A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



of the younger Robert was his son John, apparently 

 the Sir John Conycrs of Ormesby who died in 

 1438.'^' Coatham is not mentioned in Sir John's 

 will and does not subsequently follow the descent 

 of Ormesby, so that it is probable that it was 

 given to a younger son of the house. John Conyers 

 died seised of the manor in 1533, and was said to 

 leave a son and heir John, aged eleven.'' It seems 

 probable, however, that John was .ictually his grand- 

 son, and died soon afterwards, for in another inquisi- 

 tion on the elder John, taken ten years later, it was 

 stated that his heir was Robert son of his son Ralph, 

 aged twenty-one.'^' 



Robert Conyers by his will proved in or about 

 1566 left his 'manor and lordship of Coatham' to 

 his son Ralph, while reserving the profits of a third 

 of the manor to provide portions for his three 

 daughters." This Ralph took an active part in 

 the rising of 1569, and on its suppression he was 

 attainted and his lands were confiscated to the 

 Crown. '^'' The manor was worth £2% 8/. ^d. 

 a year, and there were rents from Long Newton 

 of £\ I is. ; the outgoings included the Crown 

 rent of 1 3/. 44'. for Coatham and 1 3/. \d. for 

 Long Newton, and annuities to kinsmen amount- 

 ing to j(^i8 li)s. 4d'.'' Four years later the manor or 

 capital messuage called Coatham Conyers or Coatham 

 Stubbs or Coatham Hall, together with lands of 

 Robert Conyers in Long Newton and Elton, were 

 granted to Roger Manners to be held by the fortieth 

 part of a knight's fee and 13/. i^d. rent."'^ He ex- 

 changed tiiese for other lands in 1576,"' and in 1585 

 the manor was granted at farm to James Conyers, 

 whose patent was for twenty- 

 one years only.'^^ In 1606 

 it was granted with Robert 

 Bowes' capital messuage at 

 Grindon to Sir John Ramsay, 

 who at about the same time 

 was created Viscount Had- 

 dington.'^ He sold it in 161 5 

 to Edward Cropley "^ of 

 London, whose son John 

 Cropley and Edward his son 

 were vouchees in a recovery 

 in 1657.^^ John was created 

 a baronet in i66i and died 

 in 1676.'''' His son Edward, 

 made a knight in 1661, died in 1665, and his 

 widow Martha married Sir Edmund Bowyer of 

 Camberwell,'' who held it in her right in 1684. 

 Sir John Cropley, son of Edward, died unmarried 

 in 1 71 3, having devised his estates to Joseph 

 (Micklethwaite) Lord Micklethwaite, who owned 

 Coatham in 1720 and died unmarried in January 

 1733-4-'* It would seem to have belonged to 



Cropley, baronet. 

 Ermine a chief gula 

 charged ivith three oivh 

 argent. 



Richard (Lumley) Earl of Scarbrough, who died in 

 January 1739-40, for it was held under the terms of 

 his will by James Lumley of Lumley Castle in 1763, 

 when he bequeathed it to his nephew George Dunk 

 Earl of Halifax. Five years later Lord Halifax 

 conveyed this manor with those of Little Chilton and 

 Grindon in Ayclifte to William Denison of Leeds. 

 William died in 1785 having by will devised all his 

 estates here and in Little Chilton and Grindon to his 

 brother Robert for sale, with the proviso that Coatham 

 should only be sold if certain conditions were fulfilled. 

 Robert Denison died childless in 1785, and under 

 his will these manors were held by trustees for John 

 Wilkinson, son of the John Wilkinson who had been 

 one of William Denison's trustees. The young John 

 Wilkinson assumed the name of Denison and on his 

 death in 1820 was succeeded by his son John Evelyn 

 Denison, who barred the entail in the following 

 yej,. "8a It ^yjs afterwards the property of John 

 Denison, and about 1850 it was acquired by Mr. 

