Lesbury Parish, by the late George Tate, F.G.S. 461 



Alianor, widow of Richard de Bilton, being then worth 

 twenty marks.-f* After this another family appears as 

 owner ; for in 1358, William, the son of Henry de Bilton 

 granted to Robert de Umfraville, senior, knight, the rever- 

 sion of the manor and vill of Bylton, which John de Belyng- 

 ham held during the life of Alianor ; and accordingly we find 

 Robert de Umfraville in possession of the vill and manor in 

 1368.+ 



The old owners had at Bilton their pele tower, or fortified 

 house, some portions of which were standing on the north 

 side of the old road at the east end of the village. Under 

 the protection of this tower were grouped the cottages in 

 which lived the copyholders who tilled their own lands in 

 the township. Of these small proprietors there were seven- 

 teen in 1569, all, excepting two, having a messuage and a 

 husbandlancl, (about 30 acres of cultivated land), with rights 

 over Bilton common, and paying quit rents to the lord of 

 the manor, ranging from 8s. to 21s. 4d. yearly ; two of them 

 were smaller holdings with only a selion of land attached 

 to the cottage, the quit rents being each 3d. and 2s. The 

 following are the names and amount of quit rent of the 

 ancient yeomanry of Bilton in 1586. 



Edward Alnewick 13s 4d. Thomas Anderson 21s 4d. 



Robert May 13s 4d. Edward Shepperd 18s 6d. 



Thomas Sheppearde 21s 4d. Edward Slegge 40s. 



John Heppell 15s 4d. Thomas Daund 18s. 



John Blith 19s. Edward Alnewick lis. 



Edward Alnwick 21s 4d. Thomas Dobson 3d. 



John Forster 18s 6d. John Taylor 8s. 



Thomas Patterson 19s 4d. William Grey 2s. 



John Stampe 13s 4d. 



Henry Gallon then held a tenement by indenture for 

 21 years at a quit rent of 21s. 4d. Coal was worked in the 

 township not only for home consumption, but for export ; 

 William Grey had a lease from the lord of the manor in 

 1569, for 60 years, at a rent of £4 14s. — of the mines and 

 coal pits in the fields of Bilton, within the closes and beyond, 

 with free passage to Aylemouth. 



Some feudal charges were made upon the inhabitants of 

 Bilton ; they paid yearly 13s. 4d. for castle ward and 16d. 

 for cornage, and to the bailiff of Lesbury as due to the lord 

 by prescription, in respect of their ploughs, 7s. 10d., which 



[t Hartshorne, vol. ii., App. p cxxix.] 

 X Archseolog. iEliana, n.s , vol. i. 



