Parish of Jarrow

PARISH OF JARROW

The Parish of Jarrow (fn. 1) (considered as including the Chapelry of Heworth) is bounded by the Tyne on the North, by the Chapelry of St. Hild on the East, by Whitburn on the South-East, by Boldon and Washington on the South, and by Washington and Gateshead on the West.

The Parish is divided into four Constableries: 1. Monckton, including Jarrow, North and South Hebburn, Puterer's close, and Monckton; 2. Hedworth, including Hedworth, Laverick Hall, North and South Follonsby, and the Leam (fn. 2); 3. Upper Heworth and Whitehouse; 4. Nether Heworth, including Felling, Wardley, and the modern but populous villages of Billquay, Heworth Shore, Felling Shore, Carr Hill, and Windy Nook (fn. 3).

Jarrow (fn. 4).

The remains of the ancient Monastery stand on the North-West edge of the Slake (fn. 5), a ruined haven or bason, half filled by the wash of sand and soil, which still receives the water of Tyne at flood, and is left dry at the ebb.

The very scite of the monastery is on a ridge or elevation inclining swiftly to the bay, and accessible on the South by a raised causeway across the marsh, and a narrow bridge over the little water of Done (fn. 6), which flows into the head of the slake.

Grose abuses the situation for

“Salt weed and stinking ouse,
Most like the drowsy flood which poets feign,
Dark Styx with wreaths of moistful osiers hung.”

Our Hutchinson speaks comfortably of the hard level sand, and admires the purple bloom of the thrift which edges that sullen lake. The discrepance may be attributed to the influence of ebb or flood, of shower or sunshine. The spot has no claim to peculiar beauty, yet it is well calculated to produce a general impression of solemn quiet. The church and mouldering monastic walls on the green hill, sloping to the bay, the long silvery expanse of water, the gentle ripple of the advancing tide, the sea-birds perpetually hovering on the wing or dipping in the wave, and the distant view of Shields harbour, with its clouds of smoke and forest of masts, which alone break the total exclusion of ulterior objects, form no common combination. Even with a proper deduction for the pit-row which intervenes betwixt the ruin and the slake, and still more for the brick-house, which bullies the falling cell on the North, Jarrow is “a romancy spot,” where, as Anthony à Wood hath it, a man may admirably “refresh himself with a melancholy walk.”

Of the Monastery itself the very ruins are so extremely scattered and confused that it is difficult to form any conjecture as to their original appearance or destination. The scite of the cloisters may be still traced to the South of the chancel, and some remains of the domestic offices of the Monks are standing further to the South and West. A main wall stretches from East to West; and in the adjoining West gable a window has been preserved, divided by stone mullions and transoms, and decorated with tracery and Saxon ornaments, dentated, zigzag, and circular. An old round-headed door is closed up in the wall a little to the North. It may be difficult, however, to determine whether some of these walls are the remains of the monastery, or of the lay mansion which certainly rose upon its ruins (fn. 7). In old Buck's view (1728) several portions of the building are represented, which have now entirely disappeared.

The Church adjoins the remains of the Monastic buildings immediately on the North. The tower (fn. 8) rises from the centre, betwixt nave and chancel, from two low round arches with groined ribs, intersecting each other, and forming a saltier. The South side of the chancel has two pointed lights, with tracery in quaterfoils; three old round-headed windows are blocked up with single stones. On the North of the chancel is one squareheaded window, divided into three lights, with tracery in trefoils and quatrefoils. One pointed window, and two old round-headed lights, are closed up. The tower has roundheaded double lights on every side, exactly resembling those of Monk-Wearmouth. A round-headed door is closed up on the North of the tower, with a small Saxon light a little above. The fragments of several Saxon pilasters, capitals and bases, are preserved in the church. The West door opens under a plain circular arch (fn. 9). A spacious sunny burial-ground extends to the West of the church and monastery sloping to the marsh.

Jarrow church was repaired, or, in fact, with the exception of the tower and part of the chancel, rebuilt, in 1783 (fn. 10); when, no doubt, many fragments of the elder time perished. The most extraordinary relique still preserved is the well-known and well-authenticated inscription which records the foundation of the church in A. D. 685. This memorial, cut in good Roman letter, on a square through-stone, which Hutchinson saw in the North wall of the chancel, is now removed to the arch of the tower, betwixt the chancel and nave (fn. 11).

(fn. 12) [symbol] DEDICATIO BASILILAE
SCI PAVLI VIII KL MAI
ANNO XV EGFRIDI REG
.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.·.
CEOLFRIDI ABB EIVSDEMQ
Q · ECCLES DO AVCTORE
CONDITORIS ANNO IIII.

When the inscription was removed in 1782, it was found to have been worked upon two stones laid together; a flaw or roughness appears at the juncture (fn. 13). The legend, it may be observed, is in good bold Roman character throughout, with the exception of three Saxon letters. A nameless Monk of Whitby (quoted by Leland) mentions this venerable monument: “Inscriptio ibidem reperta in quadrato lapide majusculis literis Romanis scripta, 'Dedicatio Basilicæ S. Pauli viiii. calendis Maii Anno xv° Ecgfridi Regis Ceolfridi Abbatis ejusdem Q. M. Ecclesiæ deo auctore conditoris anno iiii'.” (fn. 14) This Whitby chronicler, who wrote certainly after the annexation of Jarrow to the church of Durham (fn. 15), adds, that the cell, twice wasted by the Danes, and exhibiting the wreck only of its ancient structure, was tenanted by three Monks, who pointed out the oratory of Bede, and exhibited his little arula, in the midst of which a piece of green serpentine was placed instead of a gem.

A fragment of an inscription, which Mr. Hodgson attributes to the Abbot Huæctbert, was removed from Jarrow by Brand, and is now preserved at the rector of Ryton (fn. 16).

. . . BERChTI . . . .
EDVERE
C CRVCE.

One of the bells of Jarrow is extremely remarkable; it is marked with two fleurs de lis, and inscribed in large characters, Sancte Paule Ora Pro Nobis (fn. 17). Some of the letters are transposed, and three others have been reversed in the mould. The diameter of the bell is twenty-nine inches, and its greatest circumference seventy-eight (fn. 18). A still more popular antiquity, Bede's Chair, is exhibited in the vestry—an old rude oaken seat, which appears to have been doled out with an axe, with the exception of the boards on the back, which are modern (fn. 19).

But Jarrow claims the honours of a still more remote antiquity than the foundation of Benedict; and when the Saxon Ceolfrid reared his Christian temple, he probably built on a foundation laid by the soldiers of Agricola. During the repair of the church, already mentioned, in 1782, two Roman monuments were discovered; the one an inscription on a tablet (“such as were usually placed on the front of temples and other public buildings:”)

. . . . DIFFVSIS
PROVINC . . .
BRITANNA.AD . . .
VTRVMQVE . . .
EXERCITVS. . . .

if Brand's reading be correct, Diffusis Provinciis in Britannia ad utrumque ostium exercitus posuit, a military trophy, placed here when Rome had spread her legions and extended her dominion from sea to sea, from the Western æstuary to the Eastern ocean. The other monument is the mutilated fragment of an altar:

. . OMNIVM FIL. . . IIADR.

possibly a votive tribute to all the adopted sons of Hadrian. It is confessed that these inscriptions may have been removed from the neighbouring and undoubted Roman fort on the Law Hill, at the Southern entrance of the Tyne (fn. 20) : but in aid of the inscriptions two square pavements of Roman brick were discovered, when the road was altered, near Jarrow row, and the whole ground to the North of the church is a series of foundations bearing every character of Roman masonry (fn. 20); further, a regular line of masonry has been traced from East to West (parallel to the South wall of the church-yard) till it terminated in the seite of a round tower near the South-West angle of the cemetery, and on this very spot was found a silver coin of Aulus Vitellius (fn. 21). It may be added (but that will fall equally within the scope of an objection already stated) that much of the structure both of the church and monastery consists of cubic stones of very Roman appearance. I would hardly, however, affirm that the very ancient fragment of wall a little beyond the North-East angle of the church-yard, is any portion of the defence of the old Roman station or square fort which has not impossibly included within its parallelogram the whole present scite of the church and monastery.

The Saxon history of Jarrow has been anticipated under Wearmouth. Benedict founded his second monastery in 681 (seven years after his first monastic establishment at Wearmouth), and the fabric was completed, and the church dedicated to St. Paul by the Abbot Ceolfrid, on the 9th of the kalends of May 685. On Benedict's fifth return from the continent, Jarrow shared in the ornaments which had been so liberally bestowed on the elder monastery of Wearmouth. The church was decorated with paintings representing corresponding passages of the Old and New Testament: Isaac carrying the wood for his own sacrifice; and next the Saviour bearing his cross; the typical elevation of the brazen serpent in the wilderness, and the last solemn scene of the crucifixion (fn. 22). The lives of the Abbots Benedict, Ceolfrid, Easterwin, Sigfrid, and Huæctbert, have been already detailed (fn. 23). Of the last a sepulchral memorial is supposed to have been found amongst the ruins of the church. But Jarrow derives its principal honours from its connection with the Venerable Bede. An ancient and not improbable tradition fixes the birth-place of Bede to the small hamlet of Monkton, nearly adjoining Jarrow. Bede himself states generally that he was born within the jurisdiction of St. Peter and Paul, that he entered the monastery at seven years of age (684), was ordained Deacon at nineteen, by John Bishop of Hexham (696), and received the full order of Priesthood from the same prelate in his thirtieth year (707) (fn. 24). “From the date of my attaining the priesthood until this my fifty-ninth year, I have never ceased to compile annotations and glosses on the holy scripture, for the edifying of myself and my brethren (fn. 25).” In another passage he adds, that he spent his whole life, from childhood to age, within his own monastery (fn. 26). To these naked dates, and to this simple and authentic account, little can be added (fn. 27); but the sequestered habits of Bede may demand the attention of those who, blind to native talent and homebred worth, despise all learning, and undervalue all accomplishment, which is not tinctured with the flavour of a foreign growth:

“Stain'd with the variation of each soil
Betwixt that Paris and this seat of ours.”

