240 An Account of Lesbury Parish, by Geo. Tate, F.G.S. 



there every Wednesday, and a fair on St. Edmund's day (Nov. 

 20th) and the day following.* According to the Placita de quo 

 Warranto, William de Yescy, in 1292, claimed by prescription, 

 that he had in Alnmonth a market and fair, tumbrill, pillory, 

 toll and assize of bread and ale, the market being held weekly 

 on Wednesday, and the fair for eight days on the vigil, on the 

 day (29th Aug.) and on the morrow of the beheading of St. John 

 the Baptist, and for five days following. 



No part of Alnmouth was granted by the superior lord on 

 military tenure, nor was any of it reserved by him as demesne 

 land ; but the whole of the lands and houses, excepting two 

 holdings, were free tenancies, subject to small quit rents. When 

 John de Vescy died in 1289, Alnmouth yielded to him in rents, 

 tolls, and prisage, £30 yearly ; and in 1368, Henry de Percy had 

 a rent at Alnmouth of £4 3s 9d, called Burghmale ; free tenants 

 paid 19s 4d, the fishery in the Aln yielded 2s, the perquisites of 

 the Court 3s 4d, and the toll 2s yearly. Burgh courts, presided 

 over by the steward of the baron, were held in Alnmouth till 

 1869, when they were discontinued. Some important personages 

 in early times were owners of property in Alnmouth. John de 

 Alnmouth was, in 1323, included in a list of knights and esquires 

 returned by the sheriff of the county. f Eichard de Emeldon 

 held property there in 1333, j [his widow, Christiana, afterwards 

 wife of Sir William de Plumpton, also held it at her death, 

 1363-64 ;]|| and it descended to his daughter Jane, wife of John 

 de Stryvelyn ; in 1390, three tenements there belonged to her,§ 

 and of these three one burgage subsequently passed to Sir John 

 de Middleton, and to his wife Christiana, who held it in 1396.^" 

 Property too belonged to ecclesiastical bodies ; William de 

 Yescy, in 1200, granted one measure of land in Alnmouth to the 

 canons of Brinkburn ; and Eobert de Emeldon, vicar of Lesbury 

 church, gave one toft and a quarter of an acre of land in Ale- 

 muth to Alnwick Abbey. 1 In 1328-9, Adam le Colererman re- 

 presenting the Abbot of Alnwick, holds property at " Alemuth." 2 



The early importance of Alnmouth port is shewn by royal 



* Rotuli Chartarum, p. 174. 



f Cott. Claud, c. 11. % Cal. Inq. post Mort. vol. ii., p. 56. 



|| Ibid, ii., p. 289. § Ibid, iii., p. 127. H Ibid, iii., p. 207. 



1 Arcb. iEliana. Hist. Aba. ii., p. 9. 



2 Cal. Inq. post Mort. vol. ii., p. 289. 



