Lesbury Parish, by the late George Tate, F.G.S. 443 



near to trie sea, would be one of the places first occupied by 

 the Angles. And here where the great thane lived, would, 

 when Christianity was introduced, be the first church, which 

 for some time would serve for the district around ; but as 

 new settlements were formed and population increased, other 

 chapels would be built in Alnwick, Alnmouth, and Long- 

 houghton, and supplied with priests sent from the parent 

 church. The effect of the Norman conquest and the build- 

 ing of a great castle at Alnwick, as a residence of the Nor- 

 man baron, stript Lesbury of its pre-eminence ; and after 

 Eustace Fitz-John founded, in 1145, Alnwick Abbey, and as 

 part of its endowment gave to it Lesbury Church, with the 

 chapels of Alnwick, Alnmouth, and Longhoughton, Lesbury 

 church became subordinate to the Abbey, and lost its inde- 

 pendent authority. 



No lands in Lesbury township were granted by the 

 barons of Alnwick on military tenure. There was a free 

 tenant, there were bondmen and cotmen, there was a com- 

 mon — the folk-land — remaining from Saxon times, and 

 there was a large area of demesne land in the hands of the 

 lord. About the middle of the thirteenth century, it is re- 

 corded in the Testa de Neville, that William de Vescy held 

 Aunemuve, Haukehill, Bylton, and Letebyre ; j and that 

 William de Falconer held there half a carucate of land on 

 payment yearly of a sparrow-hawk. Passing on to 1373, 

 we have fuller information from an inquisition, which states 

 that Henry Percy held the manor and vill of Lesseberry, the 

 site of which being waste rendered 12d. yearly in herbage ; 

 and in the same place 225 J acres of demesne land rendering 

 6d. yearly per acre, and 32 acres of pasture at Is. per acre ; 

 and a water mill, rendering £10 13s 4d yearly ; and that 

 there were also 20 bondagia, each of which consisted of a 

 messuage and 24 acres of land and pasture, 16 of which 

 render each 13s. 4d. yearly ; 4 lie waste and uncultivated, 

 the herbage being worth 6s. 8d. yearly ; § that there were 

 also 11 cottagia, each worth 2s. yearly, and certain free 

 tenants paying 14s. lid. yearly, and other free tenants ren- 

 dering 2s. ; and that the profits of the Hallmote were worth 

 yearly 3s. 2d. 



% [In 20 Edw. I., "William de Vesci had free warren in Houton, Lestbyrye, 

 &c] 



§ [It must be borne in mind that these are depreciated valuations, occasioned 

 by the devastations of war, and what the records call the destitution of the 

 period.— See Ber. Club's Proa, vol. vii., p, 65.] 



