BOWES
Bogis, Boues, Bouys (xii cent.); Bouas, Boghes
(xiii cent.); Bouexe, Boughes, Bowes (xiv cent.).
This parish is composed of the township of Bowes,
containing the hamlets of Bowes Cross, Stoney Keld
(Staynhoukeld, xiii cent.), Gallow Hill (where the
lords of Bowes had their gallows), (fn. 1) Low Field,
Mellwaters, Sleightholme, Spital Houses, (fn. 2) Applegarth
Forest (fn. 3) and part of Tan Hill and of the township of
Gilmonby. In 1831 the township of Boldron, now
in Startforth parish, also belonged to Bowes. (fn. 4) The present township contains 16,927 acres; there are 85 acres
of arable land, bearing oats and barley, 6,619 acres of
permanent grass, 97 acres of woods and plantations, (fn. 5)
and 46 acres of land covered by water in the present
parish. The subsoil is Yoredale Rocks, with tracts of
Millstone Grit forming the fells to the south.
There were coal mines belonging to the Earl of
Richmond at 'Tackan Tan' (Takomtanne) in 1387–8,
when they were 'not accounted for this year because
Lord de Clifford claims the soil unjustly.' (fn. 6) Coal
was worked at Tan Hill in Bowes parish in Gale's
time, and he suggests that this was the old Tackan
Tan Mine. (fn. 7) The coal mine 'in Whitgyll in Esgyll
within the lordship of Bowes' belonged to the owner
of Richmond in 1436. (fn. 8) In 1670 Christopher Hamby,
John Hamby, Ralph Clavering and Mary his wife,
William Riddall and Margaret his wife and Matthew
Middleton conveyed all minerals, lead and coal in
Bowes, Sleightholme, Stonykeld and Spital to Sir John
Lowther, bart., (fn. 9) with the profits of the toll of Bowes.
These grantors were evidently the freeholders to
whom the manor (q.v.) had been conveyed. Wingate
Pulleine, who held Bowes Manor in trust for the
freeholders, made a grant of the manor, all minerals,
tolls, &c., to Peter Hammond and his heirs in 1724. (fn. 10)
Coal is still worked at the Tan Hill Colliery, but in
small quantities. All mines of lead in the parish of
Bowes were in 1771 conveyed by Charles Christopher,
Thomas Christopher and Elizabeth his wife and
William Tatham and Jane his wife to George Hutton. (fn. 11)
There was a 'new quarry' belonging to the Earl of
Richmond at 'Erllestorage in the forest of Bowes' in
1436. (fn. 12)
Bowes Moor was inclosed by an award dated
17 October 1859 which is in the custody of the clerk
of the peace. (fn. 13)
The parish is bounded on the north by Deepdale
Beck, which rises in the high tract of ground between
Yorkshire and Westmorland and runs east to join the
Tees at the confines of Yorkshire and Durham.
Before it reaches Lartington it passes beneath the
viaduct (740 ft. long and 161 ft. high in the centre)
of the Barnard Castle and South Durham railway,
which cuts across the parish and has a station at
Bowes; it then flows on in a wooded ravine through
romantic scenery to the eastern border of the parish.
