A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



that of Gilbert Spurnhare ; he had fifteen cottages and 

 60 acres in the field of V'iithouk, paying 32/. The 

 other rents amounted to 1 3;. 8^. in all. Eight 

 oxgangs of the 4.0 recorded in the Boldon Book as 

 held by the farmers had come into the hands of free 

 tenants or malmen. The remainder was held in 

 twenty-one tenements, in many cases of i oxgang 

 each. Some tenants had the normal holding of 2 

 oxgangs, for which the rent was now 10;. 5jrf'., the 

 increases being accounted for by the commutation 

 of their services.'- 



The account of the receiver for 1385-6 records 

 ^84 5/. 4^^". from Norton, with [^-j \os. %d. from 

 the court ; other receipts amounted to 37J. 6d.^^ 



In the 15th century most of the manorial sources 

 of profit were leased to the tenants. The tollbooth 

 mentioned in 1401 probably stood in the middle 

 of the village.^'' The common bake-house in 

 1405 and 1407 stood at the end of the building 

 containing the common forge.'^^ In 1457 the mill 

 was demised half to John Halyman and Thomas 

 Wedow and half to Thomas Bowbark for three years 

 at a rent of 26 marks. ^^ John Garry had a lease of 

 the water-mill in 1460 ; in the first year he was to 

 pay £17 13/. 4(/. and in the second and third 

 years j^l8 a year.'' Anthony Tunstall of Stockton 

 obtained in 1548 a lease of the water corn-mill for 

 thirty years at the rent of j^l6 13/. ^d. a year.'^ In 

 1595 the receipts from Norton were ^^53 8/. j\rl. ; 

 Thomas Howitson paid ^8 6/. %d. for the mill,'' i.e., 

 half a year's rent. The forges are mentioned several 

 times *° and part of the furniture — a stithy of iron 

 with a pair of bellows, two pairs of tongs and two 

 ' nailcolez ' — was taken in Stockton by violence from 

 John Smith of Norton in 1415.''' The watercourse 

 on the west of the road called Stabstongate is 

 mentioned in 1406.*^ 



The Parliamentary survey of the bishop's lands 

 made in 1647 states that the water corn-mill at 

 Norton was the only one in the lordship of Stockton, 

 and all tenants were bound to grind there except 

 those of Carlton. The copyholders were bound to 

 repair the mill, scour the millrace and dam, bring 

 timber and millstones for it, but for this carrying 

 they had 412'. a mile pay and dinner. The mill had 

 6 acres of meadow attached to it ; the miller had 

 the hay, but after it had been gathered the people 

 generally had pasturage thereon. The tenants of 

 60 oxgangs of land used to help in the lord's hay- 

 making or pay 40J. The copyholders' fines were 

 certain, but varied in each tenement.'" The water- 

 mill, to the east of the village, is mentioned in 1857 

 as paying rates to Stockton.^'' 



The manor of Norton is now held by the Eccle- 

 siastical Commissioners in right of the sec of Durham. 



There is a small copyhold MJhOR OF THE 

 I'ICj'IRAGE which was mentioned in the survey of 

 1647 : 'The Vicarage has glebe lands worth j[^6o a 

 year, and the same is a manor and kcepith its courts 



two times a year. 



In 



■95 



the vicar was accus- 



tomed to hold a court.'"^ A terrier of 1734 thus 

 describes the manor : ' A copyhold manor belongs to 

 the vicar, the tenants whereof pay a yearly rent of 

 j^4 19/. I Of/., the one half on Great Monday after 

 Pentecost, the other half at Great Monday after 

 Martinmas, besides 29 hens at Martinmas and several 

 days' labour in hay and corn harvest. But the 

 particulars of what each tenant is to pay are 

 expressed in their respective fines.'''' 