 J. S. Sutton of Elton '^ ; he sold it to the late Thomas 

 Appleby, from whose representatives Coatham Stob 

 was purchased in 1910 by Messrs. E. and B. 

 Bainbridge.*'' The partnership was later dissolved, 

 and on the death of Mr. J. E. Bainbridge his widow 

 occupied the property. 



In 1364 a grant of lands in Coatham lately owned 

 by Goscelin Dayvill, tmitor, was made to Robert de 

 Herle and others.*' Richard Strangwayes in 1559 

 was found to have held his lands in Coatham of 

 Robert Conyers.**- 



In 1684 the freeholders of the parish, in addition 

 to Lionel Vane and Sir Edmund Bowyer, were John 

 and Robert Colling, John Fewler, William Hobman, 

 Robert Newham, Robert Peart, and Robert 

 Thorpe.*' 



The church ofS7'. My//??' was entirely 

 CHURCH rebuilt in 1856-7 by the Marchioness 

 of Londonderry, and consists of a chancel 

 30 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft. 6 in., with organ chamber on 

 the south side, nave 55 ft. by 20 ft., south aisle 38 ft. 

 by 10 ft. gin., and south-west porch 9 ft. by loft., 

 all these measurements being internal. There is also 

 a turret containing one bell over the west gable. On 

 the north side of the chancel and open to it by an 

 arcade of three pointed arches is the mausoleum of 

 the Vane family, built also by the Marchioness of 

 Londonderry, where the family monuments are all 

 placed. It is 33 ft. long by 17 ft. 6 in. in width and 

 is in the style of the 13th century with vaulted stone 

 roof, the rest of the building being in the style of a 

 century later. The floor of the mausoleum is raised 

 to the level of that of the chancel, and there is a 

 separate entrance at the west end, the vault being 

 entered on the north side. 



The old church was nearly rebuilt in 1806,*^ and 



" Teit. Ehor. (Surt. Soc), ii, 64 j cf. 

 y.C.H. York:. N. R. loc. cit. 



^ Chan. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), Iv, 94. 



^* Ibid. Ixix, 209. 



«' Dur. fnih and Invent. (Surt. Soc), 

 iii, 35. The wills of Edward Conyers of 

 Long Newton, 1580, and inventor)- of 

 Ralph Conyera of the same, January 

 1580-1, are printed ibid, i, 428, 

 43°- 



'8 Stat. 13 Eliz. cap. 16. 



'« Exch. K.R. Misc. Bits, xxxviii, fol. 

 244-5. The field-names recorded are 



Totehill, Eastfield and Westfield, South- 

 moor and Little Calf Close. 



™ Pat. 15 Eliz. pt. viii, xiii. 



" Ibid. 18 Eliz. pt. xiii, m. 16. 



" Ibid. 27 Eliz. pt. iii, m. 9. 



" Ibid. 4 Jas. I, pt. viii ; G.E.C. 

 Complete Peerage^ iv, 129. 



'^ Surtees, op. cit. iii, 218. 



'' Recov. R. East. 1657, m. 191. 



'^ For the descent see Viiit. of London 

 (Harl. Soc), i, 206 ; G.E.C. Complete 

 Baronetage^ iii, 190. 



" G.E.C. loc. cit. 



302 



"^ G.E.C. Peerage, v, 307. 



"^a D. in the poss. of the Earl of Eldon. 



'^Surtees, op. cit. iii, 218; Fordyce, 

 op, cit. ii, z 1 9. 



^'^ Information kindly supplied by 

 Messrs. Bainbridge. 



^' Ca/. Pat. I 361-4, p. 497. 



*- Dur. Rec. cl. 3, file 177, no. 201. 



^^ .Surtees, op. cit. iii, 213. 



8* Surtees, op. cit. iii, 216; Fordyce, 

 op. cit. ii, 217. Fordyce says it waa 

 built in a style locally known as ' Bar- 

 rington,' after the lord bishop of the 