South of Deepdale Beck on the Westmorland border
'rises that mountainous waste tract always exposed to
wind or rain called . . . Stanemore, all the country
around being a desart, except an inn to entertain
travellers in the very middle of this stoney waste,
and near it a fragment of a cross which we call
Rerecrosse, and the Scots Reicrosse.' (fn. 14) This inn
must have been the Old Spital Inn (where stood the
hospital erected on Stainmore in the 12th century on
the track of the Roman road), (fn. 15) for the 'Blue Bell,' 4 or
5 miles into Westmorland, would hardly be called
near Rerecross, unless, indeed, as John Buncle suggests,
Camden never visited Stainmore. (fn. 16) The Hospital of
Rerecross, or 'Spital of Stainmore,' was given to
Marrick Priory in 1171 by Ralph son of Ralph de
Moulton; it continued in possession of the nuns till
the dissolution of the monasteries, (fn. 17) and was granted
in 1541 to Reginald Alderson and Christopher
Maunsell. (fn. 18) The Old Spital does not seem to have
been used as an inn in John Buncle's time. He
wrote: 'Before we separated at the edge of Stanemore
we stopped at the Bell to breakfast, which is a little
lone house on a descent to a vast romantic glen, and
all the public-house there is in this wild silent road
till you come to Jack Railton the Quaker's house (fn. 19) at
Bows.' (fn. 20) Lord Harley wrote a witty account of his
journey over Stainmore in 1745, and mentions the
Spittle Inn. (fn. 21) The New Spital Inn on Stainmoor
was built in 1773 or 1774. (fn. 22) All this district was a
favourite haunt of Allen-a-dale. (fn. 23) An Act of Parliament for making the road over Stainmore a turnpike
was obtained in 1743. (fn. 24)
To the south of Stainmore is Mirk Fell (1,700 ft.),
and from thence Mirk Fell Gill descends and, joined
by other streams, becomes Frumming Beck, which in
its turn unites with Dry Gill to form Sleightholme
Beck. Sleightholme Beck for a short space coincides
with the southern boundary of the parish which is,
after the junction of the two streams, formed by the
Greta. The famous River Greta rises in the bleak
waste tract described above, gathers into its bed the
numerous gills that descend from Bowes Moor and
Stainmore, and flows between Bowes village and
Gilmonby through miles of solitary moorland before
it reaches the scenery described and painted by Scott
and Turner.
The gray-roofed village of Bowes lies among the
hills at a height of nearly 1,000 ft. above sea level.
Its single street is built along the old Roman way from
Greta Bridge by Brough northwards; and Bowes, it
is thought, is the Roman station of 'Lavatrae.' On
Stainmore, at the highest point of the Roman road, is
a camp covering nearly 20 acres. (fn. 25) Bowes is not
mentioned in Domesday Book, and the town seems to
have been constructed in the 12th century. (fn. 26) The
castle (q.v.), which commanded the pass into Westmorland, was in ruins in 1325, but a deponent at
that date said he had seen a gate called Boghes in
the castle, and that from that gate the town was
named. (fn. 27) The decayed Norman keep, built within
the Roman wall partly of the Roman materials, (fn. 28) looks
down from the summit of a hill on the Greta. On
the opposite bank, connected by a bridge, is Gilmonby,
and Boldron lies to the north. Two miles above
Bowes is God's Bridge. (fn. 29) From this point the Greta
periodically disappears from view in hollows in the
limestone.
Bowes has a dismal association with the cheap school
system. Whether or not it was the 'Dotheboys Hall'
of Nicholas Nickleby, Bowes Academy was certainly
watched by Dickens as an example of the type, (fn. 30) and
the place is said to have abounded in schools of this
description, now all closed. (fn. 31) Another gloomy recollection of Bowes is preserved in the ballad called
Bowes Tragedy; or, A Pattern of True Love, (fn. 32)
whose author was master of the grammar school. It
is founded on the following entry in the parish
register: 'Roger Wrightson junior and Martha
Railton, both of Bowes, buried in one grave. He
died of a Fever, and upon tolling his passing Bell, she
cry'd out "My heart is broke," and in a few hours
expired, purely (or supposed, interlined in a different
hand) thro' Love. March 15, 1714–15, aged about
20 years each.' (fn. 33) On this ballad Mallet founded his
poem Edwin and Emma, (fn. 34) Dr. Dinsdale's edition of
which contains valuable material for the history of
Bowes. John Railton, brother of the heroine of the
ballad, was landlord of the George Inn at Bowes. He
'is supposed to have ruined himself by improving the
road over Stanmore. . . . The result, however, dis-
appointed him; as formerly, travellers whose horses
were exhausted by the bad state of the roads were
glad to stop at the "George," the first inn after
crossing Stanmore, but when the road was improved
they preferred going on to Gretabridge.' (fn. 35) He sold
the inn in 1760. (fn. 36) This house is still an inn, but
already in 1810 the sign was the 'Unicorn,' (fn. 37) as it
still is. There was a King's Head Inn at Bowes in
1735. (fn. 38)
At a court leet in 1440 presentment was made that
an inn was maintained and beer brewed against the
assize in Bowes, and that the villagers played football
against the order of the late statute. (fn. 39) Michael Aislabie
Denham, collector of folk-lore, and Thomas Kipling
the divine, who edited the Codex Bezae, were both
born at Bowes, (fn. 40) and the village, being on the usual
route to the north, has associations with the rising of
the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland under
Elizabeth, (fn. 41) the Civil War, (fn. 42) and George III. (fn. 43)
A document of the 15th century gives the names
Jenkynholme, Cravepark, Gilridding, Cougill, Shirefeld, and Ladielees. (fn. 44)
There is a Wesleyan chapel at Bowes, a Primitive
Methodist at Boldron; and there are a grammar
school (fn. 45) and a public elementary mixed school at
Bowes.
