A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



John Trollop and Robert Tempest were attainted. 

 The nunor of Mordon was surveyed among the lands 

 of Trollop, and three tenements 1 1 oxgangs in 

 Mordon among the possessions of Tempest. *'-' 



Queen Elizabeth seems to have made an immediate 

 grant of the manor, for in July I 570 Sir George Bowes 

 and Edmund Smithson, clerk, had a grant of half of it 

 from Stephen Skilbecke and Anne his wife and Miles 

 Lonsdale and Ellen his wife and the heirs of Anne 

 and Ellen."'' Rents and services from free tenants in 

 Mordon were due to Robert Bowes of Aske in York- 

 shire in 1594,"*^ to the heiri of Robert Bowes in 

 161 5,'* and to the heirs of Ralph Bowes ten years 

 later.*^ The Bowes family probably sold the manor 

 to the Martins of Durham."' Dorothy wife of 

 Nicholas Fewster and her co-heir Anne Martin con- 

 veyed 5 5 acres of arable, meadow and pasture land to 

 John Martin in 1677."'^ John Martin left land in 

 Mordon to his son Joseph in 171 3,"" and in January 

 1724.-5 Joseph Martin and Eleanor his wife conveyed 

 the manor to John Hodgson (HoJshon) and Read 

 Hodgson his son."" Eour months later John Hodgson 

 of Witton Ic Wear with his wife Mary and Read 

 Hodgson conveyed it to VVilliam Hustler and John 

 Hodgson of J5ishop Auckland,'-"' perhaps for the 

 purpose of a settlement. William Hodgson, son and 

 heir of Read, succeeded in or about 1738 and sold it 

 in 1 766 to John Ward of Billingham,"' whose daughter 

 and heir Ann married William Sleigh of Stockton, 

 captain in the 19th Regiment of Foot in 1785.*'^ 

 Ten years later VVilliam acijuired a messuage and 

 lands in Mordon and Bradbury, once the property of 

 John Elstob, from Thomas Austin of Durham, son 

 and heir of the Rev. Thomas Austin by Anne Watson 

 his wife. In 1 806 Sleigh bought part of the Reed 

 estate, and he further purchased 20 acres in Mordon 

 from George Hutchinson and Charlotte Barbara his 

 wife in 18 14. The property thus obtained he 

 bequeathed to his wife hy his will of 1825. She, by 

 her will of 1833, bequeathed both the manor and this 

 additional land to her trustees for sale, and the whole 

 was purchased in 1858 by the trustees of Lord Eldon. 

 The present Lord Eldon is now lord of the manor.''*'' 

 In 1790 Richard Wright had land here that may 

 have formed part of the estate of William Sleigh, and 

 in that year he bequeathed it to Margaret his wife 

 for life with remainder to his godson Richard, fourth 

 son of Ralph Ord, which Richard Ord took the 

 surname of Wright. This land then followed the 

 descent of Bradbury and was sold by the Rev. Ralph 

 Ord to Mark Ord in 1852, Mark selling it in 1861 

 to the trustees of the Earl of Eldon. It still forms 

 part of the Eldon estates. '^•' 



Ten oxgangs of land here leem to have formed part 



of the heritage of Agnes wife of Robert de Burnigill 

 and probably daughter and co-heir of Sir Walter de 

 Andre, another portion being held by Emma wife of 

 ■Walter de Craumcrs as another co-heir.''^ In 12,9 

 Robert and Agnes exchanged their land with Roger 

 son of Sir William de Lumley by Julian the third co- 

 heir, the transaction being completed in the following 

 year.**^ The Burnigills, afterwards lords of South 

 Biddick in Houghton le Spring, retained the lordship 

 of a manor of Mordon that was held of them in the 

 14th century by a family taking its name from the 

 place. William dc Mordon died about 1361 seised 

 of this manor, which he held for a quarter of a 

 knight's fee, and of I acre of land in Mordon held in 

 chief by one-hundredth part of a knight's fee.'*' His 

 son and heir William '* died eight years later, leaving 

 a son William, a minor.''" The younger William 

 appears to h.-ive granted the manor, charged with an 

 annuity of 2 marks to his son John, to Peter de 

 Mordon, who died in possession in or about 1419."* 

 Peter's heir was his nephew John deSpence, son of his 

 sister Elizabeth, who died in 1421,^" leaving a brother 

 and heir Robert. No later mention of this manor has 

 been found, however. Very little land was attached 

 to it, and there is nothing to show what services 

 were due to its lords. 



