Chapter II: Part 2

Passing by this haunted place the road leads on to Darlington, a borough full of historical relics, from the Bulmer Stone in Northgate to the first locomotive at Bank Top Station. The Bulmer Stone is a large boulder of Shap granite, which was borne down to its present resting-place on a glacier in the Ice Age. Lying in the midst of the level, marshy plains of the Skerne, it formed a landmark for the men of the Bronze Age, and was perhaps the origin of the town. An Anglian burial-ground, probably pre-Christian, was discovered in the town in 1876. After the conversion of the North a church was built, and two Saxon crosses from it are preserved in the present Church of St. Cuthbert. The history of this beautiful building does not come within the scope of the present section. To the west of the church lies the market-place, where in 1217 Stephen de Cantuaria purchased half a pound of pepper at the fair on the Feast of All Saints, which he rendered to Roger Fitzacris as service for this land in Milneflach and elsewhere. From the market-cross in 1312 was read the Bishop’s order that a tournament which had been proclaimed at Darlington should not be held, as it was forbidden by the laws of the land. That market-cross is not standing now, but its successor may be seen in the modern covered market, a plain column surmounted by a ball, which was erected in 1727 by Dame Dorothy Brown, the last descendant of the family of Barnes, whose members had held the office of bailiff of Darlington for over a hundred years. The old toll-booth, in which the bailiffs held their courts, was pulled down in 1806 and replaced by the present Town Hall. Ever since 1197, Darlington enjoyed the title of borough, and yet it possesses no early charters and had no corporate government; it was not visited by the municipal commissioners in 1833, and was only incorporated in 1868. Until its incorporation the Bishop of Durham appointed a bailiff, who held the old manorial court of the borough. Darlington enjoys the distinction of having retained its bailiff until the middle of the nineteenth century, whereas in the other Durham towns the Bishop had ceased to appoint bailiffs by the end of the seventeenth century. The fame of Darlington rests on the fact that the first passenger railway-line in England was laid between Darlington and Stockton by George Stephenson, who was supported by the capital and influence of Edward Pease of Darlington; the line was opened in 1825. This is surely glory enough for any town!

Great Aycliffe, lying five miles north of Darlington on the highroad, was once one of the lesser forests of the Bishopric. About four miles north of Aycliffe the road crosses a little stream by the hamlet of Rushyford. This was a desolate spot in 1317, when on September 1 Lewis Beaumont, Bishop-elect of Durham, and the Cardinals Gaucelin John and Luke Fieschi, with a numerous train of attendants, travelled towards Durham, Beaumont to be consecrated in the cathedral, the Cardinals to negotiate a truce between England and Scotland. They had been warned at Darlington that the road was beset, and this warning, which they disregarded, proved only too true, for as they crossed the gloomy little burn at Rushyford, they were set upon by the notorious freebooter, Sir Gilbert Middleton, and his men. The Cardinals and their servants were stripped of their goods and allowed to continue their journey, but the borderers carried off the Bishop-elect to their fortress of Mitford Castle, and there held him to ransom, until the Prior and Convent of Durham by great sacrifices succeeded in redeeming him.

The next place of importance on the road is Ferryhill, a large modern village six and a half miles south of Durham. Few traces of the past survive here, except the fragment of an old stone cross, Cleve’s Cross, which is traditionally held to commemorate the slaying of a great wild boar, which ravaged Durham once upon a time, by a certain valiant Roger de Ferry, whose family long dwelt in the neighbourhood in great honour. About a mile to the south-east of Ferryhill is Mainsforth, the estate of Robert Surtees, the historian of Durham.

Midway between Ferryhill and Durham the highroad crosses the River Wear by Sunderland Bridge, and passes through the suburbs into the city of Durham.

A bird’s-eye view of the city of Durham even at the present day is surprisingly beautiful. In the Middle Ages it would have served as a model for one of those fascinating little Jerusalems or Bethlehems, walled, towered, and pinnacled, which the old Italian masters loved to perch on the craggy hills in the background of some sacred picture. The river sweeps round three sides of the crag, which is crowned by the cathedral and the castle, and the narrow neck of land on the fourth side was defended by a moat. The Prior’s borough of Elvet and the merchants’ quarter of Framwellgate lay on the opposite bank of the river, and were connected with the citadel itself by their bridges.

The monastic chroniclers of the see were chiefly interested in the doings of the Bishop in his castle and the Prior in his cathedral, and the occasional interventions of the Lord King in the quarrels of these august persons; they tell comparatively little of the life and affairs of the burgesses themselves, the descendants of the men from between Coquet and Tees, who obeyed the summons of Earl Ucthred in 995, and hastened to Durham to raise a shrine worthy of St. Cuthbert, who cleared the thick forest on the crag of Durham, divided the land by lot, and became the Haliwerfolc, the people of the Saint. Twice during the eleventh century they were besieged by the Scots, and each time the enemy was routed. The heads of the slaughtered Scots were exposed in the market-place, where the great fair of Durham was held on September 4, the Feast of the Translation of St. Cuthbert. There was also a fair on the saint’s other festival, March 20; but the September fair was the more important. The laws of the special peace of St. Cuthbert, which was proclaimed by the thanes and drengs before the fair opened, were written in an ancient Gospel-Book, and a copy of them is still preserved.