Castle
Bowes from Startforth
BOWES CASTLE was built on the
site of a Roman station, hence the local
rhyme:
'When Julius Caesar was a king
Bowes Castle was a famous thing.' (fn. 46)
It is not definitely known when the mediaeval
castle was originally constructed, but its earthworks
were probably thrown up late in the 11th or early in
the 12th century. The masonry work was apparently
begun in 1171, when the honour of Richmond, of
which this castle was always a member, fell into the
hands of Henry II by the death of Conan le Petit
without heir male, and the kingdom was threatened
by an invasion from Scotland. In this year the
king expended £100, a large sum at that date,
on the works, which were under the charge of
Richard the Engineer, (fn. 47) probably the architect under
whom the masonry part of the castle, including the
existing keep, was laid out. In the following year the
much larger sum of £224 was spent on the same
works, which were then under the charge of Torphin
son of Robert (of Manfield, q.v.), Wallef or Waldef de
Barforth and Warin de Scargill, (fn. 48) and in 1173
another £100 was paid for works under the charge of
the same persons. (fn. 49) The castle seems to have suffered
some damage from the Scottish raids of 1173, as
repairs were carried out in the following year, when
money was spent on the chamber of the castle, in
the repair of the gates, and in making bulwarks
(propugnacula) of the tower in preparation for the
coming of King William the Lion of Scotland, (fn. 50) who
was aiding the sons of Henry II in their revolt.
The castle was placed in the custody of Robert de
Vipont in 1203–4, (fn. 51) and King John stopped here on
his way from Richmond to Carlisle in February
1206–7 (fn. 52) and again in 1212. (fn. 53) Eleanor his niece,
sister of the unfortunate Prince Arthur, was removed
from Brough Castle and detained here before her final
removal to Corfe Castle. (fn. 54) After Vipont's death the
custody was granted by Henry III in 1228 to William
de Blockley and Gilbert de Kirketon during
pleasure. (fn. 55) The castle remained in the hands of the
Crown till it was granted with the manor in February
1232–3 to Peter de Braîne, Duke of Britanny, who
had married the eldest daughter of Constance of
Britanny by her third husband Guy de Thouars.
