A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



and was to have land purchased for it not 

 exceeding the yearly value of 400 marks. 



Whether or not this project was ever executed 

 is not known ; but as the licence of foundation 

 appears to be the only document in existence 

 relating to the college, it seems probable that in 

 the increasing pressure of public business the 

 duke forgot or omitted to carry out his pious 

 intention. 



38. HERMITAGES 



The county of Durham was unusually rich in 

 hermitages. From very early days, owing per- 

 haps to the example set by St. Cuthbert, 1 religious 

 persons of both sexes frequently chose the solitary 

 life, and established themselves in some more or 

 less retired spot where they lived either quite 

 alone or with one or more attendants. 



At the beginning of the twelfth century there 

 dwelt at Wolsingham a well-known hermit 

 named Elric (or Ethelric) with whom St. Godric 

 lived for about two years, practising the ascetic 

 life. 2 After Elric's death Godric settled at 

 Finchale under the auspices of Bishop Flambard. 3 

 There he lived for many years, and built an 

 oratory and a little house. He cultivated the 

 ground and fished in the river, supporting him- 

 self by his own labour. 4 For a time his sister 

 Burcwen joined him, and lived in a little cell 

 which he built for her near his own ; but she 

 fell sick and died in a hospital in Durham. 6 

 After a time St. Godric placed himself under 

 the control of the prior of Durham, 6 who at 

 every festival used to send one of his monks to 

 Finchale, there to celebrate Mass for the hermit. 7 

 Many legends are told of St. Godric, and he was 

 regarded with great awe by the country people. 

 He built a chapel, which he dedicated to the 

 honour of St. John the Baptist, in which he 

 often slept, 8 and where he ultimately died and 

 was buried. 9 In his old age he was attended by 

 servants, 10 and for the last eight years of his life 

 was confined entirely to his bed. 11 



There existed in St. Godric's time, and pos- 

 sibly long before, a hermitage called Yareshale 

 (or Yarehaulgh) on the River Derwent near 

 Ebchester, which was granted by the bishop to 

 a religious who came to ask St. Godric's advice 

 on the matter. It was probably built on the 

 site of St. Ebba's monastery, which was well 

 adapted for such a retreat. 12 Its history is rather 



10 Pat. 17 Edw. IV, pt. 2, m. 16. 



1 In 676 St. Cuthbert retired to Fame Island and 

 built himself a hermitage there, in which he lived for 

 eight years ; Bede, Vita Sti. Cuthberti, cap. xvii. 



1 Vita Sti. Godrici (Surt. Soc.), 45, &c. 



" Ibid. 66. 



4 Priory of Finchale (Surt. Soc.), pref. xiii, &c. 



6 Vita Sti. Godrici (Surt. Soc.), 139-43. 



6 Ibid. 135. ' Ibid. 202. 



6 Ibid. 187. 9 Ibid. 326, 330. 



10 Ibid. 195. " Ibid. 311. " Ibid. 192 n. 



difficult to follow. Bishop Pudsey, between 

 1163 and 1188, granted to Sherburn Hospital, 

 as part of its endowment, ' the place of anchorets ' 

 on the Derwent near Ebchester, 13 and in 1183 

 Robert of Yolton held 'the land on the Der- 

 went, which was the hermit's,' and paid a rent 

 of 2s. for it, 14 but soon afterwards 16 Geoffrey son 

 of Richard (the second lord of Horden) granted 

 to St. Mary and the House of Yareshale (Yare- 

 haluh) two oxgangs of land in his vill of Horden, 

 with common of pasture and 1 3 ' weihts ' l 

 of corn of Durham measure. 17 This grant was 

 confirmed by his son Geoffrey (between 1212 

 and 1214) to ' Brother John and his successors ' 

 in ' the House of the Blessed Mary of Yareshale 

 (Jharhale).' 18 In ' le convenit ' (1231) Bishop 

 le Poor stipulates that, in return for certain con- 

 cessions he has made to the Durham monks, 

 ' the place which is called Yareshale (Yreshale), 

 with all its appurtenances,' shall remain for ever 

 in the ordination of the bishops of Durham, ' ita 

 quod providebimus qualiter elemosina futuris 

 temporibus durabit.' 19 St. Mary's of Yareshale 

 is mentioned as being, in the time of Bishop 

 Langley (1406-37), the private chapel of one of 

 that bishop's suffragans, in which ordinations 

 were occasionally held. 20 



At the end of the north alley of the choir in 

 Durham Cathedral was a porch called the 

 ' Anchorage,' containing a rood and an altar for 

 a monk to say daily mass. In ancient times it 

 was inhabited by an anchoret. The entrance 

 was up a stair adjoining the north door of 

 St. Cuthbert's feretory. 21 



Mr. John Cade, the well-known antiquary, 

 writing in 1789, says that there was at that time 

 ' a plat called the Anchorage,' near the church- 

 yard of St. Oswald's, Durham, which appears to 

 have been the cell of some anchoret or recluse 

 even prior to the foundation of St. Oswald's 

 church. 22 



On 28 September, 1312, the bishop of Dur- 

 ham collated 'John, called Godesman,' to the 

 hermitage of St. Cuthbert on the Tyne, near 

 the bishop's park. 23 



Writing of Heighley Hall, Winston, Surtees 

 says 



A chapel or hermitage, which is mentioned in some 

 early inquest, stood low down in the holme, shaded 

 by a thick overhanging wood. 



. . . The last remains of the hermitage were lately 

 removed in forming a new hedge ; the masonry was 



" Surt. Hitt. Dur. i (2), 283 ;' Ordinatio ' of Sher- 

 burn Hospital. 



14 Boldon Bk. (Surt. Soc.), 68. 



" Temp. Prior Bertram, 1189-99. 



16 Measures. 



" Dur. Cart, ii, fol. 99. w Ibid, 



" Script. Tres. (Surt. Soc.), App. p. Ixxi. 



10 Dur. Epis. Reg. Langley, passim. 



" Rites of Dur. (Surt. Soc.), 15. 



" Arch. Lond. x, 6 1 . 



" Reg. Palat. Dun. (Rolls Ser.), i, 197. 



130 