In the winter of 1068-69 Robert Cumin, the newly created Norman Earl of Northumberland, advanced to Durham with his troops, but as the Normans lay there they were surprised by a sudden rising of the whole population, and slain almost to a man. A year later news came that William himself was approaching Durham to avenge the death of Cumin, whereupon Bishop Egelwin and the priests took the sacred body of St. Cuthbert and such of the treasures of the church as they could carry and fled to Lindisfarne, followed by the people of the city, who dared not remain without the sacred relic. The whole multitude took refuge on the island while William devastated Durham and Northumberland. At length peace was made, and St. Cuthbert and his followers returned to the desolate city. In 1072 William visited Durham, and installed the foreigner, Bishop Walcher, in the see. About this time also the first Norman castle was built in the city to keep the people in check; but when Bishop Walcher ventured out of his stronghold in 1080 he was murdered. Again William ravaged Durham, and the see was filled by Bishop William de St. Carileph, who began to build the present cathedral, and who founded the Benedictine monastery connected with it. To the new monastery he gave forty merchants’ houses in Elvet, which formed the nucleus of the Prior’s borough of Elvet. The troubles of Durham recommenced in 1140, when, the see being vacant, Durham Castle was seized by William Cumin, a nominee of King David of Scotland, who hoped through Cumin to annex the Bishopric. In the course of the struggle between the usurper and the new Bishop, William de St. Barbara, the greater part of the city of Durham was reduced to ashes. There were four years of desperate warfare before Bishop William entered his cathedral town, and at last received the submission of Cumin. Even then there could be no true peace while England was torn with civil war, and it was not until after the death of Bishop William that a brighter day dawned with the election of Bishop Hugh Pudsey. Bishop Hugh rebuilt the ruined city, restored the fortifications, and added to the cathedral. He granted the burgesses a charter, by which the customs of Newcastle-on-Tyne were confirmed to them, besides freedom from merchet, heriot, and toll. The city of Durham stands first in Bishop Pudsey’s great survey of the Bishopric (Boldon Book, compiled in 1183), when the city was at farm for 60 marks. Records which relate to the actual life of the citizens do not begin until the fourteenth century. The earliest are various charters of murage, dated 1345, 1377, 1385, which authorized the citizens to levy certain tolls, and to devote the proceeds to the repair of the walls and streets. The city was governed

by a bailiff, appointed by the Bishop, in the same way as Darlington. It is not until the fifteenth century that gilds are heard of in Durham. In 1436 Bishop Langley granted a licence to several of the principal inhabitants to form the religious gild of Corpus Christi in the Church of St. Nicholas, in the market-place. This gild was closely connected with the craft gilds of the town, which must have been in existence at the beginning of the century. The first records of the gilds occur in 1447, when the Shoemakers (Cordwainers) and the Fullers each gave recognizances to the Bishop that they would forfeit 20s. to him and 20s. to the light of Corpus Christi if any member took a Scot as an apprentice. The ordinances of the Weavers were enrolled and confirmed by the Bishop in 1450, and in them reference is made to the play which was to be played when they went in procession on Corpus Christi Day. The gilds were not merely a picturesque feature of town life, they had also a powerful influence on the development of the city. The corporation granted by Bishop Pilkington’s charter of 1565--the first charter of incorporation which the city obtained--was probably modelled on the governing body of the Corpus Christi Gild. The governing charter of the city until 1770 was granted by Bishop Toby Matthew in 1602, and by this charter the Common Council of the town was to consist of twenty-four persons, two being chosen from each of the twelve principal companies by the mayor and aldermen. When the city of Durham obtained Parliamentary representation in 1678, the franchise of the borough could only be obtained by membership in one of the companies, and the procedure of admission was therefore carefully regulated by the mayor and corporation. But in 1761 Durham experienced two elections within a few months of each other, and the political excitement completely demoralized the city. All restraints were thrown to the winds, and numbers of new freemen were admitted in a most irregular manner. The reaction of this exciting time on municipal affairs was such that, in 1770, more than half the number of the twelve aldermen had resigned or been removed, and it was therefore impossible to elect a mayor under the charter of 1603, which consequently lapsed. The various feuds having been cooled by an interval of ten years, Bishop Egerton granted a new charter in 1780, with provisions closely resembling those of the old one, and under this charter Durham was governed until it was included in the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835.

The North Road, on leaving Durham, follows the course of one of the Roman roads which passed through the county. It leads northward over Framwellgate Moor, and six miles from Durham passes through Chester-le-Street, which lies on the banks of the Cone Burn. As the name indicates, a Roman camp was situated here, and numerous Roman remains have been found. The monks who had fled from Lindisfarne in 876 with the body of St. Cuthbert settled at Chester-le-Street after seven years’ wandering, when peace had been confirmed by the agreement between Alfred and Guthred the Dane. It was the principal city of the see until 995, when Bishop Aldhune fled once more before the renewed invasions of the Danes. In Chester-le-Street the old custom is still kept up of playing a football-match, in which the whole village takes part, on Shrove Tuesday.