The lamp of learning, trimmed by the hand of a single monastic who never passed the limits of his Northumbrian province (fn. 28), irradiated from the Cell of Jarrow the Saxon realm of England with a clear and steady light; and when Bede died, History reversed her torch, and quenched it in deep night.

A long chasm follows the death of the Venerable Monk of Jarrow in 735, supplied only by some meagre annalists; and, amongst much greater things, the history of the Cell of Jarrow is buried in darkness. The successors of Huæctbert, Bede's contemporary Abbot, are unknown.

In 870 Jarrow was plundered and burned by a fleet of Baltic pirates. In 1070 the monastery is said to have again perished in the merciless Raid of the Norman Conqueror (fn. 29). The revival of the monastic institutions, and the settlement of Aldwin and of Turgot at Jarrow and at Wearmouth, has been already related (fn. 30). In 1079 the Monks of Jarrow sailed up the Tyne, received on board the mangled remains of their patron Walcher, and conveyed his reliques to their monastery. In 1083 William de Karileph removed the Monks both of Wearmouth and Jarrow to his Convent of Durham (fn. 31). Jarrow sunk into a Cell subordinate to the Prior of St. Cuthbert, tenanted by a few monastics, and was sometimes assigned as the place of retreat for an aged Prior of St. Cuthbert's on his resignation (fn. 32).

At the dissolution, the Cell of Jarrow, valued at 40l. 7s. 8d. (fn. 33), fell into lay hands (fn. 34), and a stipendiary income only was reserved for a perpetual curate.

Succession of Curates.

Jarrow Perpetual Curacy, a Peculiar belonging to the Dean and Chapter, not in charge. Episc.

Proc. 2s. Patrons,

The Church retains the ancient dedication to St. Paul.

• John Hutchinson, occurs 27 June 1566.
• Jasper Hoppringe, 1573.
• Tho.Maslet, 1578 (Curate of St.And. Newc. 1585).
• John Biers, 1584.
• John Walker, 3 Oct. 1633.
• Francis Battie, intruder,occ.1657;ejec.fornoncon.
• William Walker, A. B. 1673 (fn. 35).
• George Howey, 1697 (fn. 36).
• Richard Roberts, 1699.
• Mordecai Carey, A. M. (fn. 37) 1722.
• Robert Wilson, A. M. 1724, p. res. Carey.
• John Mills, A.B. Linc. Coll. 1751, p. m. Wilson.
• William Glover, p. m. Mills, 1775.
• John Hodgson, p. m. Glover, 1808.

The emoluments of the Curacy of Jarrow consist of an annual stipend of ten marks, paid by the Impropriators; of the Easter offerings throughout the whole parish (excepting the impropriated or lay-rectory grounds); of the fees; and of the produce of two augmentations by Queen Anne's bounty, viz. 500l. in 1815 (whereof 200l. was given by Lord Crewe's Trustees, and 300l. by the Governors of the Bounty and by Parliamentary grant); and 500l. in 1818, of which 100l. was contributed by Mrs. Pyncombe's Trustees, 100l. by the present incumbent, and 300l. by the Governors and Parliamentary grant.

The Glebe is confined to a house and garden, placed betwixt the Church and the mouldering remains of the monastic offices (fn. 38).

The Parochial Register begins in 1578.

Jn° Luckey & his wife, being burnt almost to ashes, (buried) May 8, 1723.

Philip Carr bur^d—y^e aboves^d persons being at his lake wake—May 9.

Francis Heron, King of the Faws, 13 Jan. 1756.

Monumental Inscriptions.

On a flat stone on the floor of the Chancel:

Here lyeth buried the body of Robert Hodshon, of Heburne, Esquir, departed to the mercy of God the 13 of September 1624, anno ætatis suæ 68.

Here lyeth buried the body of Anne Hodshon, second wife of Robert Hodshon, of Heburne, and daughter to Richard Langley, Esqir. . . . deceased the 13 of Ianvarie, anno Domini 1617.

Arms: Hodshon impaling . . . . a cockatrice . . . . Langley.

The suñe worldes eye dothe rise, whose splendante rais
To tree the leaves, to earthe her grasse doth raise;
But suñe doth set, both leaves and grasse decaye;
Soe must our bodies die composed of claye.
Bye Adames fall we all are borne to die,
But good ones die to live eternallie.
They were to good for us, cease then mone,
Heaven is their dwellinge, whyther they are gone.
A loveing father, and a mother deare;
Such ones they were who now in claye lyes here.

Robertus Hodshon, miles, hoc parentibus suis monumentum posuit . . . . . anno 1627.

Here lyeth the body of Robert Hodshon, sonne to Sir Robert Hodshon, Knight.

Hodshon impaling, 1 and 4, Sable, a blazing star Argent, Ingleby; 2 and 3, Gules, a saltier Argent, Nevill.

On the South of the altar:

This monument is erected to the
memory of Henry Ellison, who died
August 24th, 1798, aged 16 years.
He was eldest son of
Henry Ellison, of Hebburn, Esq.
who died at Bath in the year 1795,
and was interred in the abbey church.

On the North of the altar:

The remains of Ann, fourth daughter of the late Henry Ellison, Esq. of Hebburn Hall, are deposited in the burial-place of the family, under the altar of this church, ob. May xxix. A. D. MDCCCXII. æt. XXIII.

In the church-yard, on an altar-tomb:

Arms:

Crest: A talbot passant.

Dormit in hoc tumulo mater genitorque Johannis
Turner, non humili natus uterque loco.
Filius en tandem præclara hac stirpe creatus
Historicus, medicus, non moriturus obiit.
Eliz. Turner, mater, obiit Aug. 28, 1683.
Johan. pater, obiit Jul. 1, 1693.
Johan. filius obiit Septemb. 18, 1697.

On an altar-tomb:

This is the burying-place of Andrew Crame; he departed to the marsy of God the 24th of April anno 1658.

The inscription runs round the ledge; in the centre “Geo. Crame, 1769.”

On an altar-tomb, inscribed round the ledge:

Here lyeth interred y^e body of Thomas Kelsey, who departed this life y^e 11th of May 1675, anno ætatis LXX.

In the centre: Hoc Mnemosunon desideratissimo marito mœrens posuit conjux—M. K.

Arms: 3 scallops within a bordure engrailed. Crest: a scollop on a close helmet.

On an altar-tomb-stone over the family vault:

The burial-place of Thomas and Isabella Gibson of Harton, to whose much respected memory this tomb was erected by their son, Henry Gibson, of Newcastle upon Tyne, Surgeon, 1762.

Also the burial-place of the family of Frederick Horn, of Newcastle on Tyne [grandson of the above Thomas and Isabella Gibson]. Thomasine, his beloved wife, died February the 14th, 1794, aged 31 years, and her remains were interred under this stone. Frederick Horn, surgeon, here interred, died the 6th of August 1808, aged 50 years. Frederick, his son, died Feb. 26, 1816, aged 23 years. Henry Gibson, his son, died Sept. 12, 1816, aged 28 years. Thomasine, his daughter, died Jan. 22, 1817, aged 27 years.

Charitable Benefactions to the Parish of Jarrow.

On wooden tablets in the church of Jarrow:

Arms: Argent, a fesse Or, inter 3 greyhounds Sable. “Mr. Thomas Pattison dyed Nov ^br y^e 12^th 1680, and at his death gave to y^e poor of this parish of Jarrow 20l. y^e interest of w^ch to be distributed on St. Tho's day yearly for ever.”

Arms: Ermine, on a pale 3 birds. “Mr. William Nicholson dyed Feb. y^e 3^d, and at his death gave y^e poor of this parish of Jarrow 10l. y^e interest of w^ch to be distributed on St. Tho's day yearly for ever.”

Arms: Gules, 6 scallops Or, 3, 2, and 1. “Mr. Will^m Brunton dyed Feb. 1^st, 1747, and at his death gave to y^e poor of y^e Constablery of Monkton and Hedworth 20l, y^e interest to be distributed on St. Thomas's day yearly for ever.”

Arms: Argent, a fesse Gules, inter 3 mullets Sable. “Mr. Jacob Fawell died March y^e 23^d, 1748–9, aged 73 years, who left to the poor of Jarrow y^e sum of twenty pounds, y^e interest of which is to be paid yearly for ever.”

By will, dated 9 Feb. 1768 (proved at Durham in the same year), Richard Walker, of Harton, yeoman, directed his trustees, George Dale and Thomas Brunton, “to place out in their own names, upon security at interest, 60l.; and to pay and distribute the interest thereof yearly and every year for ever, in manner following, viz. five shillings, part thereof each day amongst the poor that attend at Jarrow church the Sacrament at Easter and Christmas; and 2s. 6d. other part of the said interest, each of the said days amongst the poor that attend at Heworth church; and as to the remainder of such interest money, to pay and apply the same towards educating as many poor widows' children within the Constablery of Monkton, as it will allow.” The testator also ordered his “silver tankard and gill to be made into a flaggon, and delivered to Jarrow church, for the use of the Communion-table.”

General Ellison left 100l. to the poor of the parish of Jarrow by will, dated 7 Oct. 1775.

The Manor.

The Cell of Jarrow was granted by the Crown in 1544 (fn. 39) to William Lord Eure, of Witton. In 1594 his grandson, William Lord Eure, died seized of the whole scite and circuit of the House or Cell of Jarrow, otherwise Yarrow, 20 messuages, 300 acres of arable, 1000 of pasture, 500 of meadow, 2000 of moor, two saltepanns, and the rectory and tithes in Jarrow, Shields, and Munkton (fn. 40). By his will he left a large sum to his son Ralph Lord Eure, to build with at Jarrow. Ralph Lord Eure (K. B. and Ambassador to the Emperor Rodolph, and President of Wales) died seized of the same estate in 1619, leaving William, fourth Lord Eure, his son and heir.