From 1314 to 1322 the north of England was devastated by Robert Bruce. In 1314 the Scots came over
the Tees, ventured further south than Richmond, and,
returning by Swaledale and Stainmore, led away most
of the cattle. (fn. 56) A record of 1322 throws light on
the disorder that Bruce, aided by the great English
noble Lancaster, had produced in Yorkshire. Bowes
Castle was besieged and taken by neighbouring
lords, tenants of the Earl of Richmond, its constable
expelled and prevented from levying the customary
toll, rents and services. (fn. 57) In 1340–1 6 carucates of
land in the parish were declared to lie uncultivated
and destroyed by the Scots, (fn. 58) and the castle at this
period was reported weak and worth nothing. (fn. 59) It is
said to have been dismantled in the 17th century. (fn. 60)
The only part now remaining is the keep,
which stands alone on a site broken by mounds
and ditches in all directions. The lines of what
may be the inner ward of the castle can be traced
on the south of the keep, lying within a far larger
inclosure, which has at its south-west angle a
small circular mound. The keep, though now
roofless and floorless, its outer walls dismantled
and in part stripped of their facing, is a fine
massive building, originally of three floors, probably
of 1171–4, the date at which very considerable sums
were expended on the castle, as already mentioned.
The walls are 9 ft. 3 in. thick, faced where perfect
with wrought and squared stones, some of the blocks
in the lower courses of the wall being of quite unusual size for their date.
The ground story is a basement, and was only
entered from a staircase at the south-east angle, having
no external doorway. It was divided unequally into
two parts, the larger room being on the east, and was
covered by stone vaults inserted in the 13th or 14th
century. The first floor was the principal one; on
the east was its chief entrance, a wide round-headed
archway to which an external stair, now entirely
destroyed, must have led. The archway is near the
north-east corner, the angle of the keep being occupied by a guard-room, and to the south of the
entrance passage is a smaller room in the thickness of
the wall, commanding the head of the stair. This
floor was divided into two or perhaps three rooms,
the larger room, as on the ground floor, being on the
east. In its north and south walls are large roundheaded openings, apparently doorways, like that on
the east. Their purpose is obscure in their present
condition, as there is nothing to show to what they
gave access. There is a like doorway on the west
from the smaller room, and in the south-west are the
garderobes. Except for these doorways the only
piercings in the walls are narrow round-headed loops
lighting the wall passages, and the elevations are very
plain, having wide clasping buttresses at the angles and
narrower buttresses in the middle of each side. The
level of the third floor is marked at the outside by a
moulded string, but above this the walls are ruined,
and there is no evidence of the manner in which they
were finished. The west wall has suffered more than
the rest from stripping, having lost all its lower face
and a good deal of the core of its walls.
Vipont. Gules six rings or.
Manors
BOWES is not mentioned in the
Domesday Book, but its early descent
seems to have followed that of the castle
of Richmond as parcel of that
honour. The custody of the
manor passed with that of the
castle to Robert de Vipont (fn. 61)
in 1203–4, and after his death
his son John de Vipont was
summoned in 1232–3 to show
by what title he held the
manor, as his father had the
custody only. (fn. 62) It evidently
returned to the Crown, as in
the same year seisin of it was
granted to Peter de Braîne,
who had married Alice (fn. 63)
daughter and co-heir of Constance daughter of Conan
le Petit Earl of Richmond. (fn. 64) Early in the autumn of
1236 William Bishop-elect of Valence (fn. 65) was granted
the manor of Bowes to be held at the will of the king,
and he demised it to Ranulf son of Henry. (fn. 66) After
the death of Ranulf, his widow, Alice de Staveley,
entered upon a third of the manor as her dower, and
Henry, Ranulf's son, took the remainder. (fn. 67) The
king, however, in 1244 seized the two-thirds from
Henry, Alice apparently retaining her dower for her
life. (fn. 68) In 1321–2 Henry Fitz Hugh, descendant of
Ranulf, unsuccessfully claimed the manor. (fn. 69)
Henry III in 1241 granted the castle and manor
as parcels of the honour of Richmond to Peter of
Savoy, his uncle. (fn. 70) The manor remained with the
lords of Richmond till 1444, (fn. 71) when it was alienated
to the Nevills. (fn. 72) It then followed the descent of
the lordship of Middleham (fn. 73) (q.v.) until James I
sold the reversion to the citizens of London, from
whom various trustees in or about 1656 purchased
the manor. (fn. 74) In about 1657 these trustees made
conveyances to the tenants, (fn. 75) and the manor has ever
since been held by trustees who represent the tenants.
