STOCKTON WARD 



SEDGEFIELD 



died in 1920, and is now owned by Mrs. G. K. 

 Ha>tings-Ord and Miss Muriel Ord, his daughters. 

 This house, which stands in a park of 40 acres, was 

 acquired by the Ord family in 1738,-^ and has since 

 descended with the manor of Bradbury. Sands 

 Farm, to the south-west of the hall, is mentioned as 

 the property of Ralph Ord in 1 77 1.-' Near it is a 

 race-course on which steeplechases are held yearly in 

 March. 



The road running west from Sedgefield passes on 

 its way to Bradbury first Sedgefield station on the 

 Ferry Hill, Stockton and Middlesbrough branch of 

 the North Eastern railway and then Bradbury station 

 on the main line. The small village of Bradbury, 

 containing a Wesleyan chape!, is separated from the 

 River Skerne on the north and west by the low ground 

 called Bradbury Carrs. The road to Chilton and 

 Ferry Hill crosses the stream at Bradbury Bridge. 

 There has been a bridge here when a holding in 

 Bradbury was charged in the 1 5 th century towards the 

 repair of the bridge of the vill.-'' In a grant (of the 

 13th century ?) made by the Prior of Durham to his 

 almoner the following place-names in Bradbury occur : 

 Holden Flatt, Muiiknowl, Renesden, Catlawe, Win- 

 eneleche. The Braches, Brademere.-' A fish-pond and 

 the 'infirmary' near the road to Sadberge are also 

 mentioned.-' ' The Braches,' or Brakeles as it was 

 called in the i6th century,-'^^ is probably the farm 

 now called Brakes on the eastern boundary of the 

 township and near the grounds of Hardwick Hall. 

 At the Dissolution Finchale Priory had land at 

 ' Bradbury Hall,' its three tenements here being held 

 by various tenants.-''' 



To the south-west of Bradbury is the tract of land 

 called The Isle, inclosed by the River Skerne and its 

 tributaries. The house called Great Isle, now a farm- 

 house, was for centuries the residence of the lords of 

 Bradbury and The Isle. A survey of the 1 6th century 

 describes it as containing 'a fayre hall ... a fayre 

 chymney, with one chaymer above covered with slayte, 

 a fayre parloure, well syled and in good case of 

 glassinge, and on it a great chaymer covered with 

 slayte, a lobbye ... a galerye covered with leade 

 ... a goodlye barn and stables.' -■' A dove-house 

 belonging to the manor is mentioned in 1471 and 

 1567.^" A water-mill existed in 1471 and two water- 

 mills in 1636.^' 



East of The Isle is the township of Mordon, with 

 a small village built round a green. It contains a 

 Wesleyan ch.ipel. Mordon Carrs, a stretch of low 

 ground which formed the pasture of the manor in 

 1476,^- lies between the village and a small stream 

 which is the southern boundary of the township and 

 parish. There was a capital messuage attached to the 

 manor in 1476," perhaps the messuage in the tenure 



of William Hixon in 1635." This township was in- 

 closed by agreement among the freeholders in 161 8". 



Another small beck separates Mordon from the 

 township of Foxton with Shotton to the east of it. 

 There is no village here. A group of five farms forms 

 the hamlet of Foxton, while Shotton consists of two. 

 In the 1 6th century the estate called Shotton consisted 

 of nothing but a capital messuage and the land attached 

 to it.^* In 1752, however, there were two messuages 

 or farmholds here.'' All the land with the exception 

 of I z acres was turned to tillage shortly after the 

 Rebellion of the Earls '"a The farms called West 

 Layton, East Layton, Layton House and Far Layton, 

 which lie to the north-east of Shotton in the southern 

 part of Sedgefield tounship, represent the old manor 

 of Layton.'* A witness in 1586 declared that fifty 

 years before there was a ' town ' at Layton, and he 

 had heard that there were six or eight housei there, 

 though but one at the date of the inquiry. ''» In 

 1570 there was a capital messuage here called Layton 

 Hall, ' built with walls of stone and roofed with 

 slate'; it was described fifteen years later as standing 

 east an.i west, but as being ' decayde and taken 

 away utterlie.'" It was the seat of the Conyers 

 family till the 1 8th century. .Among the fields of 

 the manor were the Wheatfield, the Hall Garths, 

 ' Thowtefeild,' ' Westfogg ' and the ' Mylneclose.' <» 