(fn. 41) In 1616, 1 October, William Lord Eure granted the manor of Jarrow to William Mallory and Roger Tocketts, Esquires, and John Cholmley and Robert Geere, Gentlemen, probably on trust, for in 1622 a fine was levied of the same manor from Lord Eure to Henry Gibb, Esq. of Falkland, Gentleman of his Majesty's Chamber. Another conveyance occurs to Gibb, from Eure and Mallory, 1624, and a general release from Lord Eure (with further assurances from his trustees) in 1627. In 1631 Henry Gibb (afterwards Baronet of Nova Scotia 1634) settled the manor on his marriage with Anne, one of the daughters of Sir Ralph Gibbes, Knight, deceased. In 1653 Richard Everard, of Waltham, co. Essex, Esq. and Elizabeth his wife, daughter and coheir of Sir Henry Gibb, Bart.; Frances Gibb, spinster, the other daughter and coheir; and Edward Gibb, Esq. (a trustee); conveyed the manor, by bargain and sale, to Thomas Bonner and Robert Ellison, of Newcastle. Dame Anne Gibb released her dower on 1 June following. In 1664 Ellison and Bonner made division of the estate. Ellison's moiety was again subdivided into fourths, betwixt Cuthbert and Benjamin Ellison, sons of the purchaser Robert Ellison; and Benjamin's fourth was subsequently split into eighths, betwixt his heirs general Clavering and Rogers.

At present one fourth of the land, tythes, advowson, and royalty, is vested in Cuthbert Ellison, Esq. M. P.; one eighth in Sir Thomas Clavering, Bart.; another eighth in Mrs. Basely, heiress of — Wade, Esq. who purchased from Montagu (heir of Rogers); one half of the land and advowson (but no tythes) in Messrs. Brown, assignees of Temple, who purchased from Hargrave; one fourth of the royalty, and half the tythes (but no land) in Mrs. Ibbetson, widow of Henry Ibbetson, Esq. devisee of Thomas Lewen, Esq. (fn. 42); and one fourth of the royalty only remains in the heir of Hargrave.

Jarrow Slake. The ancient and continued contest betwixt the Bishop of Durham, or his grantees, and the Corporation of Newcastle, relative to the free navigation of the Tyne, and to the right of erecting quays and ballast-shores on the Southern side, will recur under Gateshead. Some particulars, however, relate more immediately to Jarrow.

Octo. 27, 1668, Robert King's informac'n about Jarroe Slake:

Sir Robert Heath had a lease of it to Jo. Heath his son, and Jo. Heath of Durham, for a ballastshoar. A triall hear; about thirty witnesses; it went on the defendants' side in Newcastle.

In the broken rebell times old S^r Harry Vane had a lease of those royalties from Philip Ebbatts, who had a lease from Dean Hunt about 1622.

Mr. Jennison and Jac. Cole, for Newcastle, by force of an 100 (ita) pulled down the wall made for a ballast-shoar: Robert King witness at London, and Edward Harper, of Westow, Jo. Parkhurst, of Sheeles; Sir Rob. Rich, M^r of Requests, ex^d. Sir Harry Vane's Steward there: Sir Harry got the better, 500l. damages, and free to go on. The witnesses deposed that Jarroe Slake was part of the lordship of Westow. Hunter's MSS. D. & C. Library.

However, in 1694 a cause began in the Exchequer, the Mayor and Burgesses of Newcastle Plaintiffs, against the Dean and Chapter of Durham, and Samuel Shepherd, Defendants. A trial was directed on the two following issues: 1. the Defendants could not lawfully erect and use a ballast-key or wharf at Westoe, or Jarrow Slake, without the licence of the Mayor and Burgesses of Newcastle; 2. the erecting of such ballast-key at Westoe or Jarrow Slake would be a detriment to the river: and in June 1697 a verdict was found on both issues for the Plaintiffs, and the Court granted a perpetual injunction to stop the Defendants, and every of them, from erecting any ballast-key or wharf in the above places. March 17, 1697-8, the Dean and Chapter appealed to the House of Lords, which appeal was dismissed 7 May, 1698, and the order in favour of the Corporation confirmed (fn. 43). There is no doubt, however, that on the strength of ancient charters, and of immemorial usage, one half of the Tyne, or at least a third part of it (so that one third still remain free and neutral in the midst) did belong to the Church of Durham, or their grantees, as fully as one other third appertained to the County of Northumberland. At present the Corporation of Newcastle, acting under repeated grants of Conservatorship (fn. 44) , extend their jurisdiction over all lands within high-water mark, so that no staith, quay, or other building, can be erected within those limits without their licence. But they make no claim to the soil or royalties, which are in the owners of the adjoining lands. On the North-West of the Slake the royalties belong to the Impropriators of Jarrow; on the South-East to the Dean and Chapter of Durham.

In Gardner's Grievance only one coal staith is marked on the South of the Tyne within Jarrow parish, viz. Black staith. There now exist seven; for Felling colliery at Felling Shore; for Sheriff Hill colliery on Gateshead Fell at Heworth Shore; for Washington at Bill Quay; for Hebburne at the Black Staith; for Jarrow colliery at Jarrow Staith; for Chapter Main at South Shields; and for Pelaw Main (at Ouston, in the parish of Chester) at Puterer's Close.

Jarrow colliery was won (in 1803) and worked by Mr. Temple on the impropriated ground. The depth of this colliery is 140 fathoms; the main seam 6 feet 3 inches. 78,000 chaldrons of coal were wrought, and about 400 workmen employed, in 1810 (fn. 45). Mr. Hargrave sold the freehold of the soil to Mr. Temple, but reserved his share of the coal, which he leased to him under a tentale rent. Messrs. John and Thomas Brown, assignees of Temple, are the present occupiers. A long row of habitations for the workmen, constituting a new pit village, was built on the Newcastle road, extending nearly a mile to the West of Jarrow church.

Hebburn.

Hebburn stands two miles to the West of Jarrow, and one mile South of the Tyne.

Lands in Hebburn belonged to the Convent of Durham, or to its subordinate Cell of Jarrow, from an early period. The records in the treasury refer chiefly to transactions and transfers of property amongst the tenants of the church. North Hebburn was early held as a freehold manor.

Will de Barthew, fil. et her. Johannis de Barthew, et Joh. de Barthew, clericus, frater Willĩ, dant Joh. filio Joh. Willy de villa de Hebern sex acras in Hebern quæ habuerunt ex dono Willĩ fil. Joh. de Hebarne. Test. Wilto de kirkeby, tune coron. Warde de Cestr. Ric. de Heuworth, Will'o Mayr de Hebarn, Will'o Lardener de eadem, Reginaldo de Wermuthe monaco, Thoma Ayre de Sothewik, et aliis. Apud Hebern die dominica prox. post F. S. Kath. Virginis, A.D. 1356.

Omnibus, &c. Willielmus Gaugy, filius et heres Isolde Gaugy de Heb'ne juxta Monkeston. Noveritis me remisisse Johanni Willy filio Johannis Willy de Heb'ne tot. jus, &c. in omnibus, &c. quæ Mariota quondam uxor Willielmi Jonessone habet in dote. T. Will'o de Kyrkeby, Ric'o de Hetheworth, Joh'e Lumley, Will'o Lardner, &c. Dat. apud villam de Heb'ne die dominica Prox. p. F. Epiph. A. D. 1366.

Sciant, &c. quod ego Johannes Willy civis Londin. dedi, &c. Ricardo Willy fratri meo omnia terras et ten. mea in villa de Hebbarne pro xxx libris argenti. 9 Aug. 12 Hen. IV.

The descent of this family of Wylly stands thus:

a “Joh. fil. Rie. Willy ducet in uxorem Katerinam vel aliam filiam Johannis Holden de Taunfield arm. pro quo maritagio Joh. Holden solvet 10l. apud Makarsande justa vill. S. Albani per man. Joh. Heyworth arm.” 6 Oct. 23 H. VI.

In 22 Edw. IV. John Willy released all his right in Hebburn to John Hagerston, Chaplain, and Edmund Bell, Clerk; the conveyance was probably on trust, for the chief property appears vested soon after in the family of Gray. In 1507 John Clarvaux, Esq. and William Hull, Chaplain, recovered, against Robert Gray and Joan his wife, 200 acres of arable land, forty of meadow, six tofts, and eight crofts, in Hebburne, Monketon, and Moorclose. In 19 Henry VII. Thomas, Prior of Durham, and his Chapter, granted to the same Robert Gray and Joan, all their lands in Hebburne, “scil. ex parte boreali ville de Hebburne, sicut cum novo fosso includitur à Jarow dike usq. ad villam de Hebbarne, et a fine occidentali ejusdem villæ per fossam borealem de le Calfeclose usq. moram de Hebbarne exceptis quatuor clausis vocatis Howedens, Wyllys clos, Haydens et Powter close (fn. 46).” The grant is explained by an indenture, 11 Feb. 1503, between the same parties, by which Gray and his wife release to the Prior all their lands in “Hebbarne, Monketon, and Moreclose, being on the South syde of the towne of Hebbarne;” and the Prior confirms (as in the grant above cited) to Robert Gray and Jane, and the heirs of Jane, “all those houses, lands, &c. on the Northe syde of the said towne as it is enclosed with a newe dyke from Jarow dyke, &c.(ut supra)except Howeden's, Willy's close, Hayden's and Powter close, which the Prior shall still hold,” discharged of all rent, “other than the rents due to the cheiff Lordes of the Fee;” and the Prior shall make one half of the dyke on the partition, and Robert Gray shall make the other half (fn. 47).

In 1532 Ralph Gray conveyed the manor of North Hebburn (fn. 48) to Edward Baxter, of Newcastle on Tyne. A second conveyance occurs from Ralph Gray to Matthew, son and heir of Edward Baxter, 31 Oct. 1537. In 1562 John Baxter, of Newcastle, Esq. (son and heir of Matthew) granted the manor of North Hebburn to Richard Hodshon, Alderman of Newcastle, to whom Dame Anne Hilton (mother of John Baxter) released her dower 10 Sept. 1566 (fn. 49). In 1588 Robert Hodgshon, of Hebborne, Gent. (eldest son of Richard) settled the estate on his marriage with Anne Langley, and dying 1599 (fn. 50), left a son and heir, afterwards Sir Robert Hodgshon, Knt. (The subsequent descent of the family is explained in the Pedigree.)

The old mansion-house was built with some view to defence, trenching on the castle like the Border towers. Whether it was this military and predatory aspect, which naturally reminded the citizens of the horrors of the Border war, or the imposing situation of Hebburne on the Tyne, or, rather, the popish tenets of its owners, the place seems to have been from the dissolution till the civil wars (during the possession of the Hodgsons) the frequent object of jealousy and suspicion to the peaceful burghers of Newcastle.

