A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



between llz; and his death in 1128, after which 

 the monks obtained a further confirmation from the 

 ifing.'**' Blaitiston was in the monks' confirmation 

 charters obtained from Henry II before 1168,**^ 

 from Richard I in 1 195,'" and from John in 1204.^' 

 Richard, the bishop's nephew did not readily 

 acquiesce in the restitution, and Henry I thereupon 

 ordered Walter Espec and others to see that Blakiston 

 was effectually possessed by the monks and to adjudge 

 on Richard's claim. ^- The result was that Richard 

 held it of the monks. It seems to have been his son 

 who as Robert son of Richard de Ravensworth re- 

 leased all his right in BLikiston and other places to 

 Geoffrey son of his nephew Geoffrey son of Richard 

 at the end of the 12th century. '■'' Afterwards Geoffrey 

 son of Geoffrey promised Thomas Prior of Durham 

 (1 233-44.) ^"'^ '^^ monks to do suit of court for his 

 tenement of Blakiston whenever there should be any 

 pleading in the prior's court by writ of the bishop or 

 (during vacancy) of the king.''' Sir Marmaduke son 

 of Geoffrey in the time of Prior Hugh (1258-73) 

 released to the monks all his claim in the ' manor ' of 

 Blakiston, which was of the prior and convent's fee and 

 which he had formerly held of them by right of 

 inheritance.'^ 



After the surrender by Marmaduke son of Geoffrey 

 the monks apparently bestowed the manor on a member 

 of the lamily of Park. The vill was subsequently held 

 of the prior and convent by a rent of ibs. 2d. and 

 services at the manor of Bewley.'"' Sir Geoffrey 

 de Park of Blakiston was one of the bishop's knights 

 in I 264.'' Richard de Park was in 1314 absolved of 

 his offence in assaulting the vicar of Billingham.'-"* 

 Richard de Park was lord of Blakiston in 1335,'' 

 and was probably identical with the Richard son of 

 Richard de Park mentioned in 1339.""* I" '3 + ' 

 this Richard released to Roger de Blakiston and his 

 heirs all right in a messuage and 5 oxgangs in 

 Blakiston which Roger held for life by the grant of 

 the older Richard ; besides this he gave a release of a 

 messuage to Hugh de Blakiston.' The final sale of 

 the estate to the Blakiston family probably took place 

 in 1349, when Roger de Blakiston and John son of 

 Roger de Hardwick obtained from Richard de Park 

 and Christiana his wife six messuages, 200 acres of 

 land, a mill, &c.,- for in I 341 the lord of Blakiston 

 was distinguished from Roger de Blakiston who had 

 land there,' but m 1349 Roger was certainly lord of 

 the place.'' In the time of Edward IV Edward Park 

 made an attempt to recover the manor.^ 



Blakiston of Blakis- 



ton. Argent tivo bars 

 'with thee cocks in the 

 chief all gules. 



The origin of the family of Blakiston is not clear. 

 One R.ilph de Rounton (Rungeton) was in 1339 

 found to have held three messuages and 40 acres of 

 land in Blakiston of Richard son of Richard de Park 

 by fealty, a rent of zs. \d., a pair of gloves and half 

 a pound of cummin ; he also had lands in Redmarshall 

 and Carlton. His heir was his son William de Blakiston, 

 aged thirty.^ William died 

 in or before 1349 holding 

 the same estate in Blakiston 

 of Roger de Blakiston ; his 

 heir was his nephew John 

 Roland of Butterwick, in 

 Sedgefield parish, son of a 

 sister, and thirty years old.' 

 It seems possible that this was 

 the William who was ap- 

 pointed sheriff and escheator 

 of Durham and Sadberge in 

 1344," and continued in the 

 office in I 345,' but then dis- 

 appears from the records. 



