A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



West Morton, who gave a plot of land here to his 

 brother John, was perhaps the same as the Hugh de 

 Valoignes who in 13 14 gave all his land in West 

 Morton to Richard de Park, lord of Blakiston, for 

 life.*' Between 1323 and 1328 Richard de Park 

 lurrendered his interest to John son of John de Park, 

 knight.*^ The next owner was Roger son of William 

 de Trykyngham, who in 1337 granted his lands hera 

 to William de EgglesclifF.'*' Richard de Egglescliif, 

 kinsman and heir of William, granted his reversionary 

 interest in West Morton after the death of Margaret 

 de Egglescliif to John Botiller in I 3 58, and Margaret 

 quitclaimed her right to John in the next year.''* 

 John Botiller's heirs alienated the manor to William 

 Embleton,*^ who before 1426 appears to have sold it 

 to Thomas Claxton of Old Park." 



Thomas Claxton of Old Park, father of the Thomas 

 of 1426, had died in 1401 in possession of a life 

 interest in one messuage and 100 acres in West 

 Morton.*' The reversion of this belonged to Sir 

 William Claxton of Claxton,*' with which manor it 

 descended for three generations.*^ In 1426, however, 

 the 20/. rent of the Earl of Westmorland in West 

 Morton was said to come from the land of Thomas 

 Claxton,'" who must therefore have acquired the 

 manor between 1401 and 1426. He died in 1461 

 seised of the manor with 2 tofts 144 acres of land, 

 and a meadow called Maldesmyre ' lately acquired 

 from William Embleton.' '' From this date the manor 

 descended with Old Park (q.v.) in the Claxton family.'^ 

 The greater part of it, owing to settlement," escaped 

 forfeiture at the attainder of Robert Claxton in i 5 70,'* 

 and belonged to his grandson John in 1644.^* It was 

 sold by him in 1649 to Thomas Todd of Newcastle- 

 upon-Tyne,'^ whose trustees ten years later mortgaged 

 a third of the manor to George Wilkinson. The 

 remaining two thirds they conveyed in 1663 to Mark 

 Milbankc and Christopher Nicholson, who conveyed 

 them in 1669 to Richard Stote. Bertram Stote, son 

 and heir of Richard, succeeded him, and in 1704 ac- 

 quired the rem.iining third from Ralph Jenison and 

 Henry Holmes, who had purchased the interest of 

 George Wilkinson. He died without issue, his sisters 

 and heirs being Margaret wife of John Tong, Frances 

 wife of William Shippen, and Dorothy wife of the 

 Hon. Dixie Windsor. Frances and Dorothy and their 

 husbands conveyed the manor to John Nesham in 

 I 740. John Nesham, his grandson, sold it in i S08 to 

 John Griffith of Durham." The present owner is 

 Mr. J. C. Backhouse of Darlington. 



In 1622 Robert Robson, Elizabeth his wife, and 



Thomas his son and heir conveyed 2 messuages, 1 80 

 acres of arable, meadow and pasture with moorland 

 and furze, to John Bainbridge."* John Bainbridge 

 and Frances his wife in 1629 conveyed 300 acres in 

 West Morton to George Wardell.'" John Wardell 

 made a settlement of land here in i68g, and his 

 grandson John mortgaged his estate to John Nesham 

 in 1742. Nesham acquired the fee simple in 1754.''* 

 In I 183 OLDJCRES (Aldacres, xi-xvi cent.) was 

 held by a free tenant William de Oldacres, who paid 

 for it a rent of l6i." This William may have been 

 identical with William de Hardwick.*" In the early 

 14th century the manor was acquired by William de 

 Hardwick from John de Hardwick.**' The daughters 

 and co-heirs of William paid fines in 1359 for livery 

 of their respective moieties, one of which followed 

 the descent of a moiety of Hardwick (q.v.) till at 

 least 1408, when it belonged to Thomas de 

 Cramelyngton.^^ Both shares were acquired before 

 1 4 1 3 by the Fulthorpe family of Tunstall.*' Thomas 

 Fulthorpe died seised of the manor of Oldacres in 

 March 1467-8, and Ralph Booth, son of his 

 daughter and co-heir Philippa, held it at his death in 

 1505.^* The two daughters and co-heirs of Ralph 

 Booth then held it in moieties.^' The share of Anne 

 Booth descended with Tunstall (q.v.) in the Fulthorpe 

 family ^^ till 161 1, when Nicholas Fulthorpe, grandson 

 of Anne,'"' while retaining certain land here, granted his 

 manor of Oldacres to Christopher, his son and heir.''' 

