LONG NEWTON

Lang Newton, 1260.

The parish and township of Long Newton is bounded by Egglescliffe and Middleton St. George on the south, Haughton le Skerne on the west, Bishopton and Elton on the north and Stockton on the east. The village with the parish church stands near the centre upon a long ridge of slightly elevated land extending from south-west to north-east between two branches of the Hartburn or Coatham Beck. To the south and east of the ridge the surface is lower, descending to 50 ft. above the ordnance datum at the extreme east; to the north-west it is usually higher, attaining 200 ft. at the boundary of Newbiggin. Coatham Stob or Coatham Conyers occupies a projecting part of the township at the east end, Call Hill and West Moor are in the south, Hardstones and Haughthorn in the west, Bewley Hill, Larberry and Fox Hill in the north. The area is 4,311 acres. Part of Goosepool, in the township of Middleton St. George, has been commonly regarded as within the parish of Long Newton. (fn. 1)

The principal road is that which goes westward from Stockton to Darlington, passing through the village. To the north there is a road from Norton to Darlington, and to the south one from Yarm and Egglescliffe to Darlington; from the village roads lead north and south to join these roads, and another road goes south-west to Middleton. The Stockton and Darlington section of the London and North Eastern Railway crosses the south end of the parish.

The soil is varied, in parts a strong clay; wheat and oats are grown, also beans. A little before the middle of the 19th century 3,000 acres were arable, (fn. 2) and the distribution is 1,484 acres of arable, 2,472 of permanent grass and 143 of woods and plantations. (fn. 3) The plantations are in detached portions, partly along Coatham Beck and partly on the northern border. Stone quarries used to be worked. (fn. 4)

The principal events in the history of the place are noticed in the accounts of the manors and the church. The Protestation of 1641 was signed here. (fn. 5)

The Wesleyans and the Primitive Methodists had preaching rooms in Long Newton in 1833 (fn. 6) ; the present Wesleyan chapel dates from 1901. The Wilson Church Institute was built in 1887.

MANORS

LONG NEWTON was probably early a member of the barony held by the Balliol family. The service for it was claimed by the Bishop of Durham because it belonged to the wapentake of Sadberge. In 1231 John de Balliol came to an agreement with the bishop by which he was in future to hold it as to one moiety by the fourth part of a knight's fee and as to the other moiety by a rent of £10. (fn. 7) This did not end the disputes, for in 1254 some of Balliol's men seized the church of Long Newton and were excommunicated and arrested; in return some of the bishop's men were seized and imprisoned in Barnard Castle. (fn. 8) Long Newton and Newsham were given by the younger John de Balliol to Bishop Antony Bek shortly before his forfeiture (fn. 9) in 1295. The vill of Long Newton was then worth £40 3s. 11d., including £10 a year which had been granted to Alan de Teesdale. (fn. 10) There were some tenants by knight's service. (fn. 11) Two ploughlands had been held by William de Falderley by grant of Devorgil de Balliol; after William's death about 1299 Bishop Bek gave them to Ralph son of William (afterwards de Greystock), who gave an annuity of £5 a year therefrom to Gilbert Hansard. (fn. 12) The reeve of Long Newton is mentioned in 1307, and the vill is accounted for in the bishop's roll of the following year. (fn. 13) Before 1315, however, it must have been claimed successfully by the Earl of Warwick, holder of the barony of Balliol, who died seised of it in 1315. His free tenants were Walter Cyrzei, holding by the twelfth part of a knight's fee, suit of court and 5s. 4d. rent; Peter Cyrzei by the twelfth part of a fee, suit and 6s. 8d.; Thomas del Spens by the twenty-fourth part of a fee, suit and 6s. 8d.; John de Bermeton by the twenty-fourth part of a fee, suit, 2s. and 1 1b. of pepper rent; Margery de Croft by the twenty-fourth part of a fee, suit and 13s. 4d.; Thomas de Denton by suit and 8d.; Beatrice de Berwick by suit and 16d. rent. (fn. 14)