Roger de Blakiston appears from 1329'" to about 

 1359"; ^^ w^^ appointed a justice in 1344.'- 

 His successor, perhaps his son, was probably the 

 William de Blakiston who occurs in the rolls from 

 1367 onwards.'' He was a knight in 1409.'* He 

 died in or bef re 14 18, when the writ oi diem clauiit 

 extrfmum was issued. '^ At the subsequent inquisition 

 it was found that he held the manor and vill of 

 Blakiston of the Prior of Durham by 2 marks rent ; 

 also land called Chamberland, to which he had no 

 claim. In 1396 he had made a settlement of the 

 estate, the remainder being to his son William the 

 younger and Katherine his wife. The son died 

 before his father, so that the heir was a grandson, 

 Nicholas, son of the younger William, who was 

 twenty years of age."' Nicholas, on coming of age, 

 received his grandfather's lands.'' A little later he 

 was one of the commissioners of array for Stockton 

 Ward,'* as he was again in 1447." He died in 

 1460, having made various feoffments of his lands to 

 provide for younger children, including a conrejance 

 made in 1457 to John Nevill and others of the 

 manor and vill of Blakiston.-" His heir was a son 

 Willi.im, aged forty, who had already acted as 

 commissioner of array for Stockton Ward.-' 



William Blakiston died in 1468 -^ ; his heir was a 

 son Thomas, aged thirty, who after doing homage 

 was allowed to have seisin of his inheritance.^' 



** Ftod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 

 lo8n., 14511.; Cal. Chan. R. 1257- 

 I 300, p. 484 ; Farrer, Early Torks. Chart. 



»73- 



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

 p. Ixxxiii. 



^ Cal. Chart. R. 1327-41, p. 324. 



" Cal. Rot. Chart. 1199-1216 (Rec. 

 Com.), 118 ; Feed. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. 

 Soc), 94. 



" Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 

 14; n. ; Farrer, Early Torks. Chart, ii, 

 274. 



*' Surtecs, op. cit. ii, 210. 



^* Feod. Prior. Dunelm, (Surt. Soc), 

 146 n. 



" Ibid. 



"^ Ibid. 44, 144, 318 ; Jialmota Prior, 

 Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), i, 200. 



" Hutchinson, op. cit. i, 221. Richard 



dc Park appears in the time of Bishop 

 Hugh and had a son Geoffrey, who had a 

 son Richard, perhaps the father of the 

 Geoffrey in the text [Feod. Prior. Dunelm. 

 [Surt. Soc], 19 n., 125 n., 140 n., 142 n., 

 148 n., 162 n., 176 n., 184 n.). 



»" Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), i, 

 549 ; see also ibid, ii, 1160, &c. 



"Ibid, iii, 169. 



">" Dur. Rec cl. 3, no. 2, fol. 18. 



' Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 29, m. 1 1 ; Sur- 

 teei, op. cic. iii, 161. 



* Final concord cited by Hutchinson, 

 op. cit. iii, 1 17. 



' Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, fol. 21. 



• Ibid. fol. 43 d. 



^ Surtces, op. cit. iii, i6o. 



« Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, fol. 18. 



' Ibid. fol. 43 d. 



' Def. Keeper's Rep. zxxi, App. 50. 



' Ibid. 52, 114. William de Mordon 

 was made escheator in 1345-6 (ibid. 

 146). 



'" Ibid. 43, 46, &c. 



" Ibid. 120. '» Ibid. 50. 



'^ Ibid, ixxii, App. 265, 301, Ac 



'* Ibid, xxxiii, App. 86. 



'^ Ibid. Inquiry was also to be made as 

 to lands of his son William. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, fol. 187 d., 188. 



" Dep, Keeper s Rep. xxxiii, 105, 135, 

 147. " Ibid. 140. 



'» Dur. Rrc. cl. 3, R. 43, m. 18. 



'° Ibid, file 166, no. 53 ; Dep. Keeper's 

 Rep. xliv, App. 319 ; xxxv, App. 105. 



" Ibid. xxxiT, App. 216 ; xxxv, App. 

 78,87 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 4, fol. 32. 



" Ibid. ; Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxv, App. 

 106. 



308 