 Nicholas and Christopher with Edward Bl.ikiston 

 andThomasina his wife conveyed their share in 161 2 

 to Ralph Butler,^' who acquired the second moiety in 

 the same year.'*^ He died unmarried about 1647, 

 when his estate here passed to his nephew, William 

 Butler."' Thomas Butler, son of William, settled it in 

 1683 on his marriage with Mary Hilton.'^ His son 

 William died unmarried in 1708, leaving sisters and 

 co-heirs Mary and Margaret, who became the wives 

 respectively of James Butler and the Rev. Petherick 

 Turner.'' In i 71 5 James Butler, who held a moiety 

 of the manor in right of his late wife, conveyed it to 

 Robert Spearman, who bought the other moiety from 

 Petherick Turner in the same year."* Robert Spear- 

 man died in 1728, his son Robert in 1 761.'' Char- 

 lotte daughter of the younger Robert, who married 

 Thomas Swynburn,'' was in possession of Oldacres in 

 1832 ; her representatives held the manor in 1857.'' 

 It now belongs to Mrs. Sophie Pace, widow of Mr. 

 Henry Pace of London, and Mrs. Ethel Maude 

 Stourton, wife of Everard Stourton of Marcus, co. 

 Forfar. 



*^ Surtecs, op. cit. iii, 56. 



« Ibid. ■" Ibid. 



<* Ibid. 



" Ibid. ; cf. Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 47, 

 m. 14-15. 



*' Dur. Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, fol. 2j». 



" Ibid. fol. 139. 



*' Ibid. 



*' Ibid. fol. 256 d. ; file 167, no. 31. 



" Ibid. no. I, fol. 232. 



" Ibid. no. 4, fol. 16. 



" Ibid. fol. 41 ; no. 3, fol. 27, 41. 



" Ibid, file 177, no. 70. 



^* Only two tenements and 80 acrea are 

 returned among his forfeited estates (Exch. 

 K.R. Misc. Bks. zxxviii, fol. 225 d.). 



" Rec. Com. for Comf. (Surt. Soc), n ; 

 Foster, op. cit. 75. John Claxton and 

 Jane his wife conveyed lands here and 



elsewhere to Francis Tunstall and others 

 in 1625 (Dur. Rec. cl. 12, no. 4 [2]). 



" Surtees, op. cit. iii, 56. 



^^ The descent from 1649 is taken from 

 Surtees (loc. cit.), who inspected the title 

 deeds. 



"a Dur. Rec. cl. 12, no. 3 (2). 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 12, no. 4 (2). 



^^" Surtees, op. cit. iii, 56 and n. 



*' y.C.H. Dur. i, 330. The rent was 

 subsequently reduced to %s. \\d. (Dur. 

 Rec. cl. 3, no. 2, fol. n 5 d. ; Hatfitld'i 

 Surf. [Surt. Soc], 186). 



•» See Hardwick. 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 12, fol. 227 d. 



" Ibid. R. 12, fol. 227 d. J no. 2, fol. 

 I I 5 d., 165 ; Def. Kttptr's Ref). xxxiii, 57. 



" Eccl. Comm. Rec. 188879; Dur. 

 Rec. cl. 3, R. 36, m. 5-6. See Hard- 



wick. The family of Hardwick appears 

 to have had no right in Oldacres. 



** Dur. Rec. cl. 3, file 166, no. 37 j 

 file 171, no. 1 1. 



•* Ibid, file 171, no. 11, 



'* Foster, op. cit. 131. 



«' Ibid. 



•' Ibid, i Dur. Rec. cl. 3, file 184, no. 

 10 ; Surtees, op. cit. iii, 48. 



«' Dur. Rec. cl. 12, no. 2 (3). 



'" See below. 



" Surtees, op. cit. iii, 49. 



" Ibid. 



'• Ibid. 



" Ibid. 48. 



" Surtees, op. cit. i (i), 96 ; cf. N. 

 Country Diaries (Surt. Soc), 228. 



"■* Surtees, loc. cit. 



" Fordycc, op. cit. ii, 345. 



336 



