A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



of fish there passed to the Crown."' The right of 

 presentation belonged to the vicar of Hart until 1905, 

 when It was transferred to the Bishop of Dur- 

 ham." 



Hart rectory and Hartlepool chapel were leased to 

 Thomas Legh in 1541." Subsequently the rectory 

 became the property of Lord Lumley." In 1644 

 the tithes, including that offish, were sequestered as 

 part of Lord Lumley's possessions, and let to Richard 

 Malam." In 1650, when John son of Lord Lumley 

 compounded for his estate, he offered the rectory as 

 half the fine." 



The clergy of Hartlepool seem to have been un- 

 satisfactory in the 16th century, perhaps on account 

 of the strong Roman Catholic feeling in the town. 

 In 1578 the task set for the clergy at the 

 visit.ition was ' utterly neglected by Robert Toyes, 

 deacon of Hartlepool,'" and in the following year 

 Nicholas Lowes, curate of Hartlepool, was suspended 

 from his ministry."' 



After the Reform.ition the affairs of the church were 

 managed by the corporation. The parish register 

 from I 566 to 1597 was kept in the corporation books." 

 Orders for the church were drawn up in I 599 among 

 the other orders for the town, and the list was supple- 

 mented in 1600, 164.0 and 165;.*' The mayor and 

 chief burgesses chose the two churchwardens, who 

 presented their accounts at the borough court.'" 



The chantry of St. Nicholas was founded in St. 

 Hilda's Chapel at Hartlepool before 1396, when the 

 mayor and commonalty received licence from the 

 bishop to refound it for the maintenance of one 

 chaplain, and to endow it with eight messuages in 

 Hartlepool held of Maud de Clifford." On i Janu- 

 ary 1 501-2 Nicholas Pert, chaplain, was presented 

 to this chantry by the mayor and corporation on the 

 death of John Crevison." This chantry is not men- 

 tioned in the rakr Eccksiastkiis or in the report of the 

 Chantry Commissioners in 1 548. 



The third part of a tenement in Hartlepool, which 

 had belonged to a chantry, was granted to Anthony 

 Collins and James M.iylanJ on 17 March 1585, and 

 was sold by them on 29 March of the same year to 

 John Aubrey and Gcr.ird Pudsey, who resold it on 

 20 November 1 599 to John Richardson." In 

 161 5 William Clopton, a collector of the rents of 

 suppressed religious houses, was charged with conceal- 

 ing, among other money, rents from the possessions 

 of a chantry in Hartlepool," and in 1609-10 land 

 belonging to a chantry in Hartlepool was granted to 

 Horatio Earl of Lennox. In none of these cases is 

 the name of the chantry mentioned, and it is only 

 conjecture that it was the chantry of St. Nicholas. 



In 1393 the mayor and commonalty also had 

 licence to found anew the chantry in the chapel of 



St. Helen and endow it with ten messuages and rent 

 in Hartlepool and Nelston." 



The chantry of the Annunciation of the Blessed 

 Virgin Mary was founded by Bishop Kellaw. In 

 I 3 1 1 he proclaimed that, as the rents of the altar of 

 the Blessed Mary in Hartlepool Chapel were now 

 sufficient for the maintenance of a chantry, he would 

 ordain such a chantry unless cause to the contrary 

 should be shown before a certain day."' In 1314 the 

 bishop pronounced sentence of excommunication 

 against any person who should detain legacies from 

 the altar of St. Mary in the church of St. Hilda." 



In 1396 the mayor and commonalty of Hartle- 

 pool received licence from the bishop to refound the 

 chantry of St. Mary. The endowment was for two 

 chaplains, and mcluded thirty-two messuages, twenty- 

 seven tofts and crofts, i\ roods of land and 84/. 51/. 

 rent, most of it held of Maud dc Clifford." The 

 presentation of chaplains to the chantry by the mayor 

 and commonalty occurs in 1413 and 1435." On 

 15 February 1501-2 the mayor and corporation 

 presented William Wright in place of John Gravcson, 

 deceased.'"" The chantry is then called the chantry of 

 the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary the Virgin. 