The borough of Gateshead lies on the Tyne, eight miles north of Chester-le-Street. The south end of Tyne Bridge was the site of a Roman camp, and afterwards, in the seventh century, of a Saxon monastery, which was destroyed by the Danes. A little church which stood there in 1080 was the scene of the murder of Bishop Walcher, who was killed by the infuriated populace while he was trying to pacify a feud between his Norman followers and the Saxon nobles. The church was set on fire, and the Bishop was killed as he rushed from the burning building. The traces of early Norman work in the present building show that it must have soon been rebuilt. The new church is first mentioned in 1256, when a prisoner who had escaped from the castle of Newcastle took refuge in Gateshead Church. Gateshead’s only charter was granted by Bishop Hugh Pudsey at some time between 1154 and 1183, and confirmed by his successor, Bishop Philip of Poitou. The little borough lay on the outskirts of the Bishop’s forest of Gateshead, and the charter freed the burgesses to some extent from the tyranny of that very great man, the Bishop’s Head Forester. In its form of government the borough was similar to Darlington. Gateshead has always been one of the principal commercial centres of the county, and, though there are no signs of craft gilds there, trade companies second in importance only to those of Durham existed from the reign of Elizabeth till the end of the eighteenth century. The prosperity of Gateshead very early excited the alarm of Newcastle, and the history of the town is studded with the attempts of its jealous neighbour to suppress its trade. In the fourteenth century the efforts of the Newcastle Corporation were directed against the fisheries and staithes on the south bank of the Tyne, which were frequently destroyed by "the malice of the men of Newcastle." In 1553 the two towns were united, but the Act was repealed by Queen Mary, who came to the throne in the same year. It was proposed to renew the union in 1568, but the anxious petitions of Gateshead, and the opposition of several influential persons in the Palatinate, frustrated the scheme. There are, however, several cases in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries of the interference of Newcastle with the trade of Gateshead. These troubles were the price that Gateshead had to pay for its advantageous position by the side of the greater town. Gateshead was given one representative in the House of Commons by the Reform Act of 1832, and was incorporated by its inclusion in the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835.

The boundary of Durham is now the south bank of the Tyne, but formerly the Bishop’s jurisdiction extended over one-third of the river, and was marked by a blue stone on Tyne Bridge. The old bridge, which stood where the Swing Bridge is now, was built in 1248 to replace the Roman bridge, Pons Ælii, which dated from _circa_ 119. In 1389 the burgesses of Newcastle carried off the Blue Stone, seized the whole of the bridge, and built a tower on the south end, which they held against the Bishop. It was not until 1415 that Bishop Langley at length obtained judgment against the Corporation of Newcastle, and took possession of the tower with all his chivalry. The tower stood until the great flood of 1771, when part of the bridge was swept away. After this catastrophe the whole was rebuilt, the new bridge being completed in 1781. The High-Level Bridge was built in 1849, and the present Swing Bridge replaced the old stone one in 1876. Meanwhile, the conservation of the River Tyne had been placed in the hands of commissioners, and the jurisdiction of the Bishop over the river came to an end.

_Durham to South Shields._

The city of Durham, lying almost in the centre of the county, is an excellent point of departure from which to visit the other towns and places of interest in the Bishopric. The road which leads from the city to the mouth of the Tyne runs north-east from Framwellgate Bridge. The principal village through which it passes is Houghton-le-Spring, six and a half miles from Durham. The place is closely associated with the name of Bernard Gilpin, the Apostle of the North, who in the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, was Rector of Houghton-le-Spring, and the chief instrument in spreading Protestant doctrines through the North. From here it is seven miles to the mouth of the Wear, where stands the flourishing port of Sunderland. In early records the town

is usually called Wearmouth. It possesses two very interesting charters, dated respectively 1180-83 and 1634; nevertheless, it did not rise above the level of a manorial borough until 1835, when it was included in the Municipal Corporations Act. During the Civil War Sunderland was the principal centre of the Parliamentarians in Durham, which was on the whole a Royalist county. The fact that Sunderland was an exception was due to the influence of the family of Lilburne in the town, George Lilburne, the uncle of the famous John Lilburne, being the only magistrate in the borough during the war. At the same time the siege of Newcastle diverted the coal trade to Sunderland, and thus laid the foundation of its present prosperity. The town is famous in naval and military history as the birthplace of two heroes--Jack Crawford, who "nailed the colours to the mast" at the Battle of Camperdown, 1797, and Sir Henry Havelock, who relieved Lucknow in 1857. The Sunderland Orphan Asylum was founded in 1853 by the Freemen and Stallingers of Sunderland, and endowed with the proceeds of the sale of the Town Moor, which had become exceedingly valuable in consequence of the building of the railway. The road crosses the Wear, and enters the parish of Monkwearmouth.

The history of Monkwearmouth goes back to 674, when Benedict Biscop founded there the monastery of St. Peter. The early history of the monastery was recorded by the Venerable Bede, who relates how Benedict brought over foreign masons and glass-workers to build his church, and beautified it with sacred pictures brought from Rome. It was destroyed by the Danes towards the end of the ninth century, refounded by Bishop Walcher, _circa_ 1075, and finally annexed to the Convent of Durham by Bishop William de St. Carileph in 1083. A cell of the convent was maintained there until the Reformation, and Monkwearmouth continued to be a manor belonging to the Dean and Chapter of Durham until it was incorporated with Sunderland.

