A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



worth £20, giving £68 in all*'*' ; but owing to the 

 Scottish raids in the time of Edward II the prebends 

 were in 1318 taxed at ^^4 each and the vicarage at 

 £13, or a total of j^45."'-' In tlie bishop's accounts 

 of the plague year I 349 is entered the sum of 66s. Sd. 

 from Reginald de Hillington, vicar of Norton, for 

 sixteen oxen and four cows sold to him, viz., from the 

 mortuaries received during the vacancy of the church 

 there."" In 1535 the value of the rectory, appro- 

 priated as formerly to eight portionaries, was recorded 

 as j^34 13/. 4a'. in all; the vicarage was worth 

 £■} I I 3/. 4<j'., of which zs. was paid to the archdeacon. °' 

 The college or rectory was confiscated by the Crown 

 in 1548, when it was stated that the incumbents of 

 the rectory had the tithes divided among them to 

 help them to study at the university.^- About 1580 

 they were called ' lay portioners ' ; at that time the 

 dissolved college was still in the queen's hands.'' A 

 grant of it was made to William Tipper and Robert 

 Dawe in 1590,'^ and a further grant was made in 

 1612 to Francis Phelipps and Francis Morrice."* 

 Sir Edmund Duncan, a Royalist, was the owner in 

 1644, at which time it was sequestered by the P.irlia- 

 ment and demised to Rowland and Robert Burdon 

 at ;^i6o a year.'" Part of the rectory — viz., the 

 greater tithes of Norton and East Hartburn — was in 

 1 9 10 given up by the owner, the Right Hon. John 

 Lloyd Wharton, as an additional endowment of the 

 vicarage."' 



The vicarage of Norton continued in the gift of 

 the Bishops of Durham until 1859, when it was 

 transferred to the Bishop of Chester, whose successor 

 is the present patron."" The foundation stone of a 

 new church of St. Michael and All Angels was laid 

 in 191 2. 



At the visitation of 1501 it was found that the 

 vicar did not reside ; the parish chaplain and the 

 chantry priest did not appear, and were therefore 

 suspended."" The vicar at that time (1498-1518) 

 was a man of note. Dr. John Claymond, who was 

 then fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and was 

 elected president in 1 504 ; he had various other 

 ecclesiastical benefices, and in 1516 was made the 

 first president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and 

 from his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament was known 

 as ' Eucharistiae servus.' He founded six scholarships 

 at Brasenose College, one of them to be filled by a 

 candidate from the parish of Norton, including 

 Stockton. He died in 1537."'" 



Although a chantry priest is mentioned in the 

 visitation of 1 501 cited above, it does not appear 

 that an endowed chantry existed in the church, and 

 the priest referred to may have been at Blakiston. 

 William Blakiston, who died in Ij33, left money 

 for a cantarist for twenty years, and this stipend was 

 paid in 1548.' There is nothing to show what 

 became of the chapel of the Holy Trinity at Blakiston 

 or of the chantry founded there in 1323 by Richard 

 de Park and Alice his wife. They 



gave 4 oxgangs 



of land for the maintenance of the chaplain, who 

 was to be assisted by a sufficient clerk, and to say the 

 canonical hours regularly, celebrate a requiem mass 

 thrice a week and mass of Our Lady at other times. 

 The Prior of Durham was to appoint the chaplain 

 after the founder's decease. - 



The ecclesiastical parish of St. Michael and All 

 Angels was formed in 191 8 by Order in Council. It 

 comprises lands taken from the parishes of Norton, 

 St. John Baptist and St. Thomas, Stockton-on-Tees. 

 The living is in the gift of the vicar of Norton. 



A Hermitage garth is mentioned in the endow- 

 ment of the grammar school. 



In 1 7 14— as stated in the Parlia- 

 CHJRITIES mentary returns of 1786 — John 

 Thompson by deed conveyed to 

 trustees certain lands (a) for upholding and maintain- 

 ing the church, and {!>) for the poor. The ecclesi- 

 astical branch consisted of the church field containing 

 about 4 a., which was sold in I 920 and the proceeds 

 invested in _^i,i72 7/. 6il. 5 per cent. War Stock, 

 and a further sum of j^3oo of same stock, presumably 

 accumulations. The endowment of the poor's branch 

 now consists of ^^869 ')s. 6<i. India 3 per cent, stock, 

 representing the proceeds of a sale of land in 1 875 

 with accumulations. The annual dividends, amount- 

 ing to ^^26 \s. SJ., are applied in the distribution of 

 tickets for food, fuel, and clothing. 



In 1781 John Snowdon by his will bequeathed 

 j^ioo stock, now j^ioo consols, the annual dividends 

 of j^2 10/. being distributed in tickets for goods from 

 2S. 6d. to 5/. each in value. 



In 1820 Thomas Newton by his will bequeathed 

 j{[ioo, now represented by £,\o'i zs. id. consols, 

 producing [^z \\s. yearly. The parish of Norton 

 is entitled to one-fifth of the income, Newton Bewley 

 two-fifths, Wolviston one-fifth, and Billingham one- 

 fifth. Tlie charity is regulated by a scheme of the 

 Charity Commissioners of 1867, and the income 

 applied in the distribution of tickets for food and 

 other articles in kind. 



The above charities are administered in accordance 

 with a scheme of the Charity Commissioners of 20 Jan- 

 uary 1920 under the title of the United Charities. 



The sums of stock are held by the official 

 trustees. 



The Fox Almshouses were founded and endowed 

 by the will of John Henry Fox proved at London 

 7 October 1 893. By a deed poll, dated 20 November 

 1895, the trusts of a sum of £[20,000 were declared, 

 to which a scheme was annexed for the management 

 of the charity. The almshouses, consisting of twelve 

 tenements of three rooms each and a caretaker's house, 

 were erected at a cost of about £4,000 on a site 

 conveyed in 1893 to trustees for the purpose by 

 Mr. Timothy Crosby, to whom the same had been 

 devised absolutely by the founder. There is also a 

 detached building containing a reading room for the 

 inmates and a clerk's office. The balance of the 



*« Fope Nkh. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 315. 



'Sjbid. 330. 



'" Half eld's Surv. (Surt. Soc), 24.3. 



91 /'a/or Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v, 318- 

 19. 



" Bp. Barnes' Injunc. (Surt. Soc), 

 p. Ixix. This may have been the actu-il 

 condition in 1 547, or may have been 

 merely a suggestion for preserving the 

 endowment. 



=" Ibid. 5. 



"* Pat. 33 Eliz. pt. ix, m. 25. 



" Ibid. 10 Jas. I, pt. ii, no. i. There 

 was an earlier grant to the same 

 persons in 1609 (ibid. 7 Jas. I, pt. x, 

 no. 2). 



'' Royalist Comp. in Dur. (Surt. Soc), 3. 



'^ A brass in the transept records this 

 gift. Inform, from the vicar. 



" Lund. Gaz. 5 Aug. 1859, p. 2998. 



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

 p. xvii. 



'"« Diet. Nal. Biog. This with similar 

 local preferences was abolished by the 

 University Commission of 1854. 



1 Bp. Barnes' Injunc. (Surt. Soc), 

 p. Ixix ; In'vent. of Church Goods (Surt. 

 Soc), 154- 



' Surtees, op, cit. iii, 161 ; charter at 

 Durham. 



314 