During the rebellion of the Earls in 1569. “Of Sonday last the Protestants and Papests withyn Newcastell made a fray, but Mr. Hodshon, a rank Papest, ys put forth of the town, and the matter paysseffed, praised be God.” (fn. 51)

Again, Sir Robert Hodgson, grandson of Mr. Hodshon who was “put forth of the town,” strengthened his connections with the old interest by marrying Frances Ingleby, grand-daughter of the attainted Earl of Westmoreland; and of this Sir Robert, Bishop Neile reports (fn. 52),

“That upon severall searches made by the Sheriffe for Sir Rob^t Hodshon, of Heborne, and John Davel, his servant, and one Anthonye Berrye, of Jarrow, three popish recusants, men of ill note in that kinde, and dwellinge very dangerously neere y^e river of Tyne, for y^e recevinge and conveyinge of popish passengers and their carriages of what kind soever, none of them can be founde; but y^t upon y^e late discovery of their doings, they absent themselves from their dwellinges, so as no examinations of them, or securitie of their persons, can as yet be had. It also appeareth y^t Anthony Vandackam, a Brabanter, now in y^e goale at Durham, servant also to Sir Rob^t Hodshon, hath bin the conveier of y^e said passengers from Callice to Newcastle, and knew what kinde of men y^e passengers were, and of y^e bookes w^h they brought packed up in a fardell: and it is prooved by three witnesses y^t y^e said Anthonye cominge to y^e ship for y^e fardell of bookes, after y^t y^e officer had seized upon it, being told thereof, smot his brest in great passion, sayinge that then he might goe and hange himselfe; yet he denieth y^e speaking of any such wordes, and what yo^r Ld' ps pleasure may be for any proceedings w^th him I humbly expect.”

The Bishop then proceeds to state that the fardell of bokes “by cataloge seemeth to belonge to one y^t is a priest, and a man of some continued studye in divinitye.” He further “maketh bold to informe that Y^e aforesaid Sir Rob^t Hodshon's dwelling at Heborne, Anthonye Berrye's and John Davel's at Jarroe, on y^e South side of Tyne, about y^e middle way betwixt y^e Tynemouth and Newcastle, and one M^ris Lawson's at St. Anthonie's over against them on y^e North side, they all being convicted recusants, and reputed pragmaticall in ill offices of conveyinge, recevinge, and harboringe, of persons of all sorts ill-affected to y^e state, is very inconvenient and dangerous; the redress whereof, either by removinge them frõ their habitations, and com'andinge them to some other places of lesse opportunity for their evel dispositions and indevors, or otherwise, I humbly leve to your LI'ps wisdomes, whose directions I shall most readily and carefully accomplish, restinge your right ho^ble good L'pps most humbly at com'and.”

The Bishop's letter refers to an enclosure from Sir William Bellasis, Sheriff of the County, which states, that

“On receipt of his L'pps letter, together W^th the Lords of the Councell's direction, he (Sir William) did, with Sir John Calverley and Dr. Cradocke, take order to send S^r Rob^t Hodshon, and alsoe writt to Mr. Maior of Newcastell, entreating his companie (if his occations would p'mitt him) at Durham, or some other convenientt place (the sicknesse being dangerously disperst and dayly increasing in Newcastle); and likewise that if that Anthonie mentioned in the examinations were in Newcastle, wee might have him alsoe. In answer of which frõ Mr. Maior wee received a letter testifying his redinesse, and sent us the said Anthonie, and three other examinations taken since; the first one of them being the M^r of the ship's the others two of the cõpanie of the same shipp, in which there is little more than in the first, one save some cicumstances to cõfirme that the bookes did belonge or at least the care of conveiance thereof, to the fores'd Anthonie. But upon Monday being mett at Durham, wee received another letter from Mr. Maior, excusing his not coming, being detained about the examination of fower other . . . . taken the night before: three of them coming from beyond sea, who had with them more bookes, reliques, and diverse letters, and as he supposed they wear likely to be preasts. And as it felle out wee saved a journey to Hebborne, for Sir Rob^t Hodshon was from home. Frõ yor Lo'pps alwaies to be com'anded,

Morton, this 3 d of Maii 1626.

Will. Belasys.“

Perhaps Mr. Mayor's opinion as to the danger of Sir Robert Hodshon's (fn. 53) proceedings differed from that of his employers; at least, in a very sensible letter to Mr. William Smyth, 19 Nov. 1625, he writes, “Understanding my Lord of Durham desires to be satisfied concerning the danger of Sir Robert Hogson's and Mrs. Lawson's houses, and of the intercourse with each other by boats over the river; these are to inform his Lo'pp that I, and the Aldermen my brethren, hearing of such reports, made enquiry, and could finde noe matter thereof but idle reports, other then their keeping of boats for crossing the river;” but he adds, “hee will take order for the delivery of my Lord's coles at Durham-house;” and concludes with some newes concerning the Portingalls and Braseelers, and that “the Ducke of Buckingham is gone to take the Isle of Zeland in caution.

Yo^r loving brother,
Tho. Lyddell.”

Very little akin, probably, to this stout Catholic knight, Sir Robert, was Captain Thomas Hodgson, or Hodson, “trained,” as he informs us, “in the practise of armes by old S^r W^m Reed, then by the valiant old L. Willughbye, under whom 24 yeares ago (1621) he learned his rudiments, and since receyved his degrees by the lawful power of honourable commanders.” “Nine yeares Muster Master of the trained bandes of the county of Duresme, wherein he hath used the best dilligence, without any just laxe of discerning observers.” “This day,” observes Bishop Neile, “Captain Hodshon refused to undertake the laber of instructinge the trayned soldiers how to manage their armes, wherfore it was resolved y^t we shuld otherwise have no use of him as Muster M^r, for that the Deputy Lieftenent doe undertake the carefull view of the armes, and y^e enrolement of the trained bands.” From his office, therefore, of Muster Master, Captain Hodson fell into the prison of the Marshalsea, from whence he addressed the following singular

“Petition to the King's most excellent Ma^tie.

Royall Sir, I humblie acknowledge my madnes in gyving offence to your Ma^tie my so gratious Soveraigne. I affirme it in the presence of God, I dessemble not, but with a penitent hart ingenuously confess it; I submitt my head to Yo^r Ma^tie mercie.

Yf I were able to give a reason, for a fault so far from reason, it would be this: I have a wife and eight children your Ma^ties subjects, of w^h three ladds (who would have prooved brave sparks in your service) are dead of late, by penurie and neglect inforced meerlie by the B. of Durham's unjust crueltie, and the rest of the oppressed infants contynuing now in the same danger (together with my present necessities) have driven me into this ffrenzie.

The B. hath under trust dishonourablie snapt a warrant of evidence from mee.

Hee hath shamefullie denied his owne hande, w^h I have to shewe.

Hee hath stopped my fee these 4 yeares, contrarie to the contract of the countrey; they being willing to pay it, and it concerning him nothing in honour or profitt.

I have perfourmed your Ma^tie's service according to the countries covenant, as fullie as anie other Muster Maister.

The affirmac'on I should refuse or neglect yo^r Ma^tie's service, is so far contrarie to truth as darkness to light.

I protest before God, I am none of those false Gibeonites that beguiled Josua, but a true Gibeonite, that have come a far journey for justice, my bread being moulded, my shoes and cloths tatterd and torne, and my mony spent.

I humbly submitt my head to your Ma^tie's gratious pleasure, and to my last dropp of blood vowe myself before God, at your feet to dye,

From yo^r Ma^tie's prison, in the Knight Marshall's custody, this 27 Aprill 1621. (fn. 54)

Your Ma^tie's faithful servant,
Tho. Hodson.

The Hodgson family, in its chief branch, terminated in an heiress, married to Francis Carr, of Cocken; and the estate of Hebburne passed by purchase, about the year 1650, to the ancient and respectable family of Ellison, in whose possession it still rests (fn. 55).

The mansion-house was nearly rebuilt about 1790; it is a spacious and handsome edifice, of regular architecture (fn. 56). The grounds have been much improved by extensive plantations, and by throwing the Newcastle road to the North of the house.

Pedigree of Hodgson, of Hebborne.

Arms: Party per cheveron embattled Or and Sable, three martlets counterchanged.

a Jarrow Parish Register.

b Administration of Sir Robert Hodgson, of Lintz Green, Knt. granted to Susan his widow, now wife of Edward Coulston, Esq. 10 May 1649.

Pedigree of Ellison, of Hebburn.

Arms: Gules, a cheveron Or, inter three eagle's heads erased Argent.

a Bourne, p.70, mentions the epitaph (in St. Nicholas, but gives no date) of Cuthbert Ellison, merchant adventurer, and adds, “Now the burial-place of Mr. Richard Wall, descended from the elder brother of Robert and Benjamin Ellison.”

e On the death of Sir Benjamin Rawling, Knt. Elizabeth Ellison inherited about 140,000l. of personal property, as only surviving child of Nathaniel Ellison.

No. II. Issue of Nathaniel Ellison, sixth son of Robert Ellison, of Hebburn, Esq.

b Par. Reg. All Saints.

c Par. Reg. St. Andrew.

d Par. Reg. St. John.—Dates not particularized are from the Parish Register of St. Nicholas, Newcastle.

*** For the compilation of this Pedigree the Editor is indebted to Sir Cuthbert Sharpe.

Monkton (fn. 57),

An ancient possession of the Monastery of Jarrow. The name carries its own obvious derivation. Tradition assigns this as the birth-place of the Venerable Bede. Bede's Well still retains his name, and was very lately in repute as a bath for the recovery of infirm or diseased children. It was also one of the spots where the people celebrated the usual sports of Midsummer eve (fn. 58),

“Hard by a chrystal Fountain.”

Hedworth,

A village on irregular ground in the plain to the South-east of Hebburn.