From Monkwearmouth the road runs parallel with the coast-line to South Shields. Shield Lawe, at the mouth of the Tyne, was occupied in pre-Roman times; an important Roman camp was built there; and later it was one of the fortresses of the Saxon Kings of Northumbria, and the site of St. Hilda’s first religious house, founded _circa_ 650. The little convent was overshadowed by Benedict Biscop’s great monastery of St. Paul at Jarrow, and both fell before the onslaughts of the Danes. Jarrow subsequently became a cell of the Convent of Durham, and the Chapel of St. Hilda at South Shields kept alive the name of the foundress. After centuries of struggle with the burgesses of Newcastle, who put down the trade of South Shields with a high hand, the borough obtained Parliamentary representation in 1832, and incorporation in 1850. In the seventeenth century the salt-pans of South Shields were a flourishing industry, but its chief importance is now its harbour. The first lifeboat was built and used there in 1790.

_Durham to Hartlepool._

The twenty miles of road between Durham and Hartlepool is of an uninteresting character; but the town of Hartlepool itself has a long history, which begins in 640, when St. Hieu founded a convent there, of which St. Hilda was afterwards abbess. The house was destroyed by the Danes, and Hartlepool disappears from history, to reappear at the end of the twelfth century as a flourishing port belonging to Robert de Bruce, Lord of Annandale. Hitherto it had not been included in the Bishopric of Durham, but in 1189 the overlordship of the whole district of Hartness was bought by Bishop Hugh Pudsey from Richard I. The succeeding Bishop, Philip de Poitou, obtained possession of the town, but not until the burgesses had bought a charter from King John in 1200, granting to them the customs of Newcastle-on-Tyne, while the same King granted to William de Bruce, Lord of Hartlepool, the right to hold a weekly market and a fair at the Feast of St. Lawrence (August 10). The burgesses obtained another charter from Bishop Richard le Poore in 1230, in which he conceded to them the right to form a Merchant Gild and to elect a mayor. From this time the burgesses of Hartlepool were able to manage their own affairs in their own way, and enjoyed more independence than there was in any of the other towns of Durham. Their chief misfortunes befell them after Robert de Bruce became King of Scotland in 1305. Hartlepool escheated to the King of England, and in consequence the Scots felt a special enmity against it. The town was attacked more than once in the ensuing wars, but the walls and ramparts, which had been built by Robert de Bruce (1245-95) made it one of the strongest places in the Bishopric. At the beginning of the nineteenth century these fortifications were still among the finest specimens of Edwardian architecture in the kingdom, but when the trade of the town revived later in the century, the ancient walls were pulled down to make way for the new pier and docks, and hardly any trace of them now remains. In 1599, by the good offices of Lord Lumley, the burgesses of Hartlepool obtained from Queen Elizabeth a charter of incorporation, under which the town was governed until 1834, when the conditions of the charter were not fulfilled, and it lapsed. The present governing charter of the town was obtained in 1850. The borough of West Hartlepool has grown up in the nineteenth century on the south side of the bay on which Hartlepool stands.

_Durham to Stockton._

The Durham and Stockton road passes through Bishop Middleham, where one of the Bishop’s manor-houses used to stand, and through Sedgefield, about eleven miles from Durham, a market-town which received the grant of a weekly market and fair at the Feast of St. Edmund the Bishop (November 16) from Bishop Kellaw in 1312.

The borough of Stockton lies on the north bank of the Tees, twenty miles south of Durham. It is situated in the district which in early times formed the wapentake of Sadberg, and comprised all the lands lying along the north bank of the river. The wapentake, which was purchased by Bishop Pudsey in 1189, at the same time as Hartlepool, had a separate organization from the rest of the Bishopric, and its courts were held at Sadberg, which is now a small village about three miles east of Darlington. Stockton itself, however, seems to have come into the Bishop’s hands before the purchase of the wapentake, as it is included in the Boldon Book, 1183. The date of the incorporation of the borough is unknown, but there are grants by several of the Bishops, dated 1310, 1602, and 1666, of a weekly market and a fair at the Feast of St. Thomas à Becket (December 29). There is also an interesting letter relating to the customs practised both at Newcastle and at Stockton, which was sent by the Mayor of Newcastle

to the Mayor of Stockton in 1344 in reply to certain questions which the people of Stockton had addressed to Newcastle as their mother town. The municipal government of the borough was in the hands of the mayor and the borough-holders, seventy-two in number, until Stockton was included in the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835.

_Durham to Barnard Castle._

The road to Barnard Castle branches off from the North Road about a mile south of Sunderland Bridge, and travels south-west into Aucklandshire. This district included Binchester, Escomb, Newton, and all the Aucklands, Bishop Auckland, St. Andrew’s Auckland, St. Helen’s Auckland, and South Auckland. Aucklandshire lay on the borders of the Bishop’s great forest of Weardale, and the services of the tenants, as described in Boldon Book, were closely connected with the Bishop’s great hunting-parties in the forest. All the tenants had to provide ropes for snaring the deer, and to help to build the Bishop’s hall in the forest, with a larder, a buttery, a chamber, a chapel, and a fence round the whole encampment, when the Bishop went on the great hunt. They also kept eyries of falcons for the Bishop, and attended the roe-hunt when summoned. In return for their services at the great hunt they received a tun of beer, or half a tun if the Bishop did not come, and 2s. "as a favour." The little town of Bishop Auckland was called a borough in the fourteenth century, when the weekly markets and the fairs held on Ascension Day, Corpus Christi Day, and the Thursday before October 10, formed the chief commercial centre of the neighbourhood, but it has never been incorporated, and is now an urban district.

