Lesbury Parish, by the late George Tate, F.G.S. 441 



one being 5 feet 7 inches long, and 2 feet 8| inches broad ; 

 and the others respectively 3 feet 6 inches, by 1 foot 10 inches 

 broad ; 1 foot 10 inches, by 1 foot 4 inches ; and one was a 

 double cist, divided into two compartments by an upright 

 slab, and having one large slab covering both. Two urns 

 were found ; one elegant in form — tulip shaped — a drinking 

 cup, well made and elaborately and artistically ornamented ; 

 and the other like a jar, of ruder manufacture, and scored 

 with zig-zag lines * At Burney Knows also, a double cist 

 was found in 1823, and in each compartment was a small 

 drinking cup. 



About two hundred yards from the north end of Alnmouth, 

 on the east side of the road, are remains of an ancient en- 

 trenchment. " It is," says Mr. McLauchlin, " an irregular 

 quadrangle of about 90 yards north and south, by 70 east 

 and west, with an entrance at the north-west angle, covered, 

 as is usual in ancient earthworks, by a traverse of the ram- 

 parts." Relics have not been found in it, nor are the remains 

 sufficiently characteristic to mark its age ; it is, however, 

 probably a camp of an Ancient British period. 



The Parish of Lesbury comprehends the townships of 

 Lesbury, Hawkhill, Bilton, and Alnmouth, and the hamlet 

 of Wooden ; but for the purposes of the Poor Law, Hawk- 

 hill, Bilton, and Wooden, are parts of the township of Les- 

 bury. The whole was included within the Barony of Aln- 

 wick, and changed its superior lord with the changes of the 

 barony ; but as the career and fortunes of the successive 

 lords have been recorded in the History of Alnwick, it will 

 be sufficient here to indicate generally the successive families 

 who obtained possession of the barony and who, in conse- 

 quence, were the feudal lords of Lesbury. 



A short time after A.D. 1096, Yvo de Vescy was in pos- 

 session of the barony of Alnwick, which in 1134 passed to 

 Eustace Fitz-John, who had married Beatrix, the only child 

 and heiress of Yvo. William, their son, who took the name 

 of Vescy, succeeded to these estates in 1157, and they passed 

 in succession to his descendants, first to Eustace de Vescy, 

 next to William de Vescy, then to John de Vescy, and after- 

 wards to William de Vescy, the last of the family connected 

 with Alnwick and Lesbury ; for leaving no legitimate issue 

 he bequeathed to Bishop Bek the barony of Alnwick, in 

 trust for his illegitimate son William de Vescy, of Kildare ; 



*See Proceedings of Berwicks. Nat. Club, iii., p.p. 63—67. 