The drengage tenant of 1 1 84 was Alan de 

 Normanton (? Norton), who held a carucate of land 

 by a rent of 10/. His services resembled those of the 

 farmers, except that he was exempt from personal 

 labour.'"* His holding belonged in the 14th century 

 to the family of Lucas. Robert Lucas of Norton is 

 mentioned in 1343,''' and in 1 349 Thomas his son 

 paid relief for his freehold and himself had tenants ; 

 land here was held in i 349 by Thomas son of Robert 

 Lucas, who paid relief in the same year.*" It may have 

 been this estate which was called the ' manor of 

 Norton' about I 3 50, when Robert de Bowes granted 

 it to Richard de Boulton.^' In 1384 the drengage 

 holding of a messuage and I carucate of land called 

 LUCASLAND was in the possession of Sir Roger 

 Fulthorpe ; he paid a rent of 19/. \od. and was 

 free of all services.'"'- Another drengage tenement, 

 created after 1 1 84, was in the hands of Sir Roger at 

 this date. It consisted of 29 acres called ' Trumper- 

 land,' and had belonged to Master John de Norton, 

 clerk, who died in or before 1349, leaving as heir his 

 nephew John, the son of Gilbert. '' This Sir Roger 

 Fulthorpe seems to have been the lord of Tunstall (q. v.). 

 Lands in Norton and Blakiston were among those for- 

 feited with Tunstall and repurchased by William Ful- 

 thorpe, son of Sir Roger, in 1389. •"'^ In 1432 seven 

 messuages and 10 oxgangs in Norton were granted by 

 the trustees of William Fulthorpe to Robert Thorn 

 for life.*^ This accounts for the fact that Thomas 

 Fulthorpe of Tunstall had only one messuage and 

 30 acres in Norton at his death in March 1467-8, 

 when his young daughters Isabel and Philippa were 

 his heirs. '^ The estate of 10 oxgangs in the common 

 fields came into the possession of the Radcliffe 

 family,'*' and was forfeited by Bryan Palmes in i 569.'' 

 Roger Radcliffe of Mulgrave, Yorks, in I 590*' settled 

 it and other lands, including a moiety of the manor 



'" HaiJSeld'i Sur^i. (Surt. Soc), 172—7, 



" Ibid. 265. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 5, R. 13, fol. 371 d. 



'* Ibid. no. 13, fol. 451 d. ; no. 14, 

 fol. 115. »5 Ibid. no. 16, fol. 5 d. 



" Ibid. fol. 57. 



'"" Def>. Ktepcr'i Rep. xxxvii, App. 43. 



'' Eccl. Com. Rec. 22019;, f°'- 9- 



^'Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 13, fol. 98, 

 400-451 d. (two forges) ; no. 14, fol. 88, 

 115, 668 ; no. 15, fol. 486, 581. 



" Ibid. no. 14, fol. 693, 699. 



" IbiJ. fol. 43. 



*' Surtees, op. cit. iii, 172. 



^* Fordyce, op. cit. ii, 207, 



*' Surteei, loc. cit. 



" Brewster, Hist, of Stockton, 132. 



*' Inform, from the vicar. Canon T, 

 Errington Scott, 



*" l^.C.H. Dur. i, 330-1. 



" Reg^. Palm. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 

 135. He was possibly the Robert son of 

 John son of Luke of Norton who in 

 1307 paid 36J. as relief on succeeding 

 to his father's lands [Boldon Bk. [Surt. 

 Soc], p. xxxii), 



'"" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, fol. 44 ; 

 R. 12, fol. 3 2d. Agnes wife of Richard 

 Lucas was found in the same year to have 

 held a messuage and 3 oxgangs of land in 

 Norton of the bishop by a rent of 121. ; 

 her heir was Alice daughter of Adam the 

 Miller of Hartlepool and Juliana his wife 

 (ibid. no. 2, fol. 45 d.). John son of 



German Lucas is mentioned at about the 

 same date (ibid. R. 12, fol. 32). 



*' Ibid. fol. 48. 



■''- Hatfield's Surf. (Surt. Soc), 172. 



^^ Ibid. ; Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, foU 

 44 ; R. 12, fol. 32. 



*' Cat. Pat. 1388-92, p. 168. 



^^ Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 36, m. 6. 



^^ Ibid. no. 4, fol. 33. 



^^ Ibid. no. 3, fol. 21. 



*8 Exch. K.R. Misc. Bks. xxxviii, fol. 

 244. In 1607 warranty was given 

 against the heirs of Thomas Fulthorpe, 

 deceased, and of Roger Ratclifte, deceased 

 (Dur. Rcc. cl. 12, no. 2 [2]). 



*^ Dep. Keeper s Rep. xxxvii, App. i, 

 112. 



306 