To the south of Aucklandshire lies the barony of Evenwood, about a quarter of a mile west of the road. This was one of the early baronies of the Bishopric, held by the family of Hansard. Evenwood was bought by Bishop Bek in 1294, and his successors maintained a manor-house and park there. After passing by Evenwood, the road leads through Raby Park to Staindrop.

Staindrop was one of the vills over which the Bishop and the Convent of Durham disputed at the beginning of the twelfth century. Bishop Ralph Flambard restored it to the monks by the charter of restitution which he executed on his death-bed; and they kept it out of the clutches of succeeding Bishops by granting it in 1131 at an annual rental of £4 to Dolphin, son of Ughtred, one of the progenitors of the family of Neville. Henceforward, Staindrop remained part of the Neville estates in the Bishopric. In 1378 Bishop Hatfield granted to John Lord Neville the right to hold a weekly market and a fair there at the Feast of St. Thomas the Martyr (December 21). The whole of the Neville estates were confiscated in 1570, after the rebellion of the Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland in 1569, and Staindrop remained in the hands of the King until 1632, when it was purchased by Sir Henry Vane, from whom the present owner, Lord Barnard, is descended.

Barnard Castle is twenty-five miles from Durham, and lies on the north bank of the Tees. It did not form part of the Bishopric at the time of the Conquest, and was granted by William Rufus to Guy Balliol in 1093. Barnard Balliol, his son, built the castle _circa_ 1132, and apparently founded the borough, for the first extant charter, granted by his son Barnard to the burgesses of Barnard Castle _circa_ 1167, refers to the elder Barnard’s concessions to them. By this charter the burgesses were granted the customs of Richmond (Yorks). Barnard Castle was a manorial borough, and is now an urban district. The burgesses obtained charters from Hugh (1212-28), John (_circa_ 1230), and Alexander, third son of John. All the Balliol estates in England were forfeited by John Balliol, sometime King of Scotland, in 1295. Barnard Castle was claimed by Bishop Bek, but Edward I. granted it to Guy

Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. The Bishops of Durham made frequent efforts to obtain possession of the town, and although they were unsuccessful, they obtained Parliamentary recognition of the fact that Barnard Castle was part of the Bishopric. Richard III., by his marriage with Lady Anne of Warwick, became lord of the town, which Lady Anne inherited from her father, the King-maker. Barnard Castle escheated to the crown in 1485, and was finally granted to the Earl of Westmorland. In 1569, on receiving the news that the northern Earls had risen against the Queen, Sir George Bowes of Streatlam seized and garrisoned the castle, where he was besieged by the rebels; and although he was forced to surrender after a ten days’ siege, the delay had given the royal troops time to come up, and insured the defeat of the insurgents. After the rebellion Barnard Castle escheated to the crown again, and was leased to the valiant Bowes. It was finally purchased by Sir Henry Vane in 1632 (see above).

_Durham to Alston._

The road from Durham to Alston, in Cumberland, passes by the field of the Battle of Neville’s Cross, fought on St. Luke’s Eve, October 17, 1346, in which David of Scotland, who had invaded England while Edward III. and all his forces were in France, was defeated by the troops which he contemptuously called "an army of women and priests," because they were raised by Queen Philippa, and the four divisions were commanded by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishops of Lincoln and Durham. The cross which Ralph, Lord Neville, erected on the battle-field was destroyed in 1589.

The next place of interest on the road is Brancepeth, which lies four and a half miles south-west of Durham. The family of Bulmer of Brancepeth held one of the early baronies of the Bishopric (see under Evenwood); the estate finally descended to an heiress, the first of the many noble ladies whose stories lend interest to the place. She married Geoffry de Neville, _circa_ 1150. Sixty years after, in 1227, there was again a sole heiress to Brancepeth; she married Robert FitzMeldred, Lord of Raby, and her son assumed his mother’s name, becoming the first Neville of Raby and Brancepeth. When the Neville estates were forfeited in 1570, the Countess of Westmorland was allowed to remain at the castle, and there, though beset by spies, she contrived her husband’s escape to Flanders. The surveys of the estate that were made in 1597 and 1614 mention that wild cattle were preserved in Brancepeth Park, as they still are at Chillingham. The escheated lands passed from one owner to another. In 1769 they were again inherited by an heiress, Bridgit, the only daughter of William Bellasis. She died five years after coming into her inheritance. The story goes that she pined away for love of a neighbouring squire, Robert Shafto, who had wooed and forsaken her; and the old Bishopric song of "Bobby Shafto" is said to be the record of the brief happiness of the lovelorn lady.

The market-town of Wolsingham lies sixteen miles west of Durham. It was one of the Bishop’s forest vills, lying on the moors of Weardale; and in the entry about it in Boldon Book mention is made of Ralf the Beekeeper, who held six acres for his service in keeping the bees, which were sent out on to the blossoming heather in the twelfth century, as they are to this day. Wolsingham lies on the north bank of the Wear, and, after passing through the village, the road follows the course of the river westward to Stanhope, which lies in the lead-mining district of West Durham. Half-way between Wolsingham and Stanhope lies Frosterley, where are the quarries of Frosterley marble.

