446 Lesbwry Parish, by the late George Tate, F.G.S. 



All these Copyholds have been extinguished ; but at what 

 period this was finally achieved, we know not. The raid 

 against this class of owners was commenced by the great 

 barons, not long after the Reformation ; for the extravagant 

 mode of living which then began to prevail, exhausted the 

 resources of courtiers, and caused them to cast a covetous 

 eye on the possessions of the humbler yeomanry ; and ulti- 

 mately, in this district, the whole of these small though 

 ancient estates, was absorbed into the large baronies ; and 

 the descendants of those who tilled their own soil, and 

 lived in freedom on its produce, sunk into a kind of servile 

 condition. 



Of some feudal customs and impositions there are glimpses 

 in Lesbury. A Hallmote or Manorial Court was held there 

 from an early period. I have seen the roll of one held in 

 1519. The inhabitants paid ten shillings yearly in 1569, 

 from ancient use and wont to the lord of the manor, for 

 a common brew-house ; and they sent Watchers to the Aln- 

 wick fairs, to be quit of paying tolls in the fairs and markets 

 of that borough ; even at the present time two men are sent 

 for that purpose by Lesbury and Bilton. For Cornage the 

 township paid 16d. yearly. Claims were made by the lord 

 upon the tenants, to carry various things to Alnwick Castle ; 

 but such services were resisted or unwillingly given ; in 

 1682, eighteen of the inhabitants were dragged before the 

 Alnwick baronial court, for not leading slates from Seaton 

 Car to Alnwick Castle, and each was amerced from Is. 8d. 

 to 3s. 4d. Rent hens were a very unpopular charge, and 

 raised a mob ; James Grey of Lesbury, was brought before 

 the court at Alnwick, in 1695, by the collector, "for a rescue 

 when he was executing his office in collecting the rent hens." 

 Each township had to have its corn ground at the lord's mill, 

 from which no inconsiderable revenue was derived; for 

 violating this feudal obligation, the millers of Lesbury mill, 

 in 1686, brought before the court, the millers of Warkworth, 

 " for fetching and carrying away several quantities of corn 

 from the inhabitants of Alemouth, to be ground at their own 

 mill of Warkworth, which ought to grind at Lesbury ;" 

 and each was amerced 3s. 4d. [In respect to encroachments, 

 in 1601, Sir John Forster had " enclosed ground called Mer- 

 den Banks, and taken the growing hay belonging to Les- 

 bury."] 