 In 1535 there was only one chaplain, John Holme ; 

 the clear value was 65/. i\d. rent received from 

 thirteen burgages.' 



In 1548 the Chantry Commissioners valued the 

 chantry of our Lady in the parish church of Hartle- 

 pool at £6 9;. ^ti. There was no stock, and the 

 goods and ornaments were not apprised.' 



On 6 April 1605 the king granted to Sir Henry 

 Lindley and John Starkey a wasted messuage in 

 Micklegate, lately belonging to the chantry of St. 

 Mary, and in July 1607 they sold it to Henry Dethick.' 



In 1395-6 the mayor and commonalty of Hartle- 

 pool obtained licence from the bishop to give seven 

 messuages in Hartlepool held of Maud de Cliflbrd to 

 William Bakster and William Howe, keepers of the 

 fabric of the church of St. Hilda, for the purpose of 

 supplying a light at the altar of the Blessed Mary, 

 and for sustaining the quire of the church.' 



Educational Charities. — Henry 

 CHARITIES Smith's secondary school was founded 

 on 26 June 1884.''' 



The several elementary schools have been already 

 dealt with.' 



Eleemosynary Charities. — In 1679 Sir William 

 Blackett, by his will, devised for the poor a rent-charge 

 of j^2 issuing out of property at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

 The rent-charge was redeemed in 1873 by the transfer 

 of j^67 consols to the official trustees. The annual 

 dividends, now amounting to j^i 1 3.f. \d., are dis- 

 tributed in small money doles, generally of 2/. 6d. 

 each, to poor widows. 



8" Guitbro' Chariul. (Surt. Soc), ii, 

 p. xxxiv. The priory of Gisbrough had 

 tithe of fish caught on the * coast of Hart- 

 nesi' (Cal. Cloir, 1237-41, pp. 169, 177). 



8^ Information from Rev. E. R. Ormsby, 

 rector of St. Hilda's, Hartlcpiol. 



«> L. and P. Hen. Fill, xvi, p. 728. 



^* Sec Hart advowson. 



8* Rtr. Com. for Comp. (Surt. Soc), i. 



^^ Cat. Com. for Comp. ii, 920. 



*' Bp. Barnes Injunc. (Surt. Soc), 74. 



" Ibid. 96. 



8* Sharp, Hist, of Hartltpool, -ja^ 



«* Ibid. Ii2n. 



^ Munic. Rec i. 



»' Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 33, m. 15 d. 



^- Bp. Barnes Injunc. (Surt. Soc), App. 

 i, p. viii. 



"' Arch. All. (New Ser.), iii, 25. 



^' Troc. Soc, Antiq, Neivcastle (Ser. 3), 

 iii, 1 19. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 33, m. 16 d. ; 

 Rentals and Surv. ptf. 7, no. 29 ; Bp. 

 Barnes' Injunc. (Surt. Soc), Ixx ; yalor 

 Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 326. For the 

 Chapel of St. Helen without the Walls, 

 see Hart advowson. 



^ Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (RoUi Ser.), i, 1 3 6. 



284 



" Ibid. 629. 



"f Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 33, m. i6d. 



^ Sharp, Htst. of Hartlepool^ 121 n. 



'«> Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres (Surt. 

 Soc), App. i, p. viii. 



' l-'alor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 326 ; cf. 

 Harl. Roll D 36, m. 23 d. 



^ Bp. Barnes' Injunc. (Surt. Soc), App. 

 vi, p. Ixix. 



^ Pat. 3 Jas. I, pt. X ; Dur. Rec. cl. 3, 

 R, 94, m. 27 d. 



' Ibid. R. 33, m. i6d. 



' See ' Schools,' I'.C.H. Dur. i, 40. 



' Ibid. 403. 



