278 Report of Meetings for 1891. By Dr J. Hardy. 



Sir Ralph Harbottle married Margaret, daughter of Sir Ralph Percy, 

 who fell on Hedgele^' Moor, and their grand-daughter, Eleanor Harbottle, 

 became the wife of Sir Thomas Percy, who was beheaded for the share he 

 took in the Pilgrimage of Grace. On the attainder of her son Thomas, 

 seventh earl of Northumberland, Preston reverted to the Crown. It 

 afterwards passed into the possession of the families of Armorer and 

 Oraster, and is at present the property of Miss Baker Cresswell. 



The Tower of Preston is first mentioned in the List of Fortalices of 

 1415, and was then held by Robert Harbottle, who probably built it. 



" Preston Tower," says Mr Bates, " must originally have been a long 

 building with turrets at the four angles, a sort of Haughton Castle in 

 miniature. All that now remains of it is the south front, with the S.E. and 

 S.W. corner turrets, and portions of the side walls ranuing north from 

 these. The interior of the main building was 16 feet 7 inches wide, and 

 the side walls 6 feet 9 inches thick. The S.W. turret, about 13 feet 6 

 inches square externally, is slightly larger than the S.E. turret, though 

 this projects a little further south. The height of the tower, to the crest 

 of the present battlements, is 49 feet 9 inches. A clock was placed in the 

 tower by Mr Henry Baker Cresswell in 1864, the face occupying the S. 

 front of the secoiid floor." See more of the description in Arch, ^liana, 

 ubi sup. 



Alnwick Abbey, founded 1147 by Eustace Fitz John for Premonstra- 

 tensian Canons, who followed the rules of St. Augustine, and were called 

 Augustinians or White Monks, had the following property in Preston. 



About 1252 and 1288, Walter de Bataill gave to the Abbey one carucate 

 of land in his demesne in the vill of Preston, containing 100 acres of 

 cultivated land, with these boundaries : 5 acres and half a rood in the 

 cultivated field called Petemer ; 1^ acre and 1 rood at Fulway ; i an acre 

 and i a rood in Redepeth ; 9j acres and 1 rood in Wolflatte ; 1 acre and 1 

 rood in Elle ; 2 acres and V^ rood in Titmue ; l^ acre in the cultivated 

 field called Tostes ; 2 acres and 1 rood in Saltcroke ; 6 acres and 1? rood in 

 Swetemanflate ; 2 acres and i a rood in Crakes; 18 acres and 3 roods in 

 Alcmundflatte ; 1 acre and i a rood in Chenhill; 2 acres and li- rood near 

 the mill of Newhanae ; 10 acres and Ij rood in Morflate ; 4^ acres and ^ a 

 rood in Middilflate ; 7 acres and dk roods in Meduesflatte ; 7 acres and 1 

 rood in Fulflote ; 12^ acres and 1 rood in Hewiche. Excepting the tofts 

 and crofts of 10 acres and 1 rood, and excepting 5^ acres in meadows, viz. 

 3 acres in Crumbe Strother, and ^ an acre in Salt-Cruke, and ^ an acre in 

 Thornedike, and 1^- acre in Heurby. Besides he confirmed the grant 

 made by his father, Henry Bataill, of 9 acres in Halleflatte, to buy wine 

 for the celebration of Masses, and of 3 acres in Yateflate, for the support 

 of the poor at the gate of the Abbey. He confirmed the gift from 

 William Bryene, of 3 fields in Preston ; and also confirmed to the abbot 

 and canons, that their men should have and hold a common tavern on 

 their own land in the vill of Preston. But if the abbot and canons 

 cultivated the aforesaid lands at their own expense, then the corn of these 

 lands should be ground at his mill of Brunton (not Preston as Mr Tate 



