A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



ru.iry i 200-1 on his way from Scarborough to Dur- 

 ham and Newcastle, again in April izio and in 

 February 12 1 2-1 3, this time on his way south.*" 

 That the Bishops of Durham frequently resided there 

 is evident from grants d.itcd at Stocicton,*'- and when 

 Bishop Nicholas de Karnham resigned the bishopric in 

 1249 in order to devote his last days to a life of con- 

 templation, Stocictoii was one of the manors reserved 

 for his maintenance,'*-' and there he died in 1257."* 



The Reformation period seems to have passed 

 quietly by, but in 1 569 nine men from this place 

 joined the Northern Rising, of whom two were exe- 

 cuted."' In the exaction of ship money by Charles I 

 Stockton was joined with some other towns to provide 

 a ship,*"^ and in 1637 John Biirdon, a townsman and 

 constable of the ward, was summoned to answer for 

 his neglect in not collecting the ship money or in not 

 accounting for it."' In 1 640 there is mention of butter 

 for the king's forces ready to be shipped from Stock- 

 ton.** Later in that ye.ir the Scots invaded England 

 and defeated the king's troops at Newburn on 

 28 August."' Dr. Morton the bishop at first took 

 refuge in his castle at Stockton and then crossed over 

 into Yorkshire.''" At the beginning of October the 

 Scottish horse approached the town."' By the treaty 

 of 26 October the Tees was to be the division between 

 the king's forces and the Scots, with the exception that 

 the town and castle of Stockton and the village of 

 Eaglescliffe were to remain the king's.'^ Stockton was 

 regarded as a place of military importance,'^ but no 

 adequate provision was made for defending it.'* At 

 the beginning of January the troops were in disorder 

 and there were no provisions for them " ; in February 

 they were clamouring for their pay."' The registers 

 record the deaths of several soldiers between 20 De- 

 cember 1640 and 6 May 1641.''' When the Civil 

 War broke out the castle w.is garrisoned, but the Scots 

 again invaded Durham, and on 24 July 1 644 the castle 

 surrendered to Lord Calendar without resistance,'" 

 and was garrisoned by them until, by the treaty of 

 I 646, they withdrew to Scotland early in 1 647, having 

 received their jf 200,000." During the occupation 

 serious complaints had been made by the people of 

 the district concerning the oppressive conduct of James 

 Levingstone, the governor.'"" Some meetings of the 

 Parliamentary Commissioners were held in Stockton,' 

 but the ' delinquents ' in the parish were few, Col. Sir 

 Edmund Duncan, Richard Grubham, Lawrence Sayer 

 of Preston and Leonard Stott being the only persons 



named. ^ In view of war with the Dutch the defence 

 of Stockton was considered in 1664 ; it was one ot 

 the 'naked' places of the coast. ^ In 1672 the Dutch 

 war ships and priv.ueers were very active, and vessels 

 often put into the Tees to avoid them or to wait for 

 a convoy. ■• 



In I 740 there was a great disturbance here ; wheat 

 was scarce, and in May and June the populace refused 

 to allow any to be exported from the town. Soldiers 

 were brought in to overawe them, some prisoners were 

 made and sent to Durham, but there the mob released 

 them.'' Troops, this time Germans," were again 

 brought to Stockton in 1745-6 during the alarm 

 ciused by the early successes of the Scottish Jacobites 

 under Charles Edward the Young Pretender, and their 

 advance to Carlisle and Derby. Their final defeat at 

 Culloden was celebrated in festive manner ; among 

 other illuminations was that provided by a raft laden 

 with combustibles on fire and sent floating down the 

 Tees.' Wesley, who visited the town many times, 

 gives the following account of a press-gang raid in 

 July 1759":— 



I began near Stockton market-place as usual. I had hardly 

 finished the hymn when I observed the people in great confusion, 

 which was occasioned by a lieutenant ol' a man-of-war who had 

 chosen that time to bring his press-gang anil ordered tliem to 

 take Joseph Jones and William AUwood. Joseph Jones telling 

 him, *Sir, I belong to Mr. Wesley,' after a few words he let him 

 go; as he did likewise William AUwood, after a few hours, 

 understanding he was a licensed preacher. He likewise seized 

 upon a young man of the town, but the women rescued him by 

 main strength. They also broke tlie lieutenant's head, and so 

 stoned both him and his men that they ran away with all speed. 