Stanhope itself lay in the heart of the forest of Weardale, and was the spot to which all those who owed hunting-service must make their way when the Bishop’s great hunt was proclaimed. In 1327 the English and

Scottish armies, commanded on the one side by Edward III., and on the other by the Earl of Murray and Sir James Douglas, lay encamped for some days over against each other on the hills round Stanhope. No battle was fought, and the Scots withdrew by night, having deceived Edward by false intelligence. The remains of the earthworks in which the two armies entrenched themselves may still be seen.

St. John’s Chapel, seven miles west of Stanhope, is the last considerable village on the road to Alston before it crosses the boundary of Durham. The chapel is mentioned in the fifteenth century, and a market and annual fair were held there, but there were few inhabitants until the end of the eighteenth century. From St. John’s Chapel the road leads up over the moors, past the sources of the Wear, and crosses the county boundary on Killhope Moor.

FOLK-LORE OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM

BY MRS. NEWTON W. APPERLEY

Whoever makes a study of the folk-lore of a county will find that its customs, beliefs, and superstitions, have their origin in immemorial antiquity. To find out the reason for many a curious and apparently frivolous observance it is necessary to go back many centuries, to the time when a nature-worship, already immeasurably old, was practised; when the sun and moon, fire, water, and earth, were personified by gods and goddesses. Festivals were held in honour of each, and stones and trees, wells and rivers, had their temples and devotees. These were overlaid by and mingled with the successive rituals of Roman, Saxon, and Dane, and finally were almost, but not quite, conquered by Christianity. The older faiths made a stubborn resistance to the reformer, and though adapted and altered, many of their usages survive to this day.

The four great Fire Festivals of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter were Christianized and dedicated anew; some of the gods and goddesses were re-named as saints; and many of the rites belonging to their worship were modified into Christian observances.

But the people kept their old superstitions, and placed their faith in the charms and amulets belonging to the ancient worship. In the North especially the old beliefs lingered long, and even now, in the twentieth century, many quaint customs are to be found. Most of the people who practise them could give no reason for so doing, and have certainly no knowledge of their origin. It is "lucky" to do this, and "unlucky" to do that, is all they can say.

The county of Durham, though the especial patrimony and property of St. Cuthbert, is particularly rich in legends and traditions, in places both haunted and hallowed, and in old-world observances of all kinds. Many are the stories of giants, brownies, fairies, ghosts, witches, and "worms" or dragons, told of and in it.

The Gabriel Hounds--those monstrous human-headed dogs, whose pause over a house is said to bring death or misfortune to its inmates--are still heard traversing the air, though they are seldom seen.

Tales of the Hand of Glory--that unhallowed taper made of the hand of a hanged man, holding a candle made of the fat of a murderer, whose light would send all the inhabitants of a house to sleep, and enable a burglar to make his easy way throughout it--are still told.

And the Fairy Hills near Castleton, Hetton-le-Hole, Middridge, and other places where fairies used to dance their nightly rounds, are still pointed out. Cattle were often shot by their tiny arrows, and children frequently wore necklaces of coral or of peony seeds, as otherwise they might have been stolen and taken away to Fairyland.

Mr. Henderson, in his _Folk-lore of the Northern Counties_, is convinced that there is firm faith in ghosts and their power of revisiting the earth throughout the whole county of Durham.

Witchcraft is to some extent believed in. It is not long since an old woman reputed to be a witch died at Aycliffe, and charms against their power have been, and are still, practised; indeed, they are still "crossed-out" by those who make the sign of the cross on loaves before they are put in the oven, and by the butchers who make, or used to make, a cross on the shoulder before selling it. A crooked sixpence, a piece of rowan-wood, or a four-leaved clover worn in the pocket, will keep them away. A self-bored stone or a horseshoe hung over the bed or in the byre will prevent their evil influence from harming either person or property; and should you be so unfortunate as to meet a reputed witch, it is well to close your fingers round your thumb, and repeat the rhyme:

"Witchy, witchy, I defy thee,
Let me go quietly by thee!"

And there were wise men, and especially wise women, who knew many spells of might to be used against them and against fairies.

It is clear that a child born into this haunted country, and surrounded from his birth by signs, portents, and auguries, must carry through his life a belief in the superstitions of his forefathers.

The day of birth is most important, for it always influences the character and fortunes of the child.

"Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go,
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for its living;
But the child that’s born on Sabbath-day
Is wise and bonny and good and gay."

Children born during the hour after midnight see spirits, and this uncanny gift continues through life. If born with a caul, the child will always be lucky. Children born in May are said to be seldom healthy.

A cake and cheese should always be provided before the birth of an infant. These are cut by the doctor, and all present partake of them, on pain of the poor child growing up ugly. The nurse keeps some of this cake and cheese, and when she takes the child to be christened she gives them to the first person whom she meets of opposite sex to that of the child. If boys and girls are being christened at the same time, the boys must be christened first, as otherwise the girls would have beards, the boys none!

Baptism is thought to be good for a child, and it is often said that children never thrive till they are christened. It is well if they cry during the ceremony, for it means that "the devil is going out of them." There is some warrant for this belief, for until the time of Edward VI. a form of exorcism, in order to expel the evil spirit from the child, was still used in the Baptismal Service.

A child who does not cry at baptism will not live.

It is unlucky to call a child by its future name until it has actually received it, and most especially should one avoid naming it after a dead brother or sister. The child will probably die also, or, if it lives, will never prosper.

