 to be in his hands. 



*' Chan. Inq. p.m. 13 Ric. II, no. 14. 



" Brand, H:st. and .intii. of Newcasile- 

 upoii-T}nr^ ii, 392. 



" Anct. Corresp. xviii, 81; ; cf. Cal. Pat. 

 1301--, p. 490; Anct. Pet. (P.R.O.), 

 2537, 11161. 



** Sharp, Hist, of Hardepool, 70-2. 



*'-' Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 33, m. 12 d. For 

 this quarrel see ibove. 



271 



^» Cat. Pat. 1313-17, p. 347; i3H-7i 

 p. 250; 1327-30, p. 233; 1330-4, 

 p. 48 ; Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), 

 iii, 350 ; Cal. Pat. 1364-7, p. 33 ; Dur. 

 Rec. cl. 3, R. 32, m. 4 ; Sharp, Hist, of 

 Hartlepool^ App. p. ii ; Cal. Pat. 1391-6, 

 p. 1 18 ; Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 33, m. 2 d., 21; 

 Cal. Pat. 1399-1401, p. 355. 



" Cal. Pat. 1408-13, p. 264. 



'"^ Anct. Pet. (P.R.O.), 5767. It wa« 

 made in the name of the men of Hartle- 

 pool. 



*' A petition from the town to the 

 Earl of Shrewsbury in that year was 

 presented bv the aldermen and brethren 

 (Add. MS. '32655, fol. 251). 



" Cal. S. P. Dom. Add. 1547-65, p. 



573- 



" See the burgess' oath (Sharp, Hist. 

 of Hartlepool, 74, 105 n.). 



" Chan. Inq. p.m. i 5 Hen. 'VI, no. 37. 



*' Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 24, 

 1 38; Halmote R. (Surt. Soc), 200; cf. 

 Cal. S. P. Dom. I ;4--65, p. 573 ; Rentals 

 and Surv. ptf. 7, no. 29, fol. 41 d., 42 d. 



" Feod. Prior. 'Dunelm. loc. cit. 



" Cl/. S. P. Dom. MJ. 1547-65, 

 P- 573- 