The wars with the French in the latter part of the 

 I 8th century contributed in certain ways, as in ship- 

 building, to the material prosperity of the town, but 

 alarm was caused in 1779 by the appearance of Paul 

 Jones, the American privateer, off the mouth of the 

 Tees, where he captured a sloop.' A small band of 

 volunteers was raised about that time for the defence 

 of the town,'" and another corps in 1798 called the 

 Loyal Stockton Volunteers or ' Blue Coats.' " These 

 were disbanded in 1802, but again enrolled in 1803, 

 and finally disembodied in 181 3.'* In 1788 the cen- 

 tenary of the Revolution was celebrated by bonfires." 

 In 1783 there were four post-days weekly. '< In the 

 same year the Darlington and Seaton coach passed 

 through Stockton twice a week." A mail coach from 

 Sunderland via Stockton to Borough bridge, where it 

 joined the London mail, was established in 1806 and 



^' Itinerary in introduction Rof. Lit, 

 Pal. (Rcc. Com.) ; Cal. Roi. Chart. (Rec. 

 Com.), 86, 190. 



*- E.g. Feod. Prior, Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 

 i86n., i87n. ; Cal. Chart, R, 1300-26, 

 p. 193 ; Reg, Palai. Duticlm, (Rolls Scr.), 

 paaim, 



^ Cal, Pal, 1247-58, pp. 37, 49 ; Cat, 

 Chart. R. 1226-57, p. 338. 



8' Matth. Paris, Chrtn. Maj, (Rolls 

 Ser.), V, 650. 



" Sharp, Mem, of the Rehellion o/"l 569, 

 p. 251. 



'^ Cal. S. P. Dom. 1634-5, pp. 143, 



374- 



'' Ibid. 1637, pp. 229, 382. 



** Ibid. 1639-40, p. 563. 



*9 r.C.H. bur. ii, 169. 



'•"' Letters dated at Stockton Castle 

 29-30 August are in Cal. S. P. Dom, 

 1640, pp. 647, 651 ; Rushworth, Hist, 

 Coll, ii (2), 1239. 



" Cal. S. P. Dom, 1640-1, pp. 138, 

 168. 



^- Ruslnvorth, op. cit. ii (2), 1306. 



" Ibid. 



" Cal, S. p. Dom. 1640-1, pp. 276, 

 301,429. 



'' Ibid. 403, 413. 



'■"'• Ibid. 464. 



^' Brewster, op. cit. 16. 



'^ r.C.H. Dur. ii, 171; Hilt. MSS. 

 Com. Rep. xiii, App. i, 181. Lord Cal- 

 endar reported that there was only one 

 cannon in the castle. 



" Cal. S. P. Dom. 1645-7, PP- 16, >'5i 

 226 ; Rushworth, op. cit. iv (i), 233, 389. 



""Cat. S. P. Dom. 1641-3, p. 470 

 (wrongly dated) ; 1645-7, p. 56. 



' Ree. Com. for Comp, (Surt. Soc), 2, 34. 



' Ibid. 3, 24, 35. 



' Cat. S. P. Dom. 1664-5, pp. 146, 

 215. 



* Sec the numerous letters in Cal, S. P. 



Dom, 1671-2, p. 5705 1672, pp. 205, 

 324, 450, 483 ; 1672-3, pp. 62, 87, 190, 



203. 256, 5»5- 



^ Brewster, op. cit. 152. 



^ Richmond, however, states that the 

 local volunteers raised were called 

 •Prussians.' There were also Dutch 

 soldiers in the town, and in 1746 there 

 are entries in the parish registers of the 

 burials of German and Dutch soldiers. 



' Brewster, op. cit. 154. 



^ IVeikyi Journ. (1903 ed.), ii, 469. 



^ Heavisides, op. cit. 189. 



"* T. Richmond, Noriconf, in Stockton, 

 64. Sec also Brewster, op. cit. 155. 



^' Richmond, loc. cit. 



'^ Richmond, op. cit. pp. loi, loj, 

 119. 



'* Brewster, op. cit. 157. 



'* Richmond, Local Rec. p. 83. There 

 seems to have been a daily post by 1803. 



'^ Ibid. p. 83. 



