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HISTORY OF THE TOWNSHIP OF
EAST CHEVINGTON
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East Chevington township, within Chevington
Chapelry.
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The township of East Chevington,
N which comprises
an area of 2,240 acres, abuts at its south-east corner on the sea
and thence stretches in a north-westerly direction towards
Acklington. The population has increased very rapidly during the
last forty years
N owing to the development of the coalfield by the
Broomhill Coal Company ; N in 1891 it was 1,550.
N
Besides the hamlet or homestead of East Chevington, N
the mining village of Broomhill and the hamlet of Red Row,
N
the township contains the homesteads of Broomhill, Woodside,
N
Maidens-hall, N and Whitefield. N
A member of the barony of Alnwick, East Chevington was held by
the Vescis until the twelfth century, when lands in Great Chevington,
apparently comprising a moiety of the manor or township, were
granted by William de Vescy (died 1184) to Ernulph de Morwick (died
before 1177), the grant being witnessed by William Tison and his son
German. N The other moiety was granted, probably
about the same period, to the Mautalents of Howick.
N
On the 15th of September, 1236, there was a mandate to the sheriff
of Northumberland to make a perambulation (which was to be produced
before the justices in eyre) between the lands of Richard de
Mautalent in Chevington del Est and the lands of Hugh de Morwick in
Chevington del West and the lands of Jordan Heron in Hadston. L About the year 1240 Chivington del Est was held of the king
in chief by William de Vescy, N from whom Hugh de
Morwick held it with Morwick as one and a half knight's fee of
ancient feoffment.
N At Hugh de Morwick's death,
about the year 1269, it was found by inquisition that he held a
moiety of East Chevington, by knight's service, of Sir John de Vescy,
which with Morwick was computed to comprise thirty librates of land
and to be worth £30 per annum.
N
There was a suit in 1280-1281 brought by Richard de Mautalent to
recover from John de Roseles, the husband of one of Hugh de
Morwick's daughters and co-heiresses, 20 messuages, 4½ carucates of
land, and 20 acres of meadow in East Chevington.
N
Sixteen years later his name heads the Subsidy Roll. |
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| CHEWINGTON EAST SUBSIDY ROLL, 1296. |
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£. s. d. |
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s. d. |
| Summa bonorum |
Roberti Mautaland |
2 12 4 |
unde regi |
4 9 |
| " |
Gilberti Freman |
0 18 6 |
" |
1 8¾ |
| " |
Johannis filii Hulle |
0 15 4 |
" |
1 4¾ |
| " |
Adae Roke |
0 15 10 |
" |
1 5¼ |
| " |
Hawisiae viduae |
0 18 4 |
" |
1 8 |
| " |
Roberti clerici |
0 14 4 |
" |
1 3¾ |
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| Summa hujus
villae £6 14s 8d. Unde
domino regi, 12s. 3d |
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Three or four years afterwards actions were brought by Robert de
Mautalent and Christiana his wife against Robert de Lumley and
Theophania, widow of John de Bulmer, for common of pasture in West
Chevington and to recover certain tenements in East Chevington.
N
Besides the name of Robert de Mautalent, who heads the list, the
Subsidy Roll of 1312 contains the interesting local name of Gilbert
Bayard, and those of John the grieve, Richard the grieve, and Thomas
clericus. |
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| CHEVINTON EAST SUBSIDY ROLL,
1312. |
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£. s. d. |
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s. d. |
| Summa bonorum |
Roberti Mautalent |
4 4 4 |
unde regi |
8 5¼ |
| " |
Gilberti Freman |
4 2 6 |
" |
8 3 |
| " |
Roberti filii Hugonis |
2 10 8 |
" |
5 1 |
| " |
Ranulphi forestarii |
1 4 0 |
" |
2 5 |
| " |
Galfridi filii Rogeri |
1 10 4 |
" |
3 0½ |
| " |
Roberti de Molliston |
1 0 0 |
" |
2 0 |
| " |
Johannis praepositi |
1 8 4 |
" |
2 10 |
| " |
Ricardi praepositi |
0 15 4 |
" |
1 6½ |
| " |
Thomae clerici |
1 12 8 |
" |
3 3¼ |
| " |
Gilberti Bayard |
0 18 4 |
" |
1 10 |
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| Summa totius villae de Chevinton Est, £19
6s 6d. Unde regi,
38s. 8½d |
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Twenty acres of land in Chevyngton Est worth 5d. an acre, with a
bondagium, containing 30 acres, worth 14s. a year, and 7 acres of
land, also worth 5d. an acre, were held from Ralph de Bulmer by
William Latymer, who died about the year 1335, by the service of
20d. yearly ; his heir was his son, William Latymer, then aged five
years.
N The Subsidy Roll of the following year
contains the name of Christiana, widow of Robert Mautalent. |
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| CHEVINTON EST SUBSIDY ROLL, 1336. |
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| Johannes filius Willelmi, 5s. 4d.; Gilbertus bercarius, 4s.; Hugo de
Mollesdon, 3s. 8d.; Johannes filius Thomae, 3s. 4d. ; Christiana
Maukaland, 6s. 8d. ; Gilbertus filius Ranulphi, 3s. ; Thomas Bayard,
2s. 8d. ; Willelmus filius Gilberti, 2s. 4d. Summa, 31s. |
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In 1345-1346 Sir Marmaduke de Lumley and David Gray held the vills
of East Chevington and Morwick from Henry de Percy of Alnwick.