The most valuable of the manorial rights is that of
shooting over the moors. The lands of St. Leonard's
Hospital of York in Bowes are sometimes called a
manor, and may have been the manor of the rectory.
They followed the descent of the advowson (fn. 76) (q.v.).
The Earl of Richmond's courts of Boldron and
Bowes are mentioned in 1280, (fn. 77) and at the same
date he claimed gallows and custody of the prison at
Bowes. (fn. 78) The customs of cowgeld and sheriffgeld
(schirvegeld) belonged to the manor in 1280, (fn. 79) and
still were paid in 1538–40. (fn. 80) Three 'gresmen'
paid rent in 1280, (fn. 81) and fines called gressoms were
paid in 1436–7. (fn. 82) Among the profits of the lordship in 1436–7 (fn. 83) were the works of carrying sixty
cartloads of wood to the castle and cutting the hay
of 4 acres of meadow and carrying it to the castle.
As in other forest regions, (fn. 84) the tenants in early times
paid a rent of hens for the right of collecting dry
wood, but this custom had ceased in 1341. (fn. 85) There
was a common oven and bakehouse belonging to the
manor which are referred to in the 14th century. (fn. 86)
In 1244 a grant was made to Peter of Savoy and his
heirs of a weekly market on Tuesdays at his manor of
Bowes and a yearly fair there on the vigil, feast and
morrow of St. Martin. (fn. 87) John of Britanny, Earl of
Richmond, and his heirs were granted in 1310 a
weekly market on Friday at Bowes and a fair there
yearly on the vigil and day of translation of
St. Swithun and the two following days. (fn. 88) In 1344
a grant was made to John of Gaunt Earl of Richmond of a market every Tuesday and of two fairs
every year to last eight days, viz. the eve and day of
St. Barnabas the Apostle and two following days and
the eve and feast of St. Giles the Abbot and two
following days. (fn. 89)
The Earl of Richmond in 1280 had thorough toll (fn. 90)
or market toll in Bowes. (fn. 91) All toll in this manor was
granted with Middleham by Charles I to the citizens
of London in 1628. (fn. 92) The earl had a water-mill
here in 1280, (fn. 93) and in 1296 Alan de Ulveshou,
whose family is often mentioned in Bowes, (fn. 94) held a
mill here by the earl's charter. (fn. 95) According to the
account of 1436–7 the lord of Richmond had the farm
of a water-mill for corn here, and two mills called
'grynstones milnes.' (fn. 96) Free warren was attached to
the manor in 1351. (fn. 97)
The family of Bowes held lands and the church
of Bowes in the 12th or 13th
century, and in 1473–4 the
overlord was receiving the
farm of 1 lb. of cummin of
the free rent of William
Bowes in Bowes, (fn. 98) which was
still paid in 1538–40. (fn. 99)
Bowes. Ermine three long-bows gules.
BOLDRON (Bollerton, xiv
cent.) was held in demesne
by the Earl of Richmond in
the 13th and early 14th centuries, (fn. 100) when it is coupled
with Bowes as if parcel of it.
The manor (now first socalled) was settled with Startforth (q.v.) by Edmund
Charles in 1349, (fn. 101) and in 1531; when the next
reference to it is found, it was in the possession of
John Fulthorpe of Startforth. Boldron and Startforth descended to the Wandesfords of Kirklington,
Christopher Wandesford, who died in 1590, being the
last person said to hold a manor here. (fn. 102) The lands
are now the property of a large number of freeholders.