Several small estates in Mordon passed during the 

 17th and 1 8th centuries into the possession of the 

 Reed family. A messuage and 3 oxgangs held in 

 socage were sold by Bartholomew Hctherton and 

 Alice his wife to Edward Rey or Raye in 1599."^" 

 In 1602 they were conveyed by Edward and William 

 Raye to William Sayer of Houghton le Spring,' 

 perhaps the William Sayer who was concerned in a 

 dispute with John Welbury about land in Mordon in 

 1619.^ A William Sayer died in 1620 seised of a 

 messuage and 1 80 acres of land here, leaving a son 

 Samuel.' The messuage and 3 oxgangs purchased 

 from the Rayes, however, were granted by Elizabeth 

 widow of William Sayer to James Wood of Layton 

 and his wife Catherine Sayer, daughter of William,* 

 and this property is identified by Surtees ' with a 

 messuage and 3 oxgangs granted in 1673 by John, 

 Elizabeth and Bryan Harrison to Richard Reed of 

 Mordon.^ The Reed family also acquired land from 

 Thomas Martin before 1689.' 



In 1615 John Wheatley died seised of a messuage 

 and 4 oxgangs, including the Croft Hill and Mill 

 Hills,^ in Mordon, formerly parcel of the possessions 

 of John Trollop.''' His son and heir William '" left 

 them to his nephew, Wheatley Garthorne, who in 

 1697 granted them to William Reed." 



The Shutwell family were said to be tenants by 

 indenture under John Trollop in 1570,'^ and John 



" Exch. K.R. Mi«c. Bks. xxxTiii, fol. 

 203, Z39. In 1630 the Tempests and 

 Riddellt still had aa interest in the 

 manor. Cf. Dur. Rec. d. 3, no. 106, 

 m. 14, no. 44. 



"^ Dur. Rec. cl. 12, no. i (2). 



** Surtees, op. cit. iil, 44 n. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, lile 184, no. 35. 



*« Ibid, lile 189, no. 146. 



*' Surtees, op. cit. iii, 44. 



^'^ Dur. Rec. cl. 12, no. 10 (4). 



" Surtees, loc. cit. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. iz, no. 22 (i) ; D. in 

 the poss. of the Earl of Eldon. 



™ Ibid. 



" Exch. K.R. Deer, and Orders (Ser. 4), 



D. 



the 



XXX, no. 6 (Mich. 1771); 

 poss, of the Earl of Eldon. 



^'' D. in the poss. of the Earl of Eldon. 



" Ibid. 



'■"• Ibid. 



^* D. in the poss. of Canon Grcenwell, 

 BIc. A, no. 5 ; Lana. MS. 902, fol. 422 ; 

 inform, from Canon Grcenwell. 



**3 D. in the poss. of Canon Grcenwell, 

 Bk. A, no. 5, 7 ; Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, 

 fol. 64, 84 d., 189, 206 d. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, fol. 64, 



»' Ibid. 



" Ibid. fol. 84 d. 



^^ Ibid. fol. 189. Peter is here said to 

 hold the manor for life. 



334 



^ Ibid, and fol. 206 d. ; R. 

 '"" Dur. Rec. cl. 12, no. 



35, m. 18. 



^ (0 i 'f- 

 Surtees, op. cit. iii, 44 n. 

 > Ibid. 



* Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 327, no. 49, 

 ' Dur. Rec. cl. 3, file 1S9, no. $2. 



* Surtees, loc. cit. 

 5 Ibid. 



* Ibid. ; Dur. Rec. cl. 12, no. 9 (i). 

 ' Surtees, loc. cit. 



8 Ibid. 



° Dur. Rec. cl. 3, file 184, no. 135. 

 '» Ibid. 



" Surtees, loc. cit. 



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

 239 ; D. io the poss. of the Earl of Eldon. 