Simon de Hethewurth granted to the Prior and Convent of Durham forty acres in Hetheworth, with a toft near the house of Richard fil. Lyulf (fn. 59). Peter, son of Simon de Hethworth, quitclaimed to the Prior all right in seven tofts and seven score and seven acres (fn. 60); and John, son of Peter de Hethworth, married the widow of John de Southwick (fn. 61), purchased the inheritance of his two daughters in law, Alice Yeland and Agnes de Suthwick, and deserted Hedworth. His descendants, two generations (fn. 61) later, again removed to Harraton, on their intermarriage with the heiress of Darcy (fn. 62); yet the family continued to hold lands in their original vill of Hedworth, under the Prior of Durham, at a much later date. In 1399, John de Hetheworth, de Southwyk, held of the Prior 24 acres, once of William, son of Peter de Hetheworth, 3s. rent; 25 acres sometime of William Fraunceys 12d; 10 acres sometime John Clerk's, by the service of one pair of; 15 acres, which were Hugh Colstan's, by one pound of cumin; and 60 acres under 13s. 4d. rent to the Prior, and eight shillings to William Mayr, of Hebern (fn. 63). (This last named out-rent had been granted by Hugh and Isolda Colstan, by charter dated 1314, for the support of the lights at St. Mary's altar in the Church of Jarrow (fn. 64).

By ind. 7 Feb. 30 Hen. VIII. Hugh Prior of Durham on the one part, and Sir Rauffe Hedworth and Antonie Hedworth, gentleman, on the other part, after reciting in the usual form, that there had been theretofore “dyverse suits and debaits betwyx the said parties and their tenants, &c. are agreed by the advice of their frends as foloweth: viz. the Prior has demised to Sir Rauffe and Antonie for a term of threescore and eighteen years,

24 acres at the ende of Hedworth in the Burnes, betwixt the far ford and the new Parke, bounding upon the West side of the said town; 24 acres at Stottes-house pece bounding upon the Marish close on the East, and on the Odlande crooke on the West; 3 acres called the Rughacre boundering upon the ten acres East, and on the crooked hedlande West; 10 acres in the Brex which bounds upon Stottehouse South and East;

And in exchange, the Hedworths demised to the Prior sixty-one acres, viz.

2 acres called the Clerkes Yerd and the Coltgarth; 2 acres in the Hangyngsyde; 2 upon the Knoll; 2 in the Franchesside; 2 in the Lyingside; 3 in the Dedeflatt; 6 in Castell-way piece and in little Castell way; in Bells pece 4 acres; in Sharpstane pece 3 acres; 3 acres on the West part of Whitkill; 2 acres on the Whynnyside; one called Atkinson acre; in Byrkeley 4 acres; one at the hedlande of haule medowe; one at the West part of the tofts; one in Colsongarth; 2 acres boundering on the Cow close; 2 on the tennurygg; 3 acres on the brade pece; and betwyx the Burnes one acre; and of the howme 2; and on the oxe pasture one, to hold for the like term of seventy-eight years (fn. 65).”

The chief property in Hedworth, however, had long before, by grant from the ancient local owners and subsequent acquisitions, became vested in the Prior and Convent, who had a deer-park here as early as the Pontificate of Bishop Farnham. The new Park (fn. 66) seems alluded to, in the last cited Charter betwixt the Prior and the Hedworths.

Within the two last centuries, the family of Pattison held considerable property, both free and leasehold, in Hedworth.

The family of Stote long held considerable leasehold possessions in Hedworth. Stottes-house is mentioned in 1538, and a very numerous race may be traced from the commencement of the Parochial Registers. Robert Stote appears amongst the Disclaimers at the visitation of 1615 (fn. 67).

The old Mansion-house of the Stotes still exhibits traces of walls and enclosures, like the residence of a family of yeomanly gentry (fn. 68).

Pedigree of Pattison, of Hedworth.

Several later registers of the name occur, which I have not ventured to apply.

* Jarrow Parish Register.

† Monk Hesilden Parish Register.

‡ St. Hild's Parish Register.

Follonsby.

Follonsby is bounded by Wreken-dyke on the North, on the South and East by the parish of Washington, and on the East by Boldon. It consists of three farms, North Follonsby, South Follonsby, and the Leam (fn. 69).

Thorald of London (the grantee of Bishop William) gave, by the consent of Bishop Hugh and of Bertram the Prior, his vill of Folettibi to his younger son Nicholas, with the services (adjutorium) of Laylig of Clifton, and John his son. Helyas, son and heir of Thorald, confirmed his father's donation to his brother Nicholas, and also the life estate in the same vill of Agnes his step-mother, excepting ten acres North of the way from Folettibi to Boldon, and two acres above Letholf, near Heltun way, which he had granted by charter to William Grom. In one of his several deeds of confirmation, Helias, who then writes himself Clerk, states, that he had received from his brother Nicholas, in consideration of his said waiver of birthright, thirteen marks and a half at his utmost need, in maxima paupertate sua. Afterwards Nicholas fil. Torald. released all his right in the vill of Folettibi to Robert Fitz-Roger, for twenty marks, a gown, and a palfrey (fn. 70); and here the evidence of the ancient charters terminates. Folansby occurs neither in Boldon Buke nor in Hatfield's Survey; and the next subsequent evidence is the Inquest on the death of John de Farneacres, who held the manor in 13.. of the Prior of Durham, by homage, fealty, and ten shillings (fn. 71). Simon (fn. 72) and Thomas (fn. 73), his two elder sons, successively held the same estate, which then descended to a third brother, William, who probably alienated it, as well as Farneacres. Afterwards the Gategangs of Gateshead held lands of the nameless lord of Follonsby, and other small parcels of the Prior and Almoner of Durham (fn. 74).

In 1429 Roger Thornton, the wealthy merchant of Newcastle, died seized of the manor of Folensby (fn. 75), which he had settled on the marriage of his son Roger Thornton with the daughter of Lord Graystoke. The younger Roger died seized of the same estate in 1472, held of the Prior by knight's service, suit of court, and scutage, quando currit per terram S. Cuthberti (fn. 76). Lord Lumley, who married the heiress of Thornton, probably alienated Folanceby, for it was soon after the property of the Hiltons. In 1561 Sir Thomas Hilton held the vill and manor by the fortieth part of a knight's fee (fn. 77). The estate was afterwards mortgaged for a long term of years to the Lawsons of Little Usworth, but is included in a settlement in 1688 (fn. 78), and rested in the family till the general dispersion of the Hilton estates in 1750.

The estate of Follonsby, consisting of 702 acres (leased for 326l.) was sold in three lots; one of these portions, the Leam, was purchased by — Redhead, Esq. who devised to the family of Barras; another portion (South Follonsby) is now in the possession of Matthew Russell, Esq. whose father purchased from—Legge, Esq.; and a third portion (North Follonsby) is the property of Thomas Wade, Esq.

Heworth,

A Chapelry under Jarrow, containing the two Constableries of Upper Heworth and Nether Heworth.

Nether Heworth stands on broken ground, on the great road from Durham to Newcastle, two miles to the South of Gateshead. Upper Heworth stands half a mile to the West, and commands an extended view over part of the vale of Tyne, and the heights beyond Newcastle as far as Cheviot.

The vill of Heworth formed part of the possessions of the Church of Durham at a very early period. No freehold property occurs at any time, and the records in the treasury contain only insignificant evidences of transactions betwixt the Convent and their tenants.

The following grant occurs to the Cell of Jarrow:

Agnes filia et heres Roberti fil. Goderici de Hew'rth. Sciatis me dedisse Deo et B. Marie et S. S. Petro & Paulo et domui de Jarue totum jus quod habui jure hereditario in tofto quod Robert. fil. Goderic. pater meus dimisit Magistro de Jarue, inter toftum Nicholai . . . . . et toftum grangie decimalis. T. Symone Maiore de Heborne, Wilto fil. suo, Wilto fil. Hugonis, Walõro fratre suo, Smale Willi, &c. (fn. 79)

Omnibus, &c. Patric. fil. Walt'ri le Sauner. Noveritis me dimisisse Radulfo Priori, &c. omne jus in territorio villarum de Heworth & de Munketon. T.: Will'o Britton, Alano de Pitindune, Will'mo de Fulewelle, Will'mo Clerico de Ferie, Galfrido Clerico de Billingham, Laurencio de Wulviston, Henrico Bellasis, Johanne de Heberna, Alano Clerico, et aliis.

The Prior had a park in Heworth, and a grant of free warren from Bishop Farnham in 1248. The rights of the Convent in Heworth were transferred to the new Cathedral, and the whole of the lands are now held by lease under the Dean and Chapter of Durham, excepting a few parcels enfranchised under the land-tax redemption act.

Chantry Lands. 8 Feb. 31 Eliz. 1588, John Aubrey, Esq. by indenture, enrolled in Chancery at Durham, conveyed to Ralph Taylboys, of Thornton, Esq. a close of three acres in Heworth, called Katherine Close, sometime given by Katherine Fawcett for the celebration of mass for the souls of all the faithful departed within the Chapelry of Heworth; and another close called the Priestes Close, or Monkes Close, abutting on the lands of Hebborne (fn. 80).

The Chapel (fn. 81) at Low Heworth, a neat small building, is entirely modern; it probably, however, occupies the scite of a foundation not much inferior in antiquity to the parent church of Jarrow.

A few years ago a small earthen vessel (fn. 82) was discovered in the chapel-yard, which contained several Stycas of the Northumbrian Sovereign Ecgfrith, whose name occurs in the memorable inscription at Jarrow. The coins in question are executed with sufficient neatness, exactly in the usual character of the Saxo-Northumbrian mintage. The Obverse exhibits a plain short cross, ECFRID REX x; the Reverse has a similar cross, surrounded by something like the appearance of rays, and by a legend which has been supposed to read LVX, a symbol and inscription which have been deemed allusive to the diffusion of the Christian religion in the Northumbrian province (fn. 83).

The little vessel in which these coins were discovered was of red earthen ware, and had two slight ornaments, formed of dots or pellets impressed by a stamp. It had been very imperfectly baked, and had imbibed much nitrate of potash, which effloresced upon its sides. The coins were embedded in a black earth, which had an offensive ammoniacal smell (fn. 84). Some sort of building seemed to have existed on the spot where they were discovered.

In the Archæol. Æliana, Plate . ., is engraved an inscription on the bell of Heworth Chapel, which inscription, consisting of about eight characters or letters, has set at defiance much sterner antiquaries than myself. The modern history of the bell is, that it was brought from Gateshead church, being removed by order of the Vestry in 1701, and presented to Robert Ellison, Esq. “in lieu of the arrerages for the blew quarry spring.”