 No mention of a mill has been found. Two dove- 

 houses were attached to the manor in 1635.*' 



In the West Field were Barbell leche, commonly 

 called Knightesley close in 1585, riggs amounting to 

 3 acres lay on Bromerstone Hill, in the South Field, 

 Thorney close, full of great and tall thorns, the 

 Well leche, Stayne and Dawcken furlongs ; mention 

 is also made of Blindwell Hill, Ingersley, Cutley and 

 Ludwell meadows.*'-^ 



The next township to Sedgefield on the north-cast 

 is that of Butterwick and Oldacres. Here also there 

 are only a few farms, one of which, Oldacres, was once 

 a manor. There was a capital messuage in Butter- 

 wick in 1564.^- In 1752 East Farm and North Farm 

 are mentioned.'" In 11 83 the township of Butter- 

 wick paid a due of malt to the bishop.** There is no 

 later reference to the malting industry. 



In the extreme east of the old parish area is Em- 

 bleton. The deep valley of a beck, in which were 

 once the elm trees which are said to have given the 

 place its name,^^ crosses the township to the east and 

 then turns south to form the eastern boundary. 

 St. Mary's Church, on the site of the old chapel of 

 ease, is on the edge of the beck. Half a mile to the 

 north-west of it is the farm-house called Embleton 

 Old Hall, once a manor-house of the Bulmer family. 

 The mansion-house of High Embleton is mentioned 

 in 1 65 3,« Embleton Hall in 1667.-'' Whinhouse, 



^* Surtces, op. cit. iii, 4.1. 



" Eitch. Deer, and Orders (Ser. 4), 

 XXX, no. 7 (Mich. 1771). 



'* Charter printed by McCall, Family 

 of f-^andesforde^ 335 J cf. Feod. Prior. 

 Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 166. 



*' Surtees, op. cit. iii, 40. 



'« Ibid. ; cf. McCall, op. cit. 332. 



"I Harl. R. D 36. ">' Ibid. 



^* Fordyce, op. cit. ii, 343. 



'" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 4, fol. 35 ; 

 cl. 12, no. I (2). 



" Ibid. cl. 3, no. 4, fol. 35 ; R. ii", 

 no. 28 ; R. 108, no. 28. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 4, fol. 68. 



» Ibid. 



" Ibid, file i88, no. 77. 



'^ Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 327, 

 no. 49. 



3« Exch. K.R. Misc. Bks. xxxviii, 

 fol. 229 d. 



»' Com. Pleas D. Enr. Hil. 25 Geo. II, 

 m. 52. 



>'« Exch. Dep. Mich. 24 & 25 Eliz. 

 no. 1 1 ; Hil. 25 Eliz. no. 9 ; Hil. 26 Eliz. 

 no. 14. 



" See below. 



"a Exch. Dep. Trin. 28 Eliz. no. 16. 



'» Exch. K.R. Misc. Bks. xxxviii, 

 fol. 240 d.; Exch. Dep. Hil. 27 Eliz. no. 4. 



'" Exch. K.R. Misc. Bks. xxxviii, 

 fol. 240 d. 



«' Pat. II Chas. I, pt. vi, no. -. 



•'» Exch. Dep. Hil. 27 Eliz. no. 4. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 6, fol. 27. 



«« Com. Pleas D. Enr. Hil. 25 Geo. II, 

 m. ;2. 



" r.C.H. Dur. i, 331. 



** Surtees, op. cit. iii, 53. 



" Rrc. Com. for Comf. (Surt. Soc.), 



*' Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 117, no. 11. 