Some nurses will never put a child’s dress over its head until it is christened, but always draw it up over the feet. I never could hear why. And the inside of the hands should not be washed during this time. Some go so far as to say that the right hand should not be washed for a year, so as not to "wash the luck away."

But before taking a child out of its mother’s room the careful nurse will see that it does not go downstairs first, as that would mean a descent in life for it. If it is impossible for it to go upstairs, she must take it in her arms, and mount a chair or stool with it, thereby assuring it of a rise in life.

The mother should go nowhere till she has been churched, as she would carry ill-luck to the house she entered.

The baby should receive three, sometimes four, presents when it first visits another house. These are its "almison," and consist of an egg, bread, salt, and sometimes a piece of money. The bread and salt are things used in sacrifices; the egg has always been a sacred emblem; the money is for luck, and should be carefully kept.

Never rock a cradle when empty, or you may rock another baby into it. And this is very likely to be the case if the reigning baby cuts its teeth very early, for, as the proverb says, "Soon teeth, soon toes" (another set of them). If it tooths first in the upper jaw, that means death in infancy. Later, on losing a tooth, the cavity should be filled with salt, and the tooth thrown into the fire with the words:

"Fire, fire, burn bane,
God send me my tooth again!"

It is an ancient custom, when a family is sold up, to except the cradle, and leave it in the possession of its original owner.

The nails should not be cut for a year, or the child will become a thief. Bite them off, and all will be well.

When the child grows older, the nails should never be cut on Friday or Sunday. These are unlucky days, but, as the rhyme tells us, other days do very well:

"Cut them on Monday, cut them for health;
Cut them on Tuesday, cut them for wealth;
Cut them on Wednesday, cut them for news;
Cut them on Thursday, a pair of new shoes;
Cut them on Friday, cut them for sorrow;
Cut them on Saturday, a present to-morrow;
But he who on Sunday cuts his horn,
Better that he had ne’er been born!"

Still later in life, another verse says:

"Sunday shaven, Sunday shorn,
Better hadst thou ne’er been born!"

The hair should always be cut when the moon is waxing, and all clippings and combings should be burnt, or "the birds will take it for their nests." Probably the original idea, like that attached to the clippings of the nails, was that they should be destroyed, lest some enemy should use them to work an evil spell against the owner.

If the hair burn brightly when thrown into the fire, it means long life to the owner; if it smoulder, it is a sign of death.

If you swallow a hair, it will wrap itself round your heart and kill you. Howitt tells this seriously as having caused the death of Herbert Southey.

The mother should be careful to see that no child is allowed to jump over the head of another, as in that case the overleapt infant would never grow. The Kafirs have the same idea, and some tribes will not play leap-frog for that reason.

When a seventh son is born, it is still said that he ought to be a doctor. He was anciently supposed to be able to cure the "king’s evil" by touching; and the seventh son of a seventh son had still higher and more Divine attributes. If a seventh daughter appeared without any boy intervening, she was to be a witch.

When the boy is old enough to put his instilled and inherited beliefs into practice, he may charm the butterfly to alight on his hand by saying (it must be said often enough!):

"Le, la let, ma bonnie pet!"

If he wishes for fine weather, he may sing:

"Rain, rain, go to Spain!
Fair weather come again!"

The snail will look out from its shell if he says:

"Snail, snail, come out of your hole,
Or else I’ll beat you as black as a coal!"

And when stung by a nettle, dock-leaves are laid on the stung place, and this rhyme chanted:

"Nettle in, dock out;
Dock in, nettle out;
Nettle in, dock out;
Dock rub nettle out!"

If he puts a horse-hair into water, it will turn into an eel.

Durham schoolboys used, when they saw a rainbow, to make a cross of straws or twigs upon the ground, in order to send it away, or, as they said, to "cross out the rainbow."

Borrow tells of "the gipsy mystery of the trus’hul, how by making a cross of two sticks the expert in occultism could wipe the rainbow out of the heavens"; and the charm might have its roots still farther back in the cross of Thor, anciently used to dispel rain and thunderstorms.

In Confirmation, those who are touched by the Bishop’s left hand will never marry.

When the time for marriage comes, it is important to choose a lucky day and season. The days of the week are thus fated:

"Monday for wealth, Tuesday for health,
Wednesday the best day of all;
Thursday for losses, Friday for crosses,
And Saturday no luck at all."

It is well to avoid marriage in Lent, for

"If you marry in Lent,
You’ll live to repent."

And May is an unlucky month for weddings, as for births. But the time being happily settled, the bride must not hear the banns given out, or her children will be deaf and dumb, and neither she nor any of the guests must wear anything green. She should wear

"Something old, something new,
Something borrowed, and something blue."

The day of the marriage should be fine, "for happy is the bride whom the sun shines on." The bridal party is escorted to church by men armed with guns, which they continually fire. After the ceremony it is the clergyman’s privilege to kiss the bride; and outside the church people are probably waiting with "hot-pots," of which the whole party must taste.

At St. Helen’s Auckland, and other villages, the "race for the bride-door" for a ribbon or kerchief is still customary.

And it was formerly the custom to address complimentary verses to the bridal couple before they left the church. This was called "saying the Nominy." The verses differed, were of no great poetical merit, and always ended with, "Pray remember the Nominy sayer."

The word is evidently derived from _nomen_, the bride having received a new name.

