Page images
PDF
EPUB

of Houeden, and to act according to the wishes of the Lord Prior of Durham.

On fo. 78d, a list of the prebends of their values is set out, which will give an idea of their worth :—

FIRST PREBEND.-Houeden, 36 marks; Knedelington,

16 marks; Bernhille,1 3 marks.
SECOND PREBEND.-Barneby, 30 marks; Askelby,2
24 marks

THIRD PREBEND.-Thorp, 4 marks; Belleby, 10 marks;
Balcholm, Linton, Gayre, Spen, 24 marks; Kylpyn,
Tranedyc, 16 marks
FOURTH PREBEND.-Laxton, 30 marks; Skelton,
Gryseby, 25 marks.

55 marks.

54 marks.

54 marks.

55 marks.

FIFTH PREBEND.-Saltmarshe (Salsus mariscus), 25
marks; Kotenesse, Metham, 20 marks; Yucflet,5
12 marks

CHAPEL OF ESTRINGTON.-Estrington, 24 marks;
Kayville, Byrland, 20 marks; Portington, 8 marks;
Ousthorpe, Hythe, Sandholm, 18 marks; Neuland,
Dike, the farrier's land, land of the chamber, Limpen-
hil, 20 marks; Grenayc, 12 marks; Belasis, Benete-

57 marks.

land, the land of John de Warwyc, 8 marks . . . 110 marks.

1 Howden, Knedlington (Cnyllingatún, A.S.C.), and Barnhill (Beornhyll, A.S.C.).

2 Barmby-on-the-Marsh and Asselby. 3 Thorpe (Thorp, A.S.C.), Belby (Belleby, A.S.C.), Balkholme, Linton, and Kilpin (Celpene, A.S.C.). The site of Gayre, called Gaira in 1199 (Yorks. Arch. Journal xi, 187), is defined by Gare Lane. It is a triangular piece of ten or twelve fields adjoining Linton and Gare Lane, often called Gay Lane, a very fantastic name for an impassable road.

In the E.D.D.. s.v. Gair, the following passage is quoted from Morton's Cyclo. Agric. (1863):-The triangular portion of the field remaining to be ploughed, after all the furrows have taken its entire length, and which must then be finished by turning shorter each 'bout.' The word is yet occasionally heard in rural districts, a narrow gare' being a more common expression. It has reference to shape, rather than situation. cf. gore, as in gore-acres. In 1562, there was a manor of the Spennes in Eastrington, and there is still a piece of land, north-west of Eastrington Church, called the Spen Ings (Yorks. Arch Journal, xvii, 99). "Manor del Spen juxta Howden. Fine, 4 Edward II. Michael Warton of Beverley had manor de

Spenyes, called Savill's land in Estrington, held of the bishop of Durham (A.S.E.). Tranedic (cf. Tranby), which was between Gayre and Kilpin, seems to have disappeared, though it occurs in an Act of Parliament as late as 1777.

4 Laxton and Skelton. Laxton, in Nottinghamshire, also occurs under the form Laxington. Gryseby, no longer known, appears as Grisby in 1367 (Yorks. Arch. Journal, xvii, 108). Cf. the North Riding Grisebi, now Girsby.

5 Saltmarshe, Cotness, Metham, and Yokefleet (Huickeflete in 1199; Yorks. Arch. Journal, xi, 186).

Eastrington (Eastringatún, A.S. C.), Caville (Cafeld, A.S.C.), Burland, Portington, Owsthorpe, Hive (Hythe, A.S.C.), Sandholme, Newland, Gilberdike, 'Greenoak, Bellasize, Bennetland, Warricks. The jury found that John de Warewyk, in 40 Henry III (1255 6), had built a certain grange upon the common causeway near Grenhayk', and paid half a mark as pourprestre (Rotuli Hundredorum, i, 129). (A.S.E.) Gilberdike, an old outlet of the River Foulney, was the fosse or dike of Gilbert Hansard, known later as Haunsardam, or Blacktoft dam.

