286 Amble and Hauxley. By J. C. Hodgson. 



also been informed, and verily believe, that it was, and in some parts 

 is still, customary in the said parish for the land tax, moduses in 

 lieu of tithes, fee farm and other rents and payments to be paid 

 according to and in proportion to the said antient reputed farms. And 

 I further make oath and say that the common and vernacular meaning 

 of the word farm, at this day, in the said parish, is that of a tract 

 of land, uncertain both as to extent and value, held for the purpose 

 of cultivation. But I verily believe that the word ' farm ' was formerly, 

 and the words ' antient farm,' are now, in the said parish, as in 

 many other parts of the said county, understood and taken to be 

 one of several parts of a township of the same value. And I 

 further make oath and say that I am the owner and occupier of 

 a freehold estate called Amble Moor-house, in the said township of 

 Amble, which estate was devised to me by my said father, and 

 that the said township consists of 14 of such antient reputed farms, 

 as is well known, and is so admitted to consist by the owners and 

 inhabitants thereof, and I have been often told this by several old 

 inhabitants thereof. And ray said estate comprises three of such 

 antient reputed farms, and is now and has for many years past 

 been held and occupied as one farm, according to the modern 

 acceptation of that word. Andrew Bell occupies another farm 

 called Hope-house, comprising four antient reputed farms, and John 

 Holdsworth occupies another farm called Amble Link, comprising 2^ 

 antient reputed farms. Thomas George Smith occupies another farm, 

 which is one of such antient reputed farms as aforesaid. My brothers, 

 James Dand and Eobert Dand occupy another farm called Amble 

 New-hall, comprising three antient reputed farms. Ralph G. Huggup 

 occupies land comprising one quarter of an antient reputed farm, and 

 Messrs Richardson, Shanks, and Douglas occupy other land comprising 

 one quarter of an antient reputed farm, making in all 14 antient 

 reputed farms. So that my estate in the said township had, as I verily 

 believe, been originally three fourteenth (i\) parts, equal in value, of 

 the said township. And I have paid to the parish clerk of the said 

 parish four shillings and sixpence, at the rate of Is. 6d. per farm, 

 being the antient immemorial payment to which he was entitled out 

 of my said estate, and I have been informed, and verily believe, there 

 was paid to the sexton of the said parish Is. 6d., being after the rate 

 of 6d. per farm, and in charch rates, prior to the said year of 1835, 

 my said estate was assessed and paid as and for three farms, and 

 threepence, being one penny per farm for a modus for the tythe-hay 

 of my said estate. And I further make oath and say that there is 

 in my possession, among the muniments of my said estate, a certain 

 writing purporting to be a copy of an Inquisition taken at Morpeth 

 on the 4th day of November 1742, to enquire into, among other 

 things, the manors, messuages, lands, and other property of which 

 one William Radcliffe, then late of Amble, in the said county, esq., 

 had died seized, by which it appears to have been found by the said 