The heir being only a year old the estates remained long in wardship. The minister's accounts of 1318 show that £18 8s. 6d. was received from the tenants of 17 oxgangs of land held in demesne, £8 from the windmill at Long Newton and the water-mill at Newsham in Egglescliffe, 26s. 11 d. from demesne meadows, 57s. 2d. from free tenants, £25 5s. 9d. from the twenty bond tenants for 43 oxgangs of land, 1 acre and the common oven, and 43s. 5d. from sixteen cottars; a certain custom of brewing rendered 6s. 8d., the perquisites of courts, 59s. 5d., 1 1b. of pepper and 1 1b. of cummin, 13½d.— £61 8s. 11½d. in all. (fn. 15) The windmill needed repairs, and Elizabeth de Umfravill, Countess of Angus, who had £50 a year from Long Newton, (fn. 16) was liable for half. In 1324–5 the free tenants paid 40s. at Martinmas and 6s. 11d. at Pentecost; Caldecote, which was rented at 13s. 4d. and was perhaps the holding of Margery de Croft, was waste. The pound of pepper from John de Bermeton was worth 13½d. The bond tenants paid £15 0s. 4d.; other rents are recorded, and also the cottars' names. The poverty of the tenants by reason of the destruction caused by the Scots accounted for various declines in the receipts; there was nothing from the bracinage. Perquisites of courts yielded 4s. (fn. 17)

The holding continued to descend in the same way as Barnard Castle and the other members of Gainford. In 1384 the bishop had £10 from the Earl of Warwick in Long Newton, the old rent of half the vill, and 70s. from lands of John de Balliol, (fn. 18) perhaps in Newsham. After the final forfeiture by Edward Earl of Warwick in 1499 (fn. 19) it was held by the Crown, being granted out at various times; for example, to Dudley in the time of Edward VI, (fn. 20) and by Edmund Nevill 'otherwise Earl of Westmorland' to Robert Carr Earl of Somerset in 1614. (fn. 21) It was also included in the grant to Charles Prince of Wales. (fn. 22)

A Crown receiver's roll of 1552 shows that the nominal rents of Long Newton were £52 10s. 6½d., and of Cirkland £11 11s. 11d., but the 'decays' amounted to as much as £27 19s. 3½d. No courts had been held during the year. (fn. 23)

Court Rolls of the time of James I are preserved in the Public Record Office. (fn. 24)

In 1628 the lordship of Barnard Castle, &c., was sold by the Crown to Edward Ditchfield and others, the sale including the rents of assize of the free tenants and all lands in Long Newton. (fn. 25) This estate was no doubt acquired with the rest by Sir Henry Vane the elder. (fn. 26) He seems to have given it to Sir George Vane, his second son, who made it his seat and when recording his pedigree described himself as 'of Long Newton' in 1666. (fn. 27) He had been knighted by Charles I in 1640, (fn. 28) and married Elizabeth daughter and heir of Sir Lionel Maddison of Rogerley. He was Sheriff of Durham in 1645, (fn. 29) and treasurer of the committee of the county. He died in 1679, and was buried at Long Newton. (fn. 30) His eldest surviving son Lionel, who in January 1680–1 married Catherine Fletcher, (fn. 31) succeeded, and about 1710 was followed by his son George. At the death of George in 1750 the estates descended to a son Lionel, who died unmarried in 1793. (fn. 32) His brother, Dr. Henry Vane, sometime Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, (fn. 33) was rector of Long Newton and prebendary of Durham; by marriage with Frances daughter and heir of John Tempest of Sherburn he made a considerable increase in the family estates, to which he succeeded in 1793, having been made a baronet in 1782. (fn. 34) He died a year after succeeding, and his son Sir Henry, who took the additional surname of Tempest, deserted Long Newton for Wynyard, the mansion at the former place going to ruin. (fn. 35) He died in 1813, when the baronetcy became extinct, and the estates descended to his daughter Frances Anne Emily, who in 1819 married Charles Stewart, third Marquess of Londonderry; from her they have descended to the present marquess. (fn. 36)

Vane of Long Newton. Azure three left-hand gauntlets or and a quarter gules.

Only scattered notices occur of the various free tenements recorded in the inquisition of Guy Earl of Warwick. John de Cirezi was in 1307 found to have held a messuage, five tofts and 300 acres in Long Newton of the fee of Balliol; Margaret his widow held the lands as dower; Walter was his son and heir. (fn. 37) Walter son of John de 'Cirseye' occurs in 1335, (fn. 38) John son of Walter 'Cirsy' in 1345, (fn. 39) and Walter in 1346 and 1350. (fn. 40) An ancestor was perhaps the Walter 'Arsy' or 'Carsey' who was one of the bishop's knights in 1264. (fn. 41)