Bellasize (like Belasis, north-east of Billingham, near Stockton-on-Tees, and Bellasis, four miles south of Mor

The only addition to the number of the prebends in Howden Church took place in 1280, when the church of Skipwith was made a prebend in that church. The prebendary had the third place on the north side assigned to him as his stall.1

BELLASIZE CHAPEL.2

1

2 nonas Feb. (Feb. 4), 1279–80. Licence from Richard (de Claxton), Prior of Durham, and the Convent of the same, to their parishioners of the church of Estrington, dwelling in the vill of Belasys and Grenayk, together with the house of John de Warewyk, to build an oratory in the vill of Belasys, where, constrained both by the deepness of the road and the distance from the mother church, they might be present. They were to visit the mother church five times a year, unless prevented by a reasonable cause, namely, on Christmas Day, the Purification of the B.V.M., Easter, Whit-Sunday, and the festival of the mother church, that is, the day of St. Michael the Archangel. They were to come to the mother church on receiving due notice whenever there was a solemn preaching (solempnis predicacio), or any matter touching the mother church was being dealt with. On these days mass was not to be celebrated in the chapel.

As a recognition of what was due to the mother church, a pound of wax was to be paid yearly to the high altar there

peth,) is a post-Conquest name from the French, Belle assise, from the fine views obtained over the adjacent low country, as the three places of this name are all situated in flat districts.

Of the places not identified, the farrier's land occurs under the same designation, terra marescalli," in a fine of 1199 (Yorks.Arch. Journal, xi, 187). No other mention of the land of the chamber (camera) seems to occur, nor is it easy to explain the meaning of the word. Limpenhill is met with in the inq. p. m. of Sir Alexander de Metham, who died June 8, 1417, seized of the manors of Metham, Pollington, etc., and of lands in, amongst other places, Greenoak, Sandholme, Limpenhill, Eastrington, Linton, etc. It was evidently a hamlet close to Sandholme.

On ides Sept. (Sept. 13), 1269, Archbishop Walter Giffard ordained a vicarage in the church of Hestrinton. The vicar was to receive the altarage, except the tithe of wool and lambs, and all the church land except the manor of Neuland (Stowe MS., fo. 79d). The

church of Eastrington was at this time a very valuable one. In 1293, its income amounted to 125l., though in 1348 it had sunk to 53li. 6s. 8d (Scriptores Tres, pp. ccxlviii, ccxlix).

1 Stowe MS., 930, fo. 80, and Wickwane's Register, p. 229 In the latter place, for 8 kal. Feb. read 4 kal. Feb.

no. 21.

2 Durham Charters, 4ta 2da Ebor., See also Miscellaneous Charters, no. 5146, a draft of the above, dated pridie idus Aprilis (April 12), 1279. In 1549, Walter Wolflete, of Howden, and Robert Wright, of Great Grimsby, co. Lincoln, yeoman, bought from the Crown a yearly rent of 20s. from lands once belonging to Thomas Otye, and then in the tenure of Robert Freman, in Grenocke and Bellacys, and two messuages and thirty acres of arable land in the same tenure in Bellacis, all belonging to the dissolved chapel of Bellacis in the parish of Estryngton (Patent Roll, 3 Edward VI. Part vii, m. 33).

3" Itineris profunditate pariter et longinquitate compulsi,"

on the feast of the Purification. The parishioners were to find at their own cost a chaplain and clerk to serve in the chapel, and make provision for vestments, books, chalice, wine, and candles (candela), and all else needful, and support the chapel

a fitting manner (honeste). The chaplain was to make oath to the vicar of Estrington', that he would answer to him for all oblations and obventions coming from the chapel, and would retain nothing for his own use, and that he would admit no other parishioners to the chapel, but would in all things save the mother church harmless. Under this licence no other sacrament was to be celebrated in the chapel.

If there should be any infringement of this grant, it should be lawful for the grantors and the vicar of Estrington to suspend the chapel and the chaplain till satisfaction should be made to the mother church. Sealed by the chapter and by William son of Adam and Long William (Willelmus longus) of Belasys, Roger Oty and Peter Barun, of Grenehayk, and John de Warwykhouses. Durham.