The vill of GILMONBY (Gillemannebi, Gilmanby, xiii cent.) paid tallage in 1206, (fn. 103) when the
honour of Richmond (q.v.) was in the hands of the
Crown; but the abbey of St. Mary of York is said
to have been already enfeoffed in it by Count Alan, (fn. 104)
or, more probably, Earl Conan, (fn. 105) in exchange for
'the Earl's orchard' opposite Richmond Castle. (fn. 106)
Abbot S[avericus] granted Gilmonby to R[anulf
de Glanville] the sheriff on condition that he maintained an inn there, fire, hay for horses and other
conveniences to receive the abbot and his train. (fn. 107)
Abbot Clement (who died in 1184) granted 6 oxgangs of land here to Warin de Scargill on the same
condition. (fn. 108) Haswyn or Hasculf de Bowes and John
his son, whose family were evidently under-tenants of
the earl in Gilmonby before its grant to the abbey,
quitclaimed half the vill to Abbot Clement and
received half a carucate of land in return. (fn. 109) The
under-tenants are not further mentioned, and the
abbey seems to have held Gilmonby in demesne
until its surrender on 29 November 1539. (fn. 110)
In 1546 the manor with all mills and manorial
rights was granted to John Halliley, Elizabeth his
wife, Robert his brother, and the heirs and assigns of
John. (fn. 111) William Halliley died seised in or about
1604, leaving as heir his grandson William son of
Thomas Halliley, a minor. (fn. 112) In 1614 the manor
was regranted by the Crown to this William Halliley,
called 'of Sherburn,' Yorks., his heirs and assigns, (fn. 113)
and in the same year he and Joan his wife obtained
licence to alienate it to Henry Newcombe and
others. (fn. 114) Like Bowes and Boldron, Gilmonby seems
now to have come into the hands of the freeholders.
In 1728 Wingate Pulleine, who held Bowes in trust
for the freeholders, held Gilmonby also, (fn. 115) and in
1740 a gamekeeper was appointed by 'the several
joint lords of the manor of Gilmonby.' (fn. 116) Mr. Adam
Dugdale of Gilmonby Hall is now the chief landowner.
With Gilmonby St. Mary's Abbey received 'as
much common of pasture as the vill of Bowes has,'
viz. 'from Thwatteyate to Gilmundby Selyhede and
thence to Russel Spanom and thence to Routankeld
in Hampstowe and thence ascending Williamgill to
the summit of Mirkfell and thence to Takomtanne
and thence to Langwithgilhede and thence to Moldhowe, thence to Blakrake in le Graygrete, thence to
Rupecastell, thence to Sandewath on Staynemore.' (fn. 117)
Church
The church of ST. GILES is cruciform in plan, and has a chancel 31 ft.
by 17 ft. 6 in., nave 54 ft. by 22 ft.,
north and south transepts 14 ft. 6 in. square, and
north and south porches. Parts of the walling of
the nave and the two nave doorways date from about
1150, and the chancel, though probably preserving
the width of a 12th-century chancel, seems to have
been rebuilt and lengthened in the 13th century.
The transepts were added in the 14th century and
the south porch in the 15th. (fn. 118) The church has been
nearly rebuilt in modern times (1865), and the west
wall of the nave with the bell gable over is entirely
new, as are all the windows except the east window
of the chancel, which has three cinquefoiled lights
with tracery of late 15th-century style, the glass line
being nearly in the middle of the wall. The walling
generally of the church is of small rubble with larger
ashlar stones near the ground level.
The north and south windows of the chancel are
single trefoiled lights, and between the second and
third on the south side is a modern priest's door. In
the south wall is a piscina, probably of 14th-century
date, with a projecting half-round bowl. In the
back of the recess has been set the head of a beautiful
13th or 14th-century cross from a coffin slab, of the
same pattern as one at Wycliffe Church; a hole
4 in. deep has been sunk in its centre.
The chancel arch has jambs of two chamfered
orders with half-octagonal shafts on the inner order
and moulded bell capitals; the shafts have been cut
away about 3 ft. above the floor in each jamb. In
the southern jamb the abacus ends in a trefoiled leaf
of 13th-century style.
The transept arches are pointed, each of two
chamfered orders, which die on to the square jambs
of the openings; both openings are set as far west
as the transepts will allow, leaving 3 ft. of wall in
the eastern responds.