Monumental, Inscriptions.

On a tablet of white marble, on the South side of the altar, in Heworth Chapel:

Here lieth interred Robert, son to Ralph Brandling, Esq. who died May the 25th, 1744, aged 10 years.

Also Ralph Brandling, Esq. sen^r, died July the 7th, 1749, aged 44 years.

And Ralph Brandling, Esq. jun^r, died Feb. the 25th, 1751, aged 21 years.

Also Eleanor Brandling, widow of the late Ralph Brandling, Esq. sen^r, who died Feb. the 22d, 1776, aged 82 years.

On a head-stone in the chapel-yard:

In memory of Richard Dawes, late Head-master of the Grammer-school at Newcastle, who died the 21st of March 1766, aged 57 years.

This frail memorial, “with uncouth and shapeless sculpture (fn. 85) decked,” was a voluntary tribute of respect from a mason at Heworth Shore to the memory of the distinguished scholar and critic Richard Dawes, whose latest days were spent at Heworth Shore. Richard Dawes, a native of Leicestershire, A. M. and Fellow of Emanuel College, Cambridge, was appointed head master of the grammar-school of Newcastle in 1738. He was also Master of St. Mary's Hospital, and resigned both offices about 1750, having secured an annuity of 80l. a year from the Corporation of Newcastle. With his patrons he had long been on very ill terms; and one ludicrous instance of it was, that as often as the word asinus occurred in any lecture, he made his scholars translate the word alderman, a practice which habit rendered so inveterate, that some of his pupils inadvertently used the same expression with very ludicrous effect in their public college exercises. Dawes's whole character was deeply tinged with a singularity nearly bordering on insanity. His latter days were spent in complete seclusion from society, and his chief amusement is said to have been rowing in a boat on the Tyne. An idle report that poor Dawes destroyed himself is fully refuted by the testimony of persons still living.

Dawes's excellent publication, “Miscellanea Critica,” is too well known to need any notice in this place; he was justly and universally honoured for his intimate knowledge of all the niceties and elegancies of the Greek tongue, and he well deserved Bowyer's epithet of [Ellinichotatos]]. In 1736 he published proposals for a Greek version of Paradise Lost.

In the South-West corner of Heworth chapel-yard is erected a monument to the memory of the unfortunate sufferers who perished in the dreadful explosion of Felling colliery, May 25th, 1812.

A neat plain obelisk, nine feet high, fixed in a solid stone base, has four brass plates let into the stone on the four sides, on which are inscribed the name and age of each of the ninety-one sufferers, alphabetically arranged. The following inscription runs along the head of the plates:

In Memory of the 91 persons killed in Felling Colliery 24 May 1812. (fn. 86)

A Parish School-house was erected at Heworth in 1815, by subscription, amounting to 237l. It contains one school-room for boys, another for girls, and three apartments above, for the master and mistress. On a tablet of stone over the door,

MDCCCXV.
Wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not be compared to it.
Prov. Viii. 11.

Whitehouse stands on the edge of Gateshead Fell, to the South of High Heworth. This is a leasehold estate under the Church of Durham, and was successively the seat of the Jennisons and Colvilles. It afterwards passed by purchase to John Stafford, and was alienated by his grandson John Stafford, Esq. to Richard Scruton, of Durham, Esq.

Whitehouse, occupying the high ground betwixt the vales of the Wear and Tyne, commands a very varied and extensive prospect over the æstuary of both rivers, with the castles of Tynemouth and Hilton in the distance.

Manufactories at Heworth Shore.

Messrs. Bramwell and Atkinson. Prussiate of iron, usually called Prussian blue, or Berlin blue, was attempted to be made, in the beginning of the last century, by a German Jew, in Oakwellgate, in Gateshead. He removed his manufactory from thence to Corbridge, but not succeeding in making a saleable article, he relinquished his speculation; when the late Thomas Simpson, Esq. a gentleman of extensive knowledge in chemistry, and of an unwearied and persevering industry, under the superintendence of Mr. Atkinson's grandfather, who had been employed in the work at Corbridge, took it up, and brought the art to perfection at Elswick, near Newcastle, where it continued till the death of Mr. Simpson, soon after which it was removed to Heworth Shore. Mr. Simpson was also the inventor of the article called liquid blue, and of stone or fig blue, both of which are preparations from prussiate of iron, and are employed by bleachers and private families for cleaning linen. Muriate of ammonia, or sal ammoniac, is also manufactured here, which the proprietors, before this laboratory was established, made in Pipewellgate in Gateshead. Colours, too, of various kinds are prepared here, such as mineral greens, verditors, English pink, Dutch pink, patent yellow or vitreous oxide of lead, and the oxides of iron called York brown, patent brown, Venetian brown, Spanish brown, and distemper ochre. Also all the preparations produced by the distillation of coal, such as coal-tar, bright black and bright red varnishes, &c.

At Messrs. Sill and Bourne's mills, which are worked by water and steam, and stand on the scite of the ancient manor-mill of Heworth, large quantities of wheat are ground and dressed; also the materials for making brown paper and fire-bricks, both of which articles are extensively manufactured here.

Upon the premises occupied by Messrs. Bramwell and Atkinson there is also a ship-building yard, carried on by Mr. Huntley.

Messrs. Robson and King's, and Messrs. Hair and Co.'s manufactory for coal-tar.

Several large grindstone wharfs.

Mr. Wood's pottery for common brown earthen-ware, and Atkinson and Taylor's white and coloured flint-ware pottery.

At Felling Shore there are, a ship-building yard, carried on by Mr. Patten; a large copperas work, the property of George Dunn, Esq. and the oldest work of the kind on the river Tyne; an extensive establishment for preparing fish-oil from the blubber brought by the Greenland ships; a brown-paper mill; and two grindstone wharfs.

At Billquay: a large and old established green-glass-bottle house, carried on by Messrs. John Cookson and Coulthard (first established by Sir William Rawlinson).

Messrs. Sanders and Co.'s works for colours, mustard, and fire-bricks.

Messrs. Doubleday and Co.'s works for reducing soapers' waste ashes into an alkaline state, for the purpose of being re-employed in soaperies; and for distilling oil from bones, and converting their calx into bone-ashes, for the use of the lead-refineries, and for making the ashes called in commerce ivory black.

A ship-builder's yard, occupied by Mr. Beadnell.

The Arkendale Mining Company's lead refinery, a very extensive establishment for extracting silver from lead, and making sheet-lead. The machinery here for blowing the furnaces and rolling the lead is of the most beautiful and excellent kind, the work-manship of Mr. Do . . .

Near Bill Quay there is a deep dene called Cat dene, which appears like the alveus of ancient quarries; it is now a thick jungle of thorns and forest trees, but there are still large quarries at its head, and there is a tradition that the walls of Newcastle are built of stone wrought in this ravine (fn. 87).

The High Heworth free-stone is of an open and porous nature, and highly esteemed on account of its property of withstanding the strong heats of glass-house and iron and steel furnaces better than any stone or brick hitherto discovered in this neighbourhood: hence it is called the Heworth Fire-stone. It also makes excellent filtering troughs.

Felling.

The Prior of Durham in the time of Henry III. enfeoffed Walter de Selby of the manor of Felling, to hold by homage; fealty, knight's service, two marks rent, and suit at the Prior's court every fortnight (fn. 88). Walter Selby was succeeded by his son Adam Selby, whose grandson Walter Selby forfeited the manor, which fell to the Crown, and was granted to Ralph de Applingden, “and the said manor is now, by the forfeiture of Ralph, again vested in the Crown, and is worth 40s. de claro; but before the Bishopric was wasted with fire and sword (fn. 89), was worth annually eight marks.”

The manor was very shortly after in the possession of the family of Surteys: of Sir Thomas Surteys, to whom Bishop Lewis Beaumont granted free warren in Fellyng 1331; of his son, another Sir Thomas Surteys, who died in 1379 (fn. 90); and of his son, Alexander Surteys, who died in 1381 (fn. 91), having enfeoffed Sir William Skypwyth and other trustees of his manor of Fellyng (inter alia), in order to exclude the Bishop from wardship of the heir. This transaction would seem to imply a forfeiture of the estates, which, however, descended to Thomas Surteys (an infant of twenty weeks age at his father's death), who had livery of Felling (inter alia) in 1400 (fn. 92). Sir Thomas Surteys last named (Sheriff of Northumberland in 1422) died in 1435 (fn. 93), and the manor rested in his lineal representatives, all of the same name of Thomas (fn. 94), for four descents. In 1509 the last Thomas Surteys died seized of North Gosforth and Felling, leaving Marmaduke his heir male, and brother of the half blood, then under age, and Catharine, then wife of John Place, of Halnaby (fn. 95), his sister and sole heir of the whole blood. After long litigations betwixt the heirs of Catharine and Marmaduke Surteys, the whole of the estates were divided by a solemn deed of partition, enrolled in Chancery at Durham, 1 Oct. 6 Edw. VI. “betwyxt Sir Robert Brandling, of Newcast'll upon Tyne, Knight, and Anne his wyff; Thomas Blaxton, of Blaxton, Esquire, and Elizabeth his wyff; daughters and heires of one Katherine Wyclyffe, decessed, syster and heire of the hole blood to one Thomas Surteys, layt of Dedynsall, in the countie of Durham, Esquier, decessyd, and Frauncis Wyclyffe, Gentelman, one other of the heyres of the said Katheryne, that is to say, sone of Dorothy, daughter of Katheryne, &c. of that one partie; and Marmaduke Surteys, Esquier, brother of the half blode to the foresayd Thomas Surteys and Katherine Wyclyffe, of that other partie (fn. 96).”

The heir male obtained the manors of Over Middleton and Morton, and some sales which he had made of other parcels of property were confirmed. The ancient manor and house of Dinsdale was divided amongst the three claimants of the whole blood, Brandling, Blakiston, and Wyclyffe, (though it afterwards centered wholly, by purchase, in Place,) but “the manor of Fellyng, with the appurtenances which the said Sir Robert Brandling now hath in his possession,” was confirmed to the same Sir Robert and his heirs for ever, to the total extinction of all right in the other coheirs of the whole blood.