Five seals (1) green wax, oval, 1 in. × in., a pelican in her piety above her nest, s' WILLELMI DE BELASYS; (2) yellow wax, defaced; (3) green wax, oval, 1 in. × in., a crescent below a star, s' ROGERI OTI; (4) green wax, oval, 1 in. I in., a fleur-delys, s' PETRI BARVN; (5) yellow wax, defaced.

Proceedings in 1912.

THERE were three meetings of the Society during the summer of 1912. The first took place on 27th June, when Harewood House and Church were inspected, together with the ruins of the ancient castle of Harewood. Mr. Sydney D. Kitson, F.S.A., acted as guide, and explained the various features of the buildings visited. Colonel Parker, C.B., F.S.A., also read a valuable paper on the Lords of Harewood in the Middle Ages, which is published in the present volume.

Wressle Castle and Howden Church afforded the subjects for the second meeting, on 18th July, when Mr. John Bilson, F.S.A., was again so kind as to place his services at the disposal of the Society. Mr. Bilson delivered most instructive addresses at each place, exhibiting specially - prepared plans of both structures; and since the excursion he has laid the Society under further obligation by a separate contribution to the Journal, consisting of notes on the architectural history of Howden Church. Mr. Bilson subsequently described the remains of the bishops' manor-house and their relation to the general plan. The description will form the subject of a separate article in a later part of this volume. The Society is much indebted to Mr. P. Kettlewell for his kindness in allowing the members to examine the ancient features of his house.

The third excursion, on 30th August, was in the Thirsk neighbourhood. The charming church of Feliskirk was visiteda vestige of the old Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The "unrestored" church of North Kilvington was next inspected, and afterwards that of Leake. At Feliskirk, Mr. A. J. Walker, a member of the Society, read an interesting paper on the history of the parish, while Mr. William Brown dealt with the heraldic problems presented by the stained glass windows. Mr. A. Hamilton Thompson, F.S.A., conducted the party on this occasion, and his interpretation of the several buildings was listened to with great interest by the members. A very large amount of original information regarding these churches. has been collected into the Proceedings.

HAREWOOD CASTLE.

HAREWOOD CASTLE, or, more properly, Harewood fortified manor-house, is an entirely new creation of the third quarter of the fourteenth century. There is no evidence of any earlier building on this site. The uneven ground to the north-east is evidently the remains of the quarry from which the stone of the present building was dug. Nor is the place a castle in the sense of being built for military purposes. It is simply an unique and most interesting example of an up-to-date mansion for the great territorial noble of the fourteenth century. The work can be dated with some precision, for William de Aldborough, Lord of Harewood, in the right of his wife (who is conjectured to have been a daughter of John de Lisle, of Rougemont) obtained licence to crenellate his house at Harewood in 1366-the year following his accession to the estate. It is important to remember the date of the Black Death seventeen years before. It is possible that the plague wrought great havoc among the dwellers in the damp low-lying dwellinghouse at Rougemont, and that Aldborough a man of energy and ideas determined that the family seat should be moved to a higher and more hygienic position. Exactly the same thing happened four hundred years later, when, on the other side of the hill, Mr. Lascelles built Harewood House, on the pleasant southern slope, to replace the low-lying Gawthorp Hall, which existed in the hollow to the south of it.

And this is a point of great interest. In Harewood Castle and in Harewood House you have two mansion - houses built for the occupancy and enjoyment of two great landed familiesthat is, for men of the same class, with similar interests in the land; built of the same stone, and the workmen at Harewood House were probably direct descendants of the masons who had hewn the stones for the Castle. Exactly four hundred years separated the date of the building of the Castle from that of the building of the House. Far more interesting, however, than the mere details of architecture is the human and historical interest which such places bring to mind. We may well try to repeople this castle with the men and women who first dwelt here, and fashioned it to suit their own ideas and tastes. The effigies of some of these early inhabitants of the castle may be seen lying in their sumptuous apparel upon their altar-tombs in Harewood Church.

« PreviousContinue »