In the north transept is a plain piscina.
The windows of the nave and transepts, like those
of the chancel, are single trefoiled lights, except that at
the north-east of the nave, which is a two-light window,
close to the north transept arch. The north doorway
is of a single chamfered order in its jambs and semicircular arch, with a string at the springing moulded
beneath; the label is square above and chamfered
below. The north porch is modern. The south
doorway has a plain chamfered label and strings, and
a human head as a stop to the label on the west.
The 15th-century south porch has its outer doorway
blocked; its jambs and arch have a wide hollow with
a double ogee and a moulded label. In the gable
over the doorway is a rood with our Lady and
St. John under a traceried and gabled canopy, and
part of the gable cross above is old. The west
window of the nave is of three lights with a traceried
head; over it in the west gable are two small bells
hung in the arched openings of a modern bellcote.
In the church are two fonts; the one in use has
a round 12th-century bowl, altered and adapted to
its present stem; round the upper edge is a band of
incised zigzag ornament, and at the base are capitals
fitting the engaged shafts of the stem. They are
bell-shaped with rolls above and below. The stem,
which has engaged shafts at the four angles and three
hollows on each face, seems to belong to the second
font, which now consists of a bowl only, set on a
17th-century gravestone, which does duty for a stem.
The bowl is 13th-century work, with two bands of
leaf-work like the Romaldkirk font. In the south
transept is a Roman altar with an inscription showing
that it has been used as a gravestone in modern times,
and next it is part of an inscribed Roman stone,
which has in later days served as a millstone. A
stone coffin by it is probably mediaeval; it was found
in the churchyard in 1865. In the nave near the
north door is a blue coffin slab carved with a cross
having a small round floreated head, and a stepped base
resting on a dog; to the left of the cross is a sword.
In the south transept is another coffin slab, and the
upper half of a third in the churchyard near the
north door; all are of 14th-century date. In the
churchyard near the south transept is a large stone
slab, which has two rectangular sinkings in it for
the head and tail stones—its date is impossible to fix;
and in the south transept gable is a small marble
coffin lid, probably 15th-century work. Two cross
slab heads have been built into the north transept
gable, one having a strong likeness to that in the
back of the piscina recess in the chancel.
There are two bells, the smaller, of 1664, inscribed
'Iesvs be ovr speed,' each word being reversed; the
founder's mark is a crown. The larger bell was cast
in 1828.
The plate consists of a silver communion cup and
a handled paten of 1713, presented in 1832, both
of silver, and a tankard and large flat dish, both of
pewter.
The registers begin in 1670.
Advowson
The church of BOWES was
granted with half a carucate of land
in Bowes to the Hospital of St. Peter
(afterwards called St. Leonard's Hospital) at York by
Stephen Count of Britanny, who died in 1137, (fn. 119) and
Alan his son, and confirmed to that house by Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury (fn. 120) (1139–62). (fn. 121) At
the close of the 12th century the church was within
the castle wall, (fn. 122) held as a free chapel by the Crown
as the owner of the castle. Like other royal chapels,
it was not subject to the visitation of the ordinary. (fn. 123)
By 1272 the church had been again conveyed to
St. Leonard's Hospital. (fn. 124) Possibly the Crown had
granted it to the family of Bowes, who enfeoffed the
hospital, for in 1294 Edward I confirmed to
St. Leonard's a charter of John son of Hasculf de Bowes
granting them the church and half a carucate of land,
and another half-carucate of land and the messuages
where he dwelt in Bowes as his ancestors had given
them. (fn. 125) In 1293 the hospital had a grant of free
warren (fn. 126) and continued in possession of the lands
and advowson (fn. 127) until the surrender of their house in
December 1539. (fn. 128) On 9 July 1545 the rectory,
church and advowson of the vicarage, now first mentioned, were granted with the site of the manor, &c., to
Thomas Dalston of Carlisle and Eleanor his wife and
the heirs and assigns of Thomas. (fn. 129) In 1580 John
Dalston granted the rectory to John his son and died
the same year. (fn. 130) John Dalston and Frances his wife
conveyed the site of the manor, the rectory, all tithes
and the advowson of the vicarage to Philip Brunskell
of Barnard Castle in 1594. (fn. 131) Philip Brunskell died
seised in 1634 (fn. 132) of the advowson, the site of the
manor and a capital messuage here called Grange
Hall, bought from Robert Coates and Katharine his
wife; he was succeeded by Reginald his son, (fn. 133) who
in 1641 left a son and heir Philip. (fn. 134) Philip Brunskell
and his son Philip (fn. 135) made a settlement of the rectory
and advowson in 1671. (fn. 136) Philip the younger died
in 1675, his son Thomas in 1743 and a fourth
Philip, son of Thomas, in 1794 (fn. 137) ; this last Philip
married Mary Whytell of Gilmonby and left co-heirs.