CALDECOTE

CALDECOTE was in 1367 held by Goscelin Surtees of the Earl of Warwick; it contained 100 acres of land, and he also had another 8 acres in the township. (fn. 42) In the inquisition taken in 1378, after the death of his nephew and heir Thomas Surtees of Dinsdale, the 100 acres are said to be held of the earl by 13s. 4d. rent and the 8 acres of William Wawen by 4d. rent. (fn. 43) Alexander son of Thomas held the same twelve years later. (fn. 44) The 8 acres, but not Caldecotes, occur again as held by Sir Thomas Surtees in 1435. (fn. 45) Caldecotes seems to have been acquired by the Conyers family of Coatham Stob. (fn. 46)

Robert Killinghall in 1508 had land here held of the lord of Barnard Castle. (fn. 47) It appears to have been acquired from Henry Killinghall by Richard Maddock, who died in 1611. (fn. 48) John Hartburn of Carlton (d. 1619) (fn. 49) had 2 oxgangs held of the king.

A small amount of land in Long Newton was held by the hospital of St. James at Northallerton. (fn. 50) On the suppression of the house it was granted by the Crown in 1540 to Richard Moryson, (fn. 51) but it was afterwards repurchased and given to Christ Church, Oxford. (fn. 52) Rent here belonged to St. Margaret's chapel in Barnard Castle (fn. 53) and to Neasham Priory. (fn. 54) The Hospitallers had a rent of 12d. (fn. 55)

A fulling-mill in Long Newton was sold by the Crown in 1613 to William Whitmore and others. (fn. 56)

A claim to the office of bailiff in the township was made early in Elizabeth's reign by Stephen Brackenbury, one of the queen's gentlemen ushers. He said that the office had been granted to him by Edward VI, with its fee of 30s. 5d. and other perquisites; after he had enjoyed it for three years his Letters Patent were stolen, and after a time came into the hands of Ralph Pollard and Christopher Hall, who refused to surrender them, whereupon he appealed to the chancellor. (fn. 57)

COATHAM STOB

COATHAM STOB (Cotom, xiii–xvi cent.; Cottam, xvi cent.), otherwise COATHAM CONYERS, was apparently part of the Surtees fee. A rent of 6s. from the manor belonged to the lords of Dinsdale in the 14th century. (fn. 58) Appurtenances in Long Newton are mentioned in a conveyance of part of the manor of Dinsdale in 1549 (fn. 59) which may be the rent and right of overlordship in Coatham.

The tenant in demesne in the late 13th century was Ralph de Coatham, who died in 1298 holding besides this manor land in Northumberland. His heirs were his daughter Alice and John de Conyers, son of his second daughter, Scolastica. (fn. 60) The Conyers family appears to have inherited the whole of Coatham. John Conyers 'of Stubhouse' made a grant of land in Cronkley (Northumberland) in 1306. (fn. 61) His son Robert had apparently succeeded him by 1323. (fn. 62) The latter may have been the father of Robert Conyers, the next tenant. By his marriage with Juliana daughter and heir of John Percy the younger Robert became lord of Ormesby in Cleveland. (fn. 63) He died in 1390, leaving by her a son Robert, who was heir to his estates in Coatham and Ormesby. (fn. 64) The younger Robert was already settled at 'Stubhouse' in February 1382–3, when Elizabeth his wife was co-executrix with Sir Robert Conyers of the will of Goscelin Surtees. (fn. 65) The heir of the younger Robert was his son John, apparently the Sir John Conyers of Ormesby who died in 1438. (fn. 66) Coatham is not mentioned in Sir John's will and does not subsequently follow the descent of Ormesby, so that it is probable that it was given to a younger son of the house. John Conyers died seised of the manor in 1533, and was said to leave a son and heir John, aged eleven. (fn. 67) It seems probable, however, that John was actually his grandson, and died soon afterwards, for in another inquisition on the elder John, taken ten years later, it was stated that his heir was Robert son of his son Ralph, aged twenty-one. (fn. 68)

