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At a Bylaw of the Freemen held the 13th April, 1703, Thomas Browne, of Sunderland, was elected a Freeman, in the place of William Scarbrough, deceased. And at a Court Baron of Ralph Lambton, gentleman, lessee of the Bishop of Durham, held " Aprill ye 15th 1703" before William Carr, deputy senescal, "Thomas Brown, then admitted [a] Freeman, sworn

"To ye Lord of ye Manor

To ye Steward

To ye Bayliffe

8. d.

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On the 13th of April, 1703, John Scarbrough was elected a Stallinger in the place of John Taylor, deceased; and at a Court Baron held "Aprill ye 15th 1703. John Searbrough then admitted [a] Stallinger, sworn

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-The above facts-the proclamation in the Court Baron, their oaths taken and fees paid on their admission in that court, coupled with Mr. Paxton's resignation-shew the presumption of a late attempt of the freemen and stallingers of Sunderland to oust their lord, the then Bishop

From the Freemen's Election Book as endorsed by the Senes at of the Court Baron.

of Durham, of the soil and freehold of the Town Moor, when at most they were only his tenants of its herbage.

At a halmote court for the manor of Houghton, held at Houghton-le-Spring, on the twenty-third of April, 1787, before George Pearson, Esq., (grandfather of George Pearson Wilkinson, Esq., of Elm Park, near Wolsingham), deputy steward of the manor, and a jury of the lord's tenants, the following presentment was made :

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"Ralph Watson, of Bishopwearmouth, for leading coles, with his cart, along the foot-causey, between Bishopwearmouth, & Sunderland fined six shillings and eightpence." Before the year 1183, Hugh Pudsey, Bishop of Durham, exercised his "jura regalia," or royal power, within his palatinate, by granting a charter of incorporation to Sunderland, under the name of the borough of Wearmouth, when he relaxed much of the rigour of the feudal system to his tenants by abolishing blodwite, merchet (see page 109), heriots (see page 106), and stengesduit, within the borough, and throughout the lands of the see of Durham, then known as "St. Cuthbert's Patrimony." The heriot is not to be found in any of the copyhold manors in the north, but it still exists in several in the south and west of England, where, at the death of a copyholder, the lord of the manor can seize the best chattel the tenant possessed; and in some manors the best life chattel. On the death of the late Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Bart., M.P., who was a copyholder, the lord of the manor seized, as a heriot, Sir Gilbert's famous horse Smolensko, worth about three thousand pounds.

The only title that the feudal tenant held for his land, consisted of copies of entries and admittances of his name and property on the court roll of the lord of

the manor; the lands so holden came to be called copyholds, and froin these arose the modern copyholders, who

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REMOVAL OF ST. CUTHBERT'S RELICS.

can transfer their property in a very easy way by sur rendering it to a purchaser in the presence of the steward of the lord of the manor, when an entry of the sale is made upon the court rolls.

The copyhold property now in the parish of Sunderland, was created by a grant "de novo" made May 8, 43 Elizabeth, 1601, by special license of Tobias Matthew, then Bishop of Durham, as lord of the manor, to Ralph Bowes, Esq., of Barnes, near Bishopwearmouth, vice-admiral of the county palatine of Durham (see page 66),

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Mr. Bowes doing to the lord and the neighbours the things which are due, &c.

Mr. Ralph Bowes built part of the quay, extending westward from the bottom of the Long Bank, Sunderland: this was for many years known as "Bowes's Quay."

On 13th May, 12 James I., 1614, Ralph Bowes, Esq., demised to Humphrey Wharton, gentleman, the said premises, "Together with all the houses and the Salt Panns and Staiths thereupon built and to be built:" To hold to the said Humphrey Wharton, and his assigns, for 5 years, and he gave for leave to demise, five shillings. On 22d March, 16 James I., 1619, Ralph Bowes, Esq., surrendered to Humphrey Wharton, gentleman, the whole of the said premises, "To have to the said Humphrey Wharton, and his sequels in right, according to the custom of the court, rendering &c. And he was thereupon admitted tenant." On the 27th May, 17 James I., 1619, Humphrey Wharton demised to George DEMISE, 10s. Collingwood, Esq., and Robert Collingwood, his brother, all the last mentioned premises, to hold to the said George Collingwood and Robert Collingwood, and their assigns for fifty years, rent £120. On the 12th April, 8 Charles I., 1632, Humphrey Wharton, gentleman, surrendered to William Bowes, eldest son and heir of Ralph Bowes, Esq., all the said premises. To have to the said William Bowes, and his sequels in right, according to the custom of the court, rendering &c. And he was thereupon admitted tenant.

On the 30th December, 10 Charles I., 1634, William Bowes, Esq., surrendered to Robert Collingwood, of Hetton-on-the-Hill, [one of the common council-men of Sunderland under Bishop Morton's charter] and William

Power, Esq., the whole of the waste tenure above-named (excepting the lands and tenements parcels of the premises before granted to William Lambton, Adam Burdon, Robert Ayre, and Henry Babington*). To have to the said Robert Collingwood and William Power, and their sequels in right, according to the custom of the court, rendering &c. And they were admitted tenants thereof absolute.

On the 6th November, 24 Charles II., 1672, + Thomas Power, gentleman, son and heir of William Power, Esq., deceased, who survived Robert Collingwood, gentleman, also deceased, was admitted to all the same premises, which the said William Power had in right whilst he lived. To have to the said Thomas Power, and his sequels in right, &c. And he was thereupon admitted tenant. On the following day, 7th November, 24 Charles II., 1672, Thomas Power surrendered to DEMISE, 6D. William Haddock, the elder [a common carrier between Newcastle and Sunderland, who, about 1640, married Mary, only daughter and eventual heiress of William Bowes, Esq., of Barnes], and William Haddock, the younger, son of the aforesaid William, the whole of the said copyhold property (excepting the lands and tenements parcels of the premises before

Comprising Bishopwearmouth Panns, and other wastes adjoining the river, east and west of the bridge, near Bridge Crescent, Matlock Street, and the Earl of Durham's coal fitting office upon the "Jack-Daw Rock," in the parish of Bishopwearmouth.

+ In some historical, and in all legal documents, the reign of Charles II. is reckoned from the death of his father, Charles I., Jan. 30, 1649.

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