554 Notice of Screnwood. By James Hardy. 



tained to John de Midleton lately adhering to the Scots enemies, 

 etc., in the hand of the king ; and that the other moiety of the 

 said manor, and the said tenements of Horsley, hold of others 

 than the king, and therefore, etc. ( A.bbrev. Eot. Orig. ii. p. 255). 

 What portion of the manor was held of the king in capite, there 

 are no documents to explain. 



When Sir John de Strivelyn died, 2 Eic. U., 1378, he still 

 held along with Jacoba (Jane) his wife, daughter of Eichard de 

 Emeldon, among other lands : Burneton manor, entire ; at 

 Preston a tenement and 30 acres of land, and the advowson of the 

 chantry * ; Belshowe manor, half the extent ; Shanewode (Scren- 

 wood) villa. (Inq. p. Mortem, iii, p. 13). His wife died in 

 1392 ; she held Burneton manor and the advowson of the chapel 

 (lb. p. 126). 



"Through his marriages, Sir John Strivelyn became allied to 

 the families of Middleton and Swinburn, and when he died many 

 of his possessions passed by virtue of a settlement to John de 

 Middleton [descended of Sir John de Middleton], and his wife 

 Christiana." (Tate's Hist, of Alnwick, vol. i. p. 147). John de 

 Midleton died in August 1396, possessed of the half of Belshowe 

 (Belsay) and still retained Brunton manor in Bamburghshire, 

 with a mill (Inq. p. M. I'li. p. 207) ; and when his wife 

 Christiana died, 9 Henry V., (1420-21) she still held Burneton, 

 Preston, and Screnewode vill, as of Alnwicke manor. (Inq. p. 

 M. IV. p. 61). Sir John Middleton of Belsay succeeded. 



At the commencement of the reign of Henry YHI. (1509), an 

 official return was drawn up of the fortresses in the northern 

 district of Northumberland, the names of their owners and 

 occupiers, and an estimate of the number of horsemen which 

 they could severally bring into the field. The computed miles 

 are very different from the measurements of the present day. 

 Screnwood was then in the possession of the Horsley family — 

 ''Skyrnwood — Thomas Horsley, owner and inhabitant, 20 men; 

 from Tevedale 6 miles; from the Mers 16 miles." (J. Hodgson 

 Hinde's Hist, of Northd., p. 340.) In a similar return a few 

 years later than 1526, we have another occupant: — "John 

 Horsley of Screnwood, from Scotland 4 mile, and from Eiddisdale 

 3 mile, may dispend of his father's land 10 pound by the year, 



* The Chantry was at Burneton, and was licensed (by the King) 14 

 Edward III., 1339-40. (Gal. Rot. Pat., p. 136). 



