A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



requisitioned from Hartlepool for the Scotch and 

 French wars of the 13 th and 14th centuries.*'' The 

 town's contribution to the northern section of the 

 grand fleet which Edward III brought before Calais 

 in 1346 was five ships and 145 sailors.*'^ About 

 the middle of the 14th century the family of 

 Nesbit seem to have been the principal shipowners in 

 the town.' A ship called ' La Marie ' of Hartlepool 

 belonged in 1395 to Robert Houdene, who w.is 

 authorized to embark 50 pilgrims in it for Santiago.-'^ 

 In 1565 there was one ship, the ' Peter,' belonging 

 to the town ; in 1672 there were two small vessels.'-''' 

 A shipbuilding yard was opened at Hartlepool in 

 1836 by Mr. Denton, who was afterwards joined 

 in p.irtnership by William Gray. In 1864 the firm 

 of Denton, Gray & Co. launched their first iron 

 ship. The firm moved to West Hartlepool in 1871.*"^ 

 At the present day the principal firms are the 

 Hartlepool engine-works of the amalgamated com- 

 pany of Richardsons, Westgarth & Co., Sir William 

 Allan & Sons and Sir Christopher Furness, West- 

 garth & Co., marine engine builders, and the 

 Irvines Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., shipbuilders. 



The fisheries of H.irtlepool are its oldest industry. 

 In I 360 it was said that the livelihood of the men of 

 Hartlepool 'depends entirely on their fishing on the 

 sea.' '" The mayor and aldermen of Newcastle-upon- 

 Tyne in 1560 declared that 'Hartlepool hath been 

 time out of mind a fisher town, and so long as the 

 inhabitants of the same framed and applied themselves 

 to their occupation of fishing, their town prospered.' '^ 

 The commissioners of 1565 reported that there were 

 three 5-men boats and seventeen small cobbles be- 

 longing to Hartlepool, all occupied in fishing, which 

 employed fifty-one persons, all fishermen and 

 not mariners.'^ A suit in 1 560-1 gives some 

 trade terms then in use. The case concerned the 

 delivery at Hartlepool to two London fishmongers of 

 1,000 codfish, 'good swete and mercandizable, of 

 27 inches by besome and upward, skynne and blew- 

 berde owtcaste, and no sayntes ffyshe taken owt.' '^ 

 Sharp gives an interesting aciount of the fisheries at 

 the beginning of the 19th century.'^ 



In 1650 Lord Lumley, as impropriator of the 

 rectory of Hart, which included tithes of fish at 

 Hartlepool, brought an action against the fishers of 

 Hartlepool ' touching a duty of a 20th part or rent of 



all fish brought to the port,' and obtained a decree to 

 receive it until the fishermen should try the right 

 at law." In 171 8 the lord of the manor brought 

 another suit against the owners of fishing vessels, 

 when it was proved that there had long been a 

 customary payment, but its amount was uncertain. 

 The court fixed the sum at I z./. in the [^ on all 

 fish caught by fishermen of the parish, all reasonable 

 charges being first deducted.'^ By the beginning of 

 the 19th century this had been commuted for a 

 fixed annual payment of 8/. per cobble." 



The foreign trade of Hartlepool fluctuated as the 

 political importance of the place varied. In 1275 

 the king ordered the bailiffs of Hartlepool to arrest 

 the goods of any Zealand merchants in the town 

 for robberies committed upon London merchants 

 in Zealand.'* In 1305 similar orders were sent 

 concerning merchants of Amiens, St. Omer, and 

 other French towns," but these were merely general 

 orders, and did not necessarily mean that there 

 were such merchants in the town. In 1279 the 

 goods of Bremen merchants in England were to 

 be arrested in satisfaction for the losses of four Hartle- 

 pool merchants while trading in Bremen.-" In 1339 

 there was a complaint relating to the ' Cuthbert ' 

 of Hartlepool, a ship belonging to John de Nesbyt, 

 a Hartlepool merchant, which was seized off the 

 coast of Denmark and detained by the men of 

 ' Hardenwyk, Swoll, Staver Camp, Lubye, Strel- 

 sond and Rostok,' while trading in ' Estland.' The 

 merchant petitioned Edward III, who wrote to the 

 Emperor to demand that justice should be done." 