Robert Conyers by his will proved in or about 1566 left his 'manor and lordship of Coatham' to his son Ralph, while reserving the profits of a third of the manor to provide portions for his three daughters. (fn. 69) This Ralph took an active part in the rising of 1569, and on its suppression he was attainted and his lands were confiscated to the Crown. (fn. 70) The manor was worth £28 8s. 4d. a year, and there were rents from Long Newton of £4 18s.; the outgoings included the Crown rent of 13s. 4d. for Coatham and 13s. 4d. for Long Newton, and annuities to kinsmen amounting to £18 19s. 4d. (fn. 71) Four years later the manor or capital messuage called Coatham Conyers or Coatham Stubbs or Coatham Hall, together with lands of Robert Conyers in Long Newton and Elton, were granted to Roger Manners to be held by the fortieth part of a knight's fee and 13s. 4d. rent. (fn. 72) He exchanged these for other lands in 1576, (fn. 73) and in 1585 the manor was granted at farm to James Conyers, whose patent was for twentyone years only. (fn. 74) In 1606 it was granted with Robert Bowes' capital messuage at Grindon to Sir John Ramsay, who at about the same time was created Viscount Haddington. (fn. 75) He sold it in 1615 to Edward Cropley (fn. 76) of London, whose son John Cropley and Edward his son were vouchees in a recovery in 1657. (fn. 77) John was created a baronet in 1661 and died in 1676. (fn. 78) His son Edward, made a knight in 1661, died in 1665, and his widow Martha married Sir Edmund Bowyer of Camberwell, (fn. 79) who held it in her right in 1684. Sir John Cropley, son of Edward, died unmarried in 1713, having devised his estates to Joseph (Micklethwaite) Lord Micklethwaite, who owned Coatham in 1720 and died unmarried in January 1733–4. (fn. 80) It would seem to have belonged to Richard (Lumley) Earl of Scarbrough, who died in January 1739–40, for it was held under the terms of his will by James Lumley of Lumley Castle in 1763, when he bequeathed it to his nephew George Dunk Earl of Halifax. Five years later Lord Halifax conveyed this manor with those of Little Chilton and Grindon in Aycliffe to William Denison of Leeds. William died in 1783 having by will devised all his estates here and in Little Chilton and Grindon to his brother Robert for sale, with the proviso that Coatham should only be sold if certain conditions were fulfilled. Robert Denison died childless in 1785, and under his will these manors were held by trustees for John Wilkinson, son of the John Wilkinson who had been one of William Denison's trustees. The young John Wilkinson assumed the name of Denison and on his death in 1820 was succeeded by his son John Evelyn Denison, who barred the entail in the following year. (fn. 81) It was afterwards the property of John Denison, and about 1850 it was acquired by Mr. J. S. Sutton of Elton (fn. 82) ; he sold it to the late Thomas Appleby, from whose representatives Coatham Stob was purchased in 1910 by Messrs. E. and B. Bainbridge. (fn. 83) The partnership was later dissolved, and on the death of Mr. J. E. Bainbridge his widow occupied the property.

Cropley, baronet. Ermine a chief gules charged with three owls argent.

In 1364 a grant of lands in Coatham lately owned by Goscelin Dayvill, traitor, was made to Robert de Herle and others. (fn. 84) Richard Strangwayes in 1559 was found to have held his lands in Coatham of Robert Conyers. (fn. 85)

In 1684 the freeholders of the parish, in addition to Lionel Vane and Sir Edmund Bowyer, were John and Robert Colling, John Fewler, William Hobman, Robert Newham, Robert Peart, and Robert Thorpe. (fn. 86)

CHURCH

The church of ST. MARY was entirely rebuilt in 1856–7 by the Marchioness of Londonderry, and consists of a chancel 30 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft. 6 in., with organ chamber on the south side, nave 55 ft. by 20 ft., south aisle 38 ft. by 10 ft. 9 in., and south-west porch 9 ft. by 10 ft., all these measurements being internal. There is also a turret containing one bell over the west gable. On the north side of the chancel and open to it by an arcade of three pointed arches is the mausoleum of the Vane family, built also by the Marchioness of Londonderry, where the family monuments are all placed. It is 33 ft. long by 17 ft. 6 in. in width and is in the style of the 13th century with vaulted stone roof, the rest of the building being in the style of a century later. The floor of the mausoleum is raised to the level of that of the chancel, and there is a separate entrance at the west end, the vault being entered on the north side.

The old church was nearly rebuilt in 1806, (fn. 87) and consisted of a chancel and nave with bell-turret and entrance at the west end. The original semicircular chancel arch was replaced by 'three narrow pointed arches supported by plain square pillars,' (fn. 88) and the nave had two 'modern lights on each side under pointed arches, and the chancel one light on each side of the same form, but divided by stone mullions.' The east window was a pointed one of three lights. (fn. 89)

The south aisle of the new building is open to the nave by an arcade of three pointed arches, the porch, which is intended to form the base of a tower, standing at its west end with entrance direct to the nave. A handsome carved oak chancel screen was erected in 1904 by the Marquess of Londonderry, and the pulpit is also of carved oak in a similar style and design. The reredos dates from 1887, and is a memorial to the Rev. John Wilson, rector 1869–85.

