Anniversary Address. 33 



inscriptions in the Oliurcli. "An ancient tomb under an arch, 

 beneath the window of the north transept, bears in old letters 

 the following inscription: hie iacet.interris.aslini:filivs. 

 HYGO. i.e. here lies underground, Hugh fitz Aseline. Hutchin- 

 son (View of Northumberland, i., p. 145) conjectured that this was 

 the tomb of one of the founders of the church, and in this he has 

 been followed by others. But we can now say something about 

 this personage so highly honoured, and the period when he lived. 

 He was a small landholder at Corbridge of the time of Edward I., 

 and possessed a couple or more of dwelling-houses in the town. 

 In 6 Edward III. (1331-2) Eobert son of Hugh fitz Aselin de Cor- 

 brigg died, seized at Oorbrigg of two messuages and thirty acres 

 of land. (Cal. Inq. post Mort. II., p. 51.) In some old documents 

 concerning Corbridge preserved in vols i. andii. of the "Archaeo- 

 logia j3Eliana," N. S., we have a few correspondent references to 

 this Hugh. In 1316, 9 Edward II., he is spoken of as no longer 

 alive, and we learn that one of his messuages was situated in the 

 Market Place. In 1329, a toft in Prenestrete is noticed, as hav- 

 ing once belonged to Hugh fitz Asceline. In the time of Edward 

 I., he witnesses two separate conveyances of tofts in Corbridge. 

 WiUiam de Tynedale, who in 1289 succeeded his cousin Sir 

 Thomas de Dyveleston, in "Diveleston manor, Colbrig boscus," 

 etc., signs along with him. John fitz John de Corebrigg held 

 a messuage in Corbridge in the street of the Fishers' Market, 

 that he had by infeftment of Agnes once the wife of Hugh fitz 

 Asseline of Corebrigg. In the Inquisitiones of 1331-2, the peculiar 

 surname of Asseline or Asselyn is found in Berkshire in a certain 

 ''William Asselyn de Upledecombe." It may also enter into the 

 composition of the place-name Eslington, North Northumberland, 

 sometimes spelled Esselington and Astlington. The inscription 

 is a hexameter verse. The style of lettering is a sort of climax, 

 commencing with small letters and terminating with large capi- 

 tals. Hugh left behind him a wife and son to attend to the 

 ordering of his sepulchre, who in this followed the example of 

 similar constructions at Hexham. Doubtless also he had secured 

 the concurrence of the ecclesiastical powers, by good works done 

 in his life, to be allowed to occupy as his monument a niche 

 which is part of the sacred edifice, and it may really have hap- 

 pened that his means helped forward certain re-edifications. 

 Corbridge was once a "borough-town," and sent members to 

 parliament. Whether it had a mayor, with a popular occupant 