 Edward the First's war with Scotland probably 

 gave an impetus to the trade of Hartlepool, as the 

 town was used as a depot from which stores were 

 transported to the troops.^- 



The articles of trade at Hartlepool were corn,^' 

 the neighbourhood being very fertile, herrings and 

 other fish,-^ wine, wools -' and hides. Bishop Bury's 

 charter of murage in 1339 enumerated the articles 

 coming to the town on which toll might be levied, 

 including corn, hides of horses and cattle, meat, 

 fat hogs, salmon, lampreys, fleeces, sheep skins, skins 

 of small animals, cloth, linen web, canvas, Irish 

 cloth, 'galeward,' worsted, turf, silk, cypress, wine, 

 ashes, honey, wool, hay, reeds, fodder, nets, tallow, 

 woad, alum, copperas, argol, verdigris, onions, garlic, 



"' Ca/. Chit, 1296-1302, pp. 99, 

 121; 1302-7, p. 76; 1318-23, pp. 

 524, 53' i '323-7. P- 643; '333-7. 

 PF- 43'. 573; '354-60, p. 10; Cal. 

 Pal. 1343-5, P- 55 5 ) -So'. Hcoiiac 

 (Rec. Com.), i, 55, 83, 91-2, 129, 

 209-10, 232, 248, 279, 309, 317, 365, 

 J67, 684. In 1335 Nicholas de Brun- 

 toft, the maj-or, fitted out two warships 

 at his own expense for service against 

 the Scots. He was allowed to act as I 

 free-lance instead of taking his orders 

 from the admiral of the fleet (ibid, i, 

 357-8). 



•e Halduyt, Voyaget (1903 ed.), i, 

 297-8. Yarmouth contributed the highest 

 number, 43 ; Newcastle-on-Tyne, 17. 



« Cat. /"aM 338-40, p. 378 ; 1340-43, 

 P- 385 ; '343-5. P- 555 i ^a/. Cloie, 

 •343-6. P- 579- 



'a Cal. Pat. 1391-6, p. 565. 



•b Cal. S. P. Dom. 1601-3, ^'i<^- 

 '547-65. P- 573; 'bid. 1672, p. 53; 

 cf. ibid. 1 649-50, p. 244; i673-s,p.453. 



Between Christmas 1727 and Christmas 

 1728 19 ships arrived at London from 

 Hartlepool (Maitland, Hitt. of Londoity 

 1262-3). 



•c V.C.H. DuT. ii, 307. 



'" Cal. Pat. 1358-61, p. 427. 



" S. P. Dom. Eliz. xiii, no. 13. 



" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1601-3, ^''<'- 

 '547-65. P- 573- 



'^ Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 82, m. 10. 



'* Sharp, Hist, cif Harikfool, 178 et seq. 



'^ £xch, Dep. Mich. 1650, no. 3 ; cf. 

 Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 452, no. 80; 

 Sharp, Hist, of Hartlepool^ 132 n, 



" Exch. Dep. Mich. 5 Geo. I, no. 11 ; 

 Exch. K. R. Dec. (Ser. 4), xxi, no. 285. 



'^ Sharp, Hsst. of Hanlepooly 1320. 



'* Cal. fine R. 1272-1307, p. 57. 



" Ibid. 502, 519. 



'" Cal. Pat. 1272-81, p. 301. 



" Ibid. 1338-40, p. 378 i lee ibid. 

 1340-3, pp. 54-5. The men of Hartle- 

 pool were accused of a similar crime 

 against a merchant of Estland in 1403 



276 



(ibid. 1401-5, p. 359). In 1477 Lord 

 Lumley and Sir George Lumley were 

 said to have acted as ' wreckers ' when a 

 Hamburg ship bearing a cargo of fish 

 from IceLind to London was stranded on 

 the coast near Hartlepool (ibid. 1478-85, 

 p. 23). The matter was referred to 

 Richard Duke of Gloucester, Admiral 

 of England (ibid.). The bishop also 

 appointed commissioners (Dur. Rec. cl, 

 3, R. 54, m. 5). 



" Ca/. Chit, 1296-1302, p. 77; 

 1302-7, p. 522 ; Rot. Scotiae (Rec. Com.), 

 i, 116, 125-6; cf. Cal. Closty 1354-60, 

 p. 223, 655, for the French wars. 



"Ibid. 1350-4, p. 375; Cal. Pal. 



'307-'3. P- 43°; '36';4. P- 467; 

 Dur. Acct. Rolls [Sun. Soc), iii, 692, 693 ; 

 Rot. Scotiae (Rec. Com.), i, 565 ; Anct. D. 

 (P.R.O.), D 1105. 



" Dur. Aat. R. (Surt. Soc), 3, 13, 

 18, 22, 24, 27, 33, 69, 72, 460, 484, 

 534, 664, 666, 696. 



" Reg.Palat, Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 50. 