Sir Robert Brandling had no surviving issue by his wife, Anne, the coheir of the blood of Surteys; but he obtained, by the composition just recited, the dominion over the estate, which he transmitted to his brother's issue (fn. 97).

During the whole period of the Surteys' possession of Felling, the manor was held of the Prior, by military service, suit of court, 4s.scutage (when the scutage runs to 60s.) and 26s.8d. exchequer rent.

In 1605 Robert Brandling, Esq.(the great nephew of Sir Robert) did homage for his manor of Felling to the Dean and Chapter of Durham (in whom the ancient rights of the Prior were vested), “dicto Roberto flexis genibus sic dicente,” “I do become yours and the Chapter's man from this day forward for life, and member, and earthly honour, and to you shall be faithful and loyal, and shall be in faith to you for the lands which I do clayme to hold of you, saveing the faith I owe to our Sovereign Lord the king, and to such other Lords as I hold of.”

Sir Francis Brandling, son and heir of Robert, representative for Northumberland in 1625, deserted Felling for Alnwick Abbey (fn. 98). His descendants, who were enriched by marriage with the heiress of Lee, of Middleton, near Rothwell, Yorkshire (fn. 99), occasionally resided at Felling, till the late Charles Brandling, Esq. built the present elegant mansion at Gosforth.

Felling Hall, an old stone house (of which the foundations are now shaken by colliery crecps),.stands on the high road betwixt Newcastle and Sunderland, about two miles to the South of Gateshead. The greatest part of the estate was lately alienated in parcels to Sir M. Ridley, Bart. and Co. Mr. William Falla, of Gateshead, and some purchasers of smaller lots (fn. 100). The whole estate contained about 430 acres.

Felling Colliery (fn. 101) was in 1812 the scene of a dreadful explosion from the effects of fire damp. The mine was at the time considered as in a state of perfect safety from the purity of the air, and all the arrangements were in the highest order and regularity. The whole establishment consisted of about 128 persons, and two shifts or sets of men were constantly employed. “About half past eleven on the morning of the 25th May 1812, the neighbouring villages were alarmed by a tremendous explosion. The subterraneous fire broke out with two heavy discharges from the John pit, which were almost instantaneously followed by one from the William pit. A slight shock, as from an earthquake, was felt for half a mile around the workings; and the noise of the explosion, though dull, was heard to three or four miles distance, somewhat resembling an unsteady fire of infantry. Immense quantities of dust and small coal rose with these blasts into the air, in the form of an inverted cone; the heaviest part of the matter fell near the pit, but the dust, borne away by a strong West wind, fell in a continued shower, from the pit to the distance of a mile and a half. In the village of Heworth, it caused a darkness like early twilight, and covered the roads so thickly that footsteps were strongly imprinted in it; pieces of burning coal, driven off the solid stratum of the mine, were also blown up one of the shafts. By twelve o'clock thirty-two persons, all who survived, were brought up by the gin rope, which was wrought by human strength in the absence of horses; the dead bodies of two boys were also recovered; and of the thirty-two who came up alive, three died within a few hours. Only twenty-nine persons, therefore, were saved out of a hundred and twenty-one, who were in the mine at the time of explosion; eight had ascended at different intervals shortly previous. At a quarter after twelve, Mr. Straker, Mr. Anderson, and seven others descended the John pit, in hopes of meeting with some of the workmen alive. As the fire damp would instantly have ignited at candles, they lighted their way by the Steel Mill (a small machine which gives light by turning a plain thin cylinder of steel against a flint). Knowing that a number of the workmen would be at the crane when the explosion happened, they attempted to reach it by the plane board; but their progress was intercepted at the second pillar by choak damp; the noxious fluid filled the board between the roof and the thill, and the sparks from the flint fell into it like dark drops of blood. In retracing their steps to the shaft, they were stopped at the sixth pillar by a thick smoke, which stood like a wall the whole height of the board; the flint mills were useless, and to the total despair of success in their enterprize was added the certainty that the mine was on fire, and the probability of a second explosion at every moment burying them in its ashes. At two, Messrs. Straker and Anderson had just ascended the John pit with three of the workmen; two were in the shaft, and two were left below, when a second explosion (though infinitely slighter than the first) did actually occur. The men in the shaft felt little inconvenience except some unusual degree of heat. Haswell and Anderson, who were below, heard its distant growling, and like the Arabian, who falls prostrate to let the fiery Simoom pass over him, fell on their faces, and by keeping firm grasp of a strong prop which supported the roof near the shaft, experienced no other inconvenience from the blast, than its lifting their legs and poising their bodies in various directions as the waves toss and heave a buoy at sea. As soon as the atmospheric current returned down the shaft, they were drawn safely to bank. On Wednesday the 27th May, Mr. Straker the viewer, and Haswell the over-man, again descended the John pit, to ascertain the state of the workings, for all hope of rescuing any of the victims alive was at an end. Immediately under the shaft they found a mangled horse; but they had only advanced a few yards, when the steel mill was extinguished, and Haswell began to exhibit effects of the carbonic poison by faultering in his steps; still another experiment was made on their return to bank, to satisfy chiefly the minds of the unhappy women and children, who, still clinging to vain hopes, surrounded the pit-mouth in all the varied attitudes of supplication or despair. Mr. Anderson with James Turnbull again went down; at thirty fathoms they found the heat rapidly increasing, and it was found impossible to exist without apoplectic symptoms more than a few yards from the bottom of the shaft: when they ascended, their cloaths emitted a smell like turpentine distilled from coal-tar. The mode of operation adopted under these circumstances was, to attempt excluding the atmospheric air from entering the workings, in order to extinguish the fire occasioned by the explosion; of the existence of which, the smoke which ascended was a sure indication. This was effected by filling the shaft of the William pit with clay about seven feet above the entrance from the shaft into the drift, and by boarding over the mouth of the John pit. It is impossible, in this place, to describe at length the whole varied operations; on the 7th July, the workmen pierced through the clay in the William pit into the drift, and at half past eleven the tube of the John pit emitted a thick continued volume of vapour, alternately grey and blackish; at five in the afternoon it was of a light steam colour, and the next morning the smoke was scarcely visible. On the 8th of July, Mr. Straker, Mr. Anderson, the over-man, and seven others, descended the William pit, and as a current of water had been directed down the shaft for ten hours, found the air perfectly cool and wholesome. When the first shift of men came up at ten O'clock, a message was sent for a number of coffins to be in readiness at the pit. These, piled in a heap to the number of ninety-two, had to pass the village of Low Heworth. As soon as a cart-load of them was seen, the howlings of the women, who had hitherto remained within their houses, but now began to assemble about their doors, came on the breeze in slow fitful gusts, presaging a scene of extreme distress and confusion at the pit. Happily the representations made to them as to the state of the one body already found, and the ill effects likely to result from such a display of feeling, induced them either to return home or remain silent in the neighbour-hood of the pit. Every family had (with a feeling very general in these classes) made provision for some entertainment of their friends on the day the bodies of their relatives should be discovered, and it was generally given out that they intended to take the corpses to their own houses. The weight, however, of Dr. Ramsay's opinion, and other friendly remonstrances, prevailed with them to waive the usual practice, and to consent that the bodies should be interred as soon as discovered (fn. 102). It is impossible here to detail the whole of the operations by which the workings were cleared, and the bodies recovered; from the 8th of July to the 19th of September, all the corpses of the ninety-two sufferers were found except one. The effects of the blast were most various: round the crane, twenty-one bodies lay in ghastly confusion, some shattered to pieces, others lying as if overpowered by sleep, and others scorched as if by the fiery wind of the desert; others lay prostrate with their hands extended, as if attempting to escape the blast. On the 15th July, the bottom of the plane board was reached, where the body of a mangled horse and four waggons were found; these were of strong oak, strengthened with bars and hoops of iron, yet the blast had driven them and the horse with such violence down the inclined plane board, that it had twisted and shattered them as if they had been shot from a mortar against a rock.

“I pass,” concludes Mr. Hodgson, “over the many theories and absurd suppositions invented to explain the cause of this calamity. The power that destroyed, raised, and marshalled its forces in secrecy—it left no evidence to shew from what corner of the mine it issued out to battle.”

An almost certain preventive is now known against the effects of fire-damp: armed with the safety lamp, the pitman traverses the most dangerous recesses of the subterraneous realm with impunity. What fairer triumph, what brighter extension of the empire of Science, has marked the annals of Philosophy, than this victory over the swart Dæmon of the Mine (fn. 103) ?

A liberal subscription was immediately entered into, for the relief of the families of the sufferers. Collections were made by individuals, by the coal owners on the Wear and Tyne, by the coal factors in London, in Churches, and in Meeting-Houses; and various Societies and Corporate bodies vied with the liberality of a long list of individual contributors (fn. 104).

The whole of the above statement is taken, nearly verbatim, from “An Account of the Explosion in Brandling Main Colliery at Felling, near Newcastle upon Tyne, on May 25, 1812; with a plan and description of the Colliery; a brief statement of the fund raised for the widows of the sufferers; suggestions for founding a Colliers Hospital, and a funeral sermon on the occasion.” In Mr. Hodgson's account, the reader will find a lucid and accurate detail of the machinery of the Colliery, without which it is impossible to understand the various operations described, as well as a much more exact narrative (than can be here exhibited) of every circumstance connected with the calamity.

Wardley,

An ancient possession of the monastery of Jarrow.

In 1313, William de Tanfield, Prior of Durham, resigned on account of age and infirmity, and had assigned for his support the Cell of Jarrow, the tithes of High and Low Heworth; the Manor House of Wardeley for his residence, firewood for hall and chamber from Heworth wood, and fagots for his oven from the brushwood (bosco cæduo) in the Heghenigh, coals he shall provide for himself both to cook and brew; he shall have one or two monks for company, one monk to wait on him out of the bishopric, and a decent chamber in the monastery (of Durham), where he may abide at a time five or six days according to his lawful pleasure or occasions; the Cell of Jarrow shall be maintained in as good condition as he receives it; but if the monastery be burned by the Scots, or in open war, then William shall have decent abode and maintenance in the house of Durham with one monk companion, one valet, and four lads (fn. 105). Middleham, concordat. in the presence of Bishop Richard Kellaw, Tuesday after Holy Trinity 1313.