The mausoleum contains an elaborate monument to the third Marquess of Londonderry (d. 1854), who is interred in the vault below, (fn. 90) and mural monuments to George Vane of Long Newton (d. 1750), Sir Henry Vane Tempest, bart. (d. 1813), Adolphus Frederick Charles William Stewart Vane Tempest (d. 1864), and Frances Ann Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry (d. 1865). There are also four smaller tablets to daughters of the house of Vane, and in the floor is a brass plate to Sir George Vane, who died in 1679. It bears the following inscription: 'Here lieth the body of S^r George Vane interred | May the first 1679 second son of S^r Henry | Vane sometime principall Secretary of State | to King Charles the First he married Elizabeth | the heiress of S^r Lyonell Maddison of New | castle vpon Tyne, by whom he had thirteene | hopefvl children, viz. fovre sons and nine daughters | His honour wonne ith feild lies here ith dvst | His honour got by grace shall never rust | The former fades the latter shall fade never | For why, he was S^r George once but S^r George ever.'

The plate consists of a cup of 1571, with a band of leaf ornament round the bowl, a cup of 1833, and a paten of 1843, all of London make and without inscriptions. (fn. 91)

The registers begin in 1564.

ADVOWSON

The advowson of Long Newton Church appears to have been held by the Bishops of Durham. In 1318 one Manser Marmion was presented by the king on the ground that the see of Durham was vacant (fn. 92) ; about the same time, at the king's request, the pope provided to it Simon de Lausellis, (fn. 93) but shortly afterwards the provision failed, because the lay patron had vindicated his right in the king's court. (fn. 94) This seems to refer to a claim by the king in right of the vacant bishopric. (fn. 95) Notwithstanding this the advowson of Long Newton as well as the vill was recorded among the Earl of Warwick's possessions in 1397–8. (fn. 96) It was vested in the Bishop of Durham in 1577–87, (fn. 97) and so continued until 1859, (fn. 98) when it was transferred to the Bishop of Chester, who retains it.

The value of the benefice was estimated at £20 a year in 1291, (fn. 99) but in 1318, after the devastations by the Scots, at £14 only. (fn. 100) By 1535 it had again risen to £20. (fn. 101) In 1501 the rector, parish chaplain and chaplain of the gild appeared at the visitation. (fn. 102) During the rising of 1569 a former rector of Long Newton, Richard Hartburn, who had perhaps been deprived in 1562, (fn. 103) showed himself most zealous in the restoration of the ancient rites. He caused the altar to be set up once more in the church and himself said mass there; in his sermon, according to one witness, he denounced the people as 'Lowters,' who had been 'damned these eleven years.' (fn. 104) A few weeks afterwards, when the insurrection had failed, the altar stone was taken away again and thrown into a pit and the holy water vat was broken. (fn. 105) The rector and curate appeared at a visitation in 1578. (fn. 106) The Commonwealth incumbent, John Oliver, conformed in 1662 and retained his benefice till his death in 1687. (fn. 107) His successor, Thomas Baker, the Cambridge antiquary and historian, was less compliant. He was deprived in 1690 as a nonjuror. (fn. 108)

Surtees prints a terrier of 1806. It is noteworthy that the rector had 7s. a year from 7 oxgangs of land in Sadberge and 8s. from the rector of Haughton le Skerne, (fn. 109) possibly in settlement of some ancient boundary dispute. Part of West Hartburn paid a tithe composition to Long Newton.

The chantry or gild of St. Mary has been mentioned above. Nothing seems known of its history. (fn. 110) It has been supposed that there was also a chapel at Coatham Stob. (fn. 111)

CHARITIES

In 1686 Thomas Barker by his will devised 20s. yearly to the poor, issuing out of land at East Newbiggin belonging to the Marquess of Londonderry. The annuity is distributed amongst the poor, widows being preferred.

The Rev. Jonathan Wilson by his will, proved at Durham in 1885, directed his residuary estate to be applied for the promotion of religious education in connexion with the Church of England, or partly in payment of the salary of an organist. A portion of the trust fund derived under the will was applied towards building a Church Institute, on a site given by the Marquess of Londonderry, granted in a deed of 15 August 1888, and called 'The Wilson Memorial Institute.'

The endowment consists of £2,950 5 per cent. War Stock in the names of the trustees, producing £147 10s. yearly. The sum of £20 is paid towards the salary of the organist of the parish church, £10 to the Long Newton day school, (fn. 112) and £10 to the Sunday schools, and the balance is applied in support of the institute.

Footnotes