The loss of the wedding-ring means the loss of the husband’s love, and its breaking forbodes death.

Of portents of death there are many. The howling of dogs; the flight of jackdaws or swallows down the chimney; "a winding-sheet" in the candle; the crowing of a cock at the dead of night; the hovering of birds round the house, or their resting on the window-sill, or flapping against the pane; and three raps given by an invisible hand, are all auguries of death.

If thirteen persons sit down to a meal together, one of them will die before the year is out.

The custom of keeping the Vigil of St. Mark is not unknown. They who wish to know who of their fellow-parishioners will die during the coming year must keep watch in the church porch from eleven to one, on St. Mark’s Eve, for three successive years; then the doomed company will pass into the church. But if the watcher fall asleep during his vigil, he will himself die during the year.

At the time of death the door should be left open to afford free passage to the departing spirit. It is held that no one can die on a bed or pillow containing the feathers of pigeons or of game of any kind; and all along the East Coast it is said that people usually die during the falling of the tide.

When the corpse is "laid out," the death-chamber is shrouded in white, the clock is stopped, and the looking-glass covered, to show that for the dead time is no more and earthly vanity departed. There is also the dread that if the mirror were left uncovered the ghost of the dead man might be reflected in it.

A plate of salt is also placed upon the breast as an emblem of eternity.

Those who come to see the corpse are expected to touch it, in token that they are in peace with the dead. It is often said that if you do not touch it you will dream of it. The coffin must be carried to the church by the old-established "church-road," and the notion still prevails that the way over which a body is carried to its burial thereby becomes a highroad. Therefore in the case of private roads or bridges (the Prebend’s Bridge at Durham, certainly) a small toll is levied when a funeral procession passes over it. The coffin-bearers are usually chosen so as to correspond with the deceased in sex, age, and position. In the case of children and young girls, white scarves and gloves are worn; and if the dead person were a young unmarried woman, a "maiden garland" used to be laid on the coffin, and hung up in the church after the funeral. There are, or were, some of these garlands hanging in the church of Witton-Gilbert, near Durham. These have a glove, cut out of white paper, in the midst.

When arrived at the churchyard, the dead must be carried to the grave the way of the sun (east, by south, west, and north, for "ye wad no hae them carry the dead again the sun; the dead maun aye go wi’ the sun." This is an old British usage, and in the Highlands is called "making the deisul." It is practised to bring good luck; to go round in the opposite direction (or "withershins") is an evil incantation, and brings ill-fortune.

It should rain a little during the procession, for "happy is the corpse that the rain rains on!"

It used to be customary for anyone meeting a funeral to stop for a moment and take his hat off. This is still occasionally done.

The survivors should not grieve too much for the dead, as this hinders their repose.

When the head of a house dies, the bees should be told of their master’s death, and asked to accept the new one, or they will all die.

It is said that if a loaf of bread weighted with quicksilver be allowed to float in the water, it will swim towards, and stand over the place where the body of a drowned person lies.

There is a remedy for most diseases in the shape of a spell or charm.

Whooping-cough may be cured by passing the child under an ass; or by taking some milk, giving half to a white ferret, letting the child drink the rest. In Sunderland, the crown of the head is shaved and the hair hung upon a bush, so that the birds, carrying it to their nests, may take the cough with it.

For epilepsy, a half-crown may be offered at Communion and then asked for again, and made into a ring to be worn by the person affected.

For cramp, garter the left leg below the knee, or tie an eel’s skin round it.

A more unpleasant remedy is that for a wen, for the touch of a corpse’s hand will cure it. "Andrew Mills’s stob" (gibbet) was once thought sovereign against toothache.

Warts can be charmed away by taking a piece of raw meat (it ought to be stolen), rubbing the warts with it, and throwing it away. As the meat decays the warts will vanish.

If anyone is bitten by a dog, the animal should be destroyed, for, should it go mad at any time, the person bitten would be attacked by hydrophobia.

St. Agnes’s Fast (January 21) is thus practised: Two girls, each wishing to see their future husbands, must fast and be dumb through the whole of St. Agnes’s Eve. At night, in the same silence, they must make "the dumb cake," aided by their friends, then divide it in two parts, one of which each girl takes, walks backwards upstairs, cuts the cake, and retires to bed. Then dreams of the future husband should follow.

And girls will stick a candle-end full of pins to bring their lovers to them. Or, taking an apple-pip, and naming the lover, will put it in the fire. If it burst with a noise he loves, but if it burns silently his love is nought.

If a girl wishes to meet her future husband, she must carry an ash-leaf having an even tip, and say--

"The even ash-leaf in my hand,
The first I meet shall be my man."

If it is found difficult to rear calves, the leg of one of the dead animals should be hung in the chimney. In Yorkshire, the dead calf is buried under the threshold of the byre, either practice being (unconsciously) a sacrifice to Odin.

"To work as though one was working for need-fire," is a common proverb in the North, and refers to the practice of producing fire by the friction of two pieces of wood. This was done when the murrain prevailed among cattle, and the diseased animals were made to pass through the smoke raised by this holy fire. This was considered a certain cure. When cattle have foul in the feet, the turf on which the beast treads with the affected foot is taken up and hung in the open air. As it crumbles away, so will the diseased foot recover.

And the water in which Irish and other stones have been steeped has been used in the Bishopric as a cure for disease for cattle.