76 Mr Tate on LongJioughton, &c. 



bondmen and cotmen at an early period ; for we find that, 

 in the thirteenth century, instead of performing servile 

 work, they paid money rents to the baron. From this 

 class sprung the copyholders, formerly a numerous and 

 important body of small landed proprietors in this county ; 

 they are however now extinct in Longhoughton ; for the 

 whole of the land there, with the exception of three or 

 four small portions allotted for tithes, or for right of com- 

 mon, which was divided about 50 years ago, now belong 

 to the owner of the barony of Alnwick. At what time these 

 copyholders were swept away I know not ; but from a Sur- 

 vey made by royal authority of the possessions of Thomas 

 Percy the 7th Earl of Northumberland, who was attainted as 

 a rebel, we find that in 1569 there were in Longhoughton 

 forty-seven of these copyholds or customary estates ; thirty 

 of them were the old bondagia, each being described as con- 

 taining a built tenement and a husbandland or thirty acres of 

 arable, meadow, or pasture land with appurtenances, and 

 chargeable with a rent to the lord of oOs. yearly ; seventeen 

 of them were the cotagia, each with a croft or garden and a 

 selion of land, and chargeable with a yearly rent ranging 

 from 2s. 2d. to 3s. 4d. The names of these small proprietors 

 are given " in this Survey ; there were six of the name of 

 Adams, five of Elder, five of Clerk, four of Sheppard ; the 

 other names of less frequency are Gibson, Athey, Todd, 

 Grene, Hudson, Dawson, Thew, Selby, Walby, Driver, 

 Waller, Fylbrand, Hodgson, Edgarth, Wilson, Lyghton, 

 Scott, and Patenson. Some descendants of these old families, 

 in the female line, still live in Longhoughton ; but with the 

 exception of one family, that of Elder, whose descendant is 

 now a tenant farmer there, all the others in the male line 

 have disappeared. 



Longhoughton Church, like many others in this county, is 

 of composite workmanship of different periods ; and though 

 boasting of little architectural beauty, it possesses historic 

 interest from some peculiar features. 



Of the old church, which we know was in existence 

 in 1147, there are distinctive remains deserving the atten- 

 tion of archaeologists. The chancel arch, and the arch be- 

 tween the nave and the tower, and perhaps also some rude 

 rubble work in the north wall, are referable to this early 

 period. Both arches are circular ; that in the chancel wall, 

 forming a narrow entrance only 7 feet in width, is perfectly 

 plain without any ornament or moulding ; the thickness of 