Vestiges still exist of this Manor House of Wardeley, or possibly of some older establishment, Christian or Paynim. A deep fosse with an earthen mound cast to its outer side, surrounds an oblong plot of upwards of six acres; the sides of the entrenchment measure on the North 145 feet, on the East 211 feet, on the South 143, and on the West 197. The ditch varies in breadth from thirteen feet to nine, its depth is about six feet; a bridge crosses it in the centre of its eastern face, and it has been filled up to admit a corresponding road on the West. The area is now occupied by a farm house, and its appendages, none of which have any appearance of antiquity; the traces of fishponds are visible within the area on the South. The Polygonum Bistorta (common in meadow ground in the neighbourhood of Castles and Monasteries) seems to point out the site of the garden within the North-East corner of the area (fn. 106).

Pedigree of Brandling, of Felling, co. Pal.; and of Alnwick Abbey and Gosforth, co. Northumberland.

Arms: Gules, a cross flory, and in the dexter chief an escallop Argent.

Crest: On a wreath a stump of an oak-tree couped party per pale Or and Vert, from the top issuing flames of fire, from the sinister side issuing two sprigs of acorns, all proper.

* Qu.? Tuition of Thomas, son of Thomas Brandlinge, late of Alnwick, granted to Sir Francis Brandlinge, Knt. 10 July 1629.

a Par. Reg. St. Nicholas, Newcastle.

b Alnwick Parish register.

/*/ Registers not quoted are from Jarrow.

No. II. Pedigree of Brandling, of Leathley, co. York

b Alnwick Parish Register.

* See Thoresby's Leeds, Pedigree of Lindley, p. 78; and Pedigree of Hopton, p. 188.

No. III. Pedigree of Brandling, of Hoppen and Newcastle, and of Little Eden, co. Pal.

No. IV. Pedigree of Brandling, of Newcastle on Tyne, and of Ipswich in Suffolk.

a Par. Reg. Alnwick.

b Par. Reg. Bambrough.

c Par. Reg. St. Nicholas, Newcastle.

* Qu.? Robert Brandling, merchant, buried 1 Dec. 1603; Robert Brandling, 13 May 1621; Robert Branling, 1 July 1636; George Branling, 26 Sept. 1636; Mr. Wm. Branling, 26 Sept. 1642. St. Nich.

I have not ventured to apply these registers; neither the following from All Saints:

Ursulaye Brandlinge, buried 14 Oct. 1603; Robert Brandlinge, merchant, 13 Nov. 1603; Elizabeth, wife to Robert Brandlyng, Gent. 10 Sept. 1620; Margaret, wife to Robert Brandlinge, merchant, 6 Aug. 1624.

1. The name of Brandling occurs at an earlier date than any mentioned in the Pedigree. Adam Brandling, Bailiff of Berwick on Tweed, and John Brandling, Burgess, in a charter of Thomas Gray of Lowlyn, 9 Sept. 1449.

General Pardon to John Brandellyng, of Twedmouth, 26 May 1496. Rot. Fox, No. 29.

2. Bourne mentions an old stone near the quire door in All Saints, “which belonged to Mr. Robert Brandling,” upon which was the Brandlings arms, with this inscription:

“Here lyeth, under this place,
Robert Brandling, Merchant-adventurer, by God's grace,
Margaret his wife, and children dear,
In fear of God they lived here.
Like as the brand doth flame and burn,
So we from death to life must turn.” Bourne, p. 95.

[The last lines are evidently an allusion to the name of Brandling, and to the family crest, the blazing beacon, or brand (fn. 107) in flames]. “Mr. Nicholas Fenwick had this stone given him by one Mr. Brandling, who lived at Ipswich; and caused the said inscription to be obliterated, after that he set upon it the arms of Fenwick.”

Mr. Brandling of Ipswich, free Burgess, petitioned for admitting his apprentice, &c. 1646.

3. 1568. Depositions in the Consistory Court of Durham. Henry Branlynge, brother to Sir Robert Branlynge, Knt. deceased, examined, and sayth, “That on Trinity Sonday before the decease of Sir Robert, he spoke to his brother on the subject of making his will, &c. “so his name schold florishe after him, as he had lyved worschipfully all his lyfe;” and Sir Robert said, “What shuld I doo? I have been bublinge and dooing this four or five years about it, I cannot yet tell where to begin, for we are so many, and what to doo for the best,” &c. “Sir,” replied Henry, “they say you would have maid yo^f will long agone if it were not for one thing, which I wold speke but for angringe of you;” and Sir Robert said, “Speke on hardily.” “Sir, they say if you had not so many of your own to provide for, you would have maid your will.” “An if I have any,” said Sir Robert, “I am hable to fynd them.” Then Sir Robert talked of the unkynd dooings of William Branlynge, who was sodenly dep'ted into Flanders; and at these words M^ris Branlyng, this Examinat's wyfe, came in, and beseched Sir Robert “to take good order betwyxt the said Will^m and her husband;” and Sir Robert toke her kyndly by the hand, sayinge, “I shall make hym, I warrand, fayn to seke your husband all the dayes of his lyfe.” The paper or will founds in Sir Robert Branlyng's counting-house, was in divers places striken out and enterlyned, and many blanks, &c.; and before they went in, Mr. Hodgson asked if any of them did knowe of any will? and Mr. Helye said, “Alas! I fear wee shall fynd none but a sorte of notes in papire, but not the thing we look for;” and that Sir Robert had many tymes requyred him and Benet Chertsey to come down to talk with him on suche thinges, but they came not, nore was it their hap so to doo. And at openinge of the said papire Mr. Hodgson did say this, or like words, “Now wo is me to see this daye, that so wyse a man shuld make such an ende, for this is no will; but, if ye woll be co'nselled by me, ye shuld syt down togither and make a will amongst ye, and agree, and that shal be more quietnes to you.” And Mr. Helye said, “Alack! this can in no case to be, for the susters haith as good right in this as the brother haith; and there were then present,” &c.

This will on papire Henry Brandling in vain attempted to set up against William Brandling, or his son Robert, in trial at York: the sisters who claimed administration to Sir Robert Brandling were, Katherine Byrtfeild, Margaret wife of Edward Taylor, and Eleanor Forster, widow.

4. By indenture, 18 may, 16 Jac. 1618, between Robert and Francis Brandling, Esquires, and Sir Ralph Grey, Sir Ralph Delaval, and Henry Hilton, Esq. Robert Brandling settled the abbey of St. Mary's Alnwick, the two abbey-mills, the messuage called Brocksfield, the tithes of Long Houghton, Alnwic, West Parke, Cowledge Parke, and Hul Parke, lands in Jesmond and Nunnewoode, on Francis Brandling's marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Ralph Grey. Inq. p. m. Franc. Brandling, militis, 5 May 1641. coram Rad. Algood escaet. &c. Mascull's MSS.

5. 4 Feb 12 Car. 1637-8 Sir Francis Brandling settled his manor of North and South Gosforth, Newminister Abbey, lands in Highley Grange, and in Brecelawe,' near the Shield field, the tithes of Alnwick, Lesbury, Bilton, Hawkhill, and Shilbottle, co. Northumberland, and the manor of Felling, co. Pal. on trustees. Sir William Widdrington, Knt and Edmund and William Pitt, Esquires, for himself for life, remainder to his intended wife, Elizabeth Wheeler, widow, sister of William and Edmund Pitt, for life, Ibid. The scite of the monastery of Newminister, lands tenements, hereditaments, and tythes, with the appurtenances, in the parishes of Morpeth and Mitford, were demised by Sir Francis Brandling, for 1000l for 99 years, to Henry Sibthorp, of London, Esq. and by him assigned to John Brownell, of the city of London, Gent, and Robert Constable, Esq. (for the use of John Brownell alone, whose daughter Mary married Sir Robert Dacres, Knt. of Clerkenwell, co. Middlesex Lady Dacres administered 15 March 1689, on the death her father, and is joined in the bond by Ralph Brandling, of Felling, Esq.)

6. The following extraordinary Deposition occurs in a tattered volume, amongst the mouldering records of the Consistory Court of Durham.

“Geo Young, of Alnwick, says he has been for 17 years past Serjeant to the Bayliffe of Alnwicke, during which time he knew Mr. Edward. Delavall, and after him Mr. Rob. Muschampe and Mr. John Fary, successively Deputy Constables of the Castle of Alnwicke, and that they sat in the pewes on the North side of the chancell of Alnwick church, where the Earls of Northumberland, their officers, &c. usually sat; that Mr. Richard Brandling, after the publishing of the monition, 'did sitt in the uppermost seat on the North side of the chancell of the church of Alnwick, in the seat commonly called the Earle of Northumberland's seat, where he satt as well in the forenoon as the afternoon,' and said, 'he would sitt there doe any man what he could;' that on the 4th of September Richard Brandling, finding John Fary set in the Earl's seat, did offer 'to putt the said John Fary forth,' which he refusing, the said 'Ric. Brandling did sitt before him in the same seate, upon his books; and hath sworne divers times' that the Court of Durham should not trye it;' and, not content with this outrage, another witness declares that as soon as 'he was over the church style, he took his horne, and did blow and sound the same' all along the streets of Alnwicke. Deposition before the Archdeacon of Northumberland.”

7.In the Church of Leathley, Yorkshire:

Here lyes interr'd, expecting the second coming of our Saviour Christ Jesus, the body of Dame Ellen Hopton, the youngest daughter and one of the coheirs of Arthur Lindley, of Leathley, Esq. by Alice his wife, one of the daughters of Sir John Gerret, Knight, Lord Mayor of the City of London. Her first marriage was with Sir Ingram Hopton, of Armley, Knight, by whom she had several sons and daughters, all which are deceased, save only Dame Mary Stapylton, of Wighill. For her second husband she had Robert Brandling, now of Leathley, Esq. the erector of this monument, by whom she had five daughters; Mary, the third, being dead, there yet lives Ann, Jane, Ellen, and Allathea Brandling. This, the best of women and ladies, liv'd and dy'd lov'd and lamented by all, haveing most justly gain'd the title to be the obedient child, affectionate mother, loyal wife, a constant and perfect pattern of patience, modesty, humility, piety, charity.

Obiit 15 Martii 1664.