Anne, the eldest, married Cornelius Harrison of
Stubb House, Durham, and had this advowson. Her
son Thomas Harrison died in 1842, leaving it to
Philip Holmes Stanton, a descendant of Margaret the
other Brunskell heiress, whose grandson Mr. John
Harrison Stanton is now patron and lay rector. (fn. 138)
In 1404 Thomas Woodcock of York left a bequest
for a chaplain to celebrate at the altar of St. Mary in
the parish church of Bowes for one year for his soul
and that of Marion his wife. (fn. 139)
There was a chapel attached to the hospital of
Rerecross on Stainmoor, belonging to the mother
church of Bowes. (fn. 140)
Charities
Joseph Kipling, by will dated
18 January 1762, charged his land
known as Mirekeld with a rent-charge
of £4, whereof £2 was to be paid yearly to the
Dissenting meeting-house then lately erected at
Cotherstone in the parish of Romaldkirk and £2 a
year to poor within the township of Bowes. The
rent-charge is paid by Mr. Ralph T. Scott and the £2
for the poor is distributed in sums of 5s. to each of
eight recipients.
The Free School was founded by will of William
Hutchinson dated 30 September 1693, and exhibitions by Rev. Charles Parkin, will 1789.
The Bowes and Romaldkirk Charity is endowed
with 500 acres or thereabouts, producing about
£500 a year, three-sixths of which are applicable for
the support of the school. The official trustees also
hold a sum of £813 12s. 3d. consols, the dividends of
which are applicable in exhibitions (see article on
Yorkshire Schools). (fn. 141)
J. T. Roper, by will proved in 1865, bequeathed
£500 consols, the dividends to be applied for church
purposes.
Abraham Hilton, by deed dated 13 March 1878,
conveyed to trustees 17 a. 2 r. 15 p., the rents thereof
to be applied, under the title of Bowes Cross Charity,
for the benefit of the parishes of Bowes, Boldron,
Rokeby, Brignall, Barningham and the township of
Cotherstone in Romaldkirk. The charity is administered under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners
of 1881. The rents, amounting to £28, are
applied in pensions of £6 and £3 to persons selected
from these parishes.
The John Bousfield Charity, founded by will
proved 1893, consists of £550 6s. 4d. consols, held
by the official trustees, arising under a will proved in
1893. The dividends, amounting to £13 15s., are
under the trusts applied in pensions to four poor persons.
Township of Boldron.—This township is entitled
to participate in the Bowes Cross Charity, founded
in 1878 by Abraham Hilton.
By a deed of 31 December 1867 a site at Boldron
village green and building thereon was conveyed by
the trustees for the freeholders of the manor of
Bowes upon trust that it should be used for the
education of children belonging to the Primitive
Methodist Connexion. The school is and always has
been used as a registered place of religious worship.
The Cotherstone and Three Chimneys Charity.—
This parish is entitled to benefit by pensions from
this charity, founded by Abraham Hilton by deed
poll dated 2 May 1898 (see under Romaldkirk).