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



Sir John de Strivelyn, a distinguished warrior, who, in 

 1335, commanded the English forces at the siege of Loch- 

 Leven Castle, owned property in Lesbury, which he had ob- 

 tained through his marriage with Jane, daughter of Richard 

 de Emeldon ; he held twelve acres of land in Sunderland 

 flat or Lestbury flat, near Lesbury, on socage tenure, worth 

 yearly twelve shillings ;* and this passed by a settlement to 

 John de Middleton and his wife Christiana, who were an- 

 cestors of the present Sir Charles Monk, Bart., of Belsay.-f* 



The ancestors of the Carrs, of Ditchburn, held lands in 

 Lesbury, in the sixteenth century and subsequently ; they 

 were descendants of the Carrs of Hetton and Newcastle ; 

 and important personages some of them had been. George 

 Carr, of Lesburie, appears in Sir Rob. Bowes' list of gentle- 

 men inhabiting the county in 1551, within the Middle 

 March ;j and in 1554, he was one of the commissioners for 

 inclosures of the Eastern Marches. One of them, Robert 

 ■Carr, who was a rebel in 1569, had previously held the mill 

 of Ayne and houses for 30 years, at a rent of £10 14s. 4d. 

 yearly ; and another of them, John Carr, was owner of copy- 

 hold estates in Lesbury, in 1586. John Carr, who seems to 

 have been his nephew, also held lands in Lesbury, and by 

 his marriage in 1618 with Dorothy, daughter of Collingwood, 

 of Great Ryle, he acquired West Ditchburn estate. Mem- 

 bers of the family, however, continued to reside at Lesbury. 

 John Carr, while living there, voted at the election of mem- 

 bers of Parliament in 1722, on account of West Ditchburn. 

 The latest record in the Lesbury Church registers relating 

 to this family is that of the baptism of John, son of Mr 

 Richard Carr, on Oct. 12, 1757. Mr Robert Carr, of West 

 Ditchburn, is now the representative of this family in 

 Northumberland. 



Other free owners there' were at Lesbury, in 1569. 

 Richard Mydlam held a pai-cel of land called Levelands, by 

 charter, at a rent of 5s. 2d. ; and George Lawson and Richd. 

 held other lands at the rent of 2s. 3d. The Church- 

 wardens held freely two selions of land in the fields of Les- 

 bury, at the rent of 2d.§ Edward Alnewyke and Thomas 



* [In 139o, three tenements in Alnmouth, a messuage, and 20 acres of land 

 in Lestbury were in possession of " Jacoba uxor Jobis de Stryvelyn Ohr.] 



f [Hodgson, vol. iii.] 



X Newcastle Reprints. 



§ [In the Cartington Eental, 21st Dec. 15, Hen VII. (1499) the vicar of 

 the Church of Alnemouth,held, as a free tenant in Lessebury, certain culti- 

 vated land, called Redeles Flat, formerly belonging to John de Alnemouth. 