L
After the death of Sir Marmaduke de Lumley his lands at East
Chevington were occupied during the minority of his heir, and the
issues were received by John de Nevill, until August, 1383; they were worth
60s. per annum. N Sir Ralph Lumley, the second son,
and ultimately heir, of Sir Marmaduke, married John de Nevill's
daughter,
N and in the settlement of his estates
made on the 29th of June, 1384, his lands in East Chevington were
included.
N
The lands inherited by Sir Ralph de Bulmer
through his mother from Hugh de Morwick had, before the year 1386,
passed to the issue of his sister Eva, wife of Henry fitz Hugh of Ravenswath, for Sir Henry
fitz Hugh, knight, died on the 29th of August of that year seised of
48 acres called 'les dymeynez,' of 4 husbandlands and two cottages in East Chevington
; Henry fitz Hugh his son and heir was 23 years of age. N
Sir Henry fitz Hugh, who died on the 11th of January, 1424/5 held in
East Chevington 48 acres of demesne land worth 2d. an acre, 2 acres
of meadow each acre worth 2s. a year, 3 roods of meadow worth 6d. a
rood, 3 messuages each worth 18d. a year, 3 husbandlands each of
which was worth 3s. a year, and two cottages each worth 12d. a
year.
N He also held a free rent of 6d. a year from
a piece of land called 'Spitelgarth',
N which may
possibly be represented by the unidentified lands in Chevington
which, at the dissolution of the monastic houses, belonged to the
preceptory of Mount St. John, in Yorkshire, and were then worth 2s.
a year.
N
The fitz Hugh lands in East Chevington were, in 1568, held by Lord
Dacre of the South,
N who apparently sold them with his lands in
Morwick to Thomas Bates, for about the year 1586 the moiety of East
Chevington, formerly held by Hugh de Morwick, was held by Thomas
Bates (in succession of the heirs of Lord fitz Hugh), and by Ralph
Grey paying 6s. 8d. yearly to Alnwick for castle guard and 8d. for
cornage.
N
The descent of the Mautalent moiety of the township is more obscure
than that of the Morwick moiety. John Mautalent, son of Robert and Christiana, having transferred his allegiance from Edward II. to
the Scottish king, his English lands were confiscated,
N
and his moiety of Howick was, on the 17th of May, 1319, in the
presence of the parliament assembled at York, granted to Thomas Grey
of Horton.
N Grey petitioned for and subsequently
obtained the reversion of the moiety of Chyvyngton, which John de
Mautalent's mother, Christiana, held, not in dower, but by feoffment,
which moiety, the jurors said, was held of Robert de Lumley, by the
service of half a mark yearly for the ward of Alnwick castle ; it
used to be worth in time of peace £13 6s. 8d.
N
In 1341 Sir Gerard de Widdrington obtained a licence N
from Edward III to grant to the chaplain performing divine service
at Widdrington a certain rent charged on his lands in Widdrington,
Druridge, and East Chevington. Sir John Widdrington, knight, who
died on the 20th of February, 1443/4, held of Henry, earl of
Northumberland, in his demesne as of fee a moiety of the vill of Cheyvyngton Est, which was worth 40s. a year.
N He
was succeeded by his son, Roger Widdrington, who died on the 2nd of
August, 1451, seised of a moiety of the vill of Est Chevyngton,
which at that time was worth 20s. a year, and 'not more on account
of the destruction of the Scotch and the desolation of the country
in the last war.' N The lands in East Chevington
stated to have been held by Sir John Widdrington in 1568
N
must have been during his lifetime conveyed to his son, Sir Henry,
who about the year 1586 held a moiety of the township, N
and who by a deed dated the 27th of April, 1583,
N limited the manors
of East and West Chevington to Hector Widdrington.
N
As
Chevington is not again mentioned in the Widdrington deeds it
is probable that the deed made in 1583 may have been preliminary to
the sale of this estate, and that when Sir Ralph Grey included East
Chevington in the settlement of his estates on the 1st of March,
1607/8, N he may then have been in possession of
both moieties of the township.
At a muster taken on the Moot-law on the 26th of March, 1580, only
one horseman was provided by East Chevington ; but at the muster
taken on Clifton field on the 24th of November, 1595, Roger
Brotherwicke and Mark Hedley, each provided with petronel, coat of
plate, steel cap, sword and dagger, presented themselves, but
Brotherwicke's grey mare and Hedley's grey nag were returned as
unfit.
N
The only name entered in the Book of Rates of 1663 is that of Ralph
Grey, esquire, who was rated at £450 a year ; William, Lord Grey,
answered in 1664 at the Knights' Court of the barony of Alnwick for
Morwick and East Chevington.
N
During the early part of the seventeenth century, East Chevington
was occupied by Edward Dodsworth, a member of the Yorkshire family
of Dodsworth of Barton, several members of which seem to have served
the Greys of Chillingham in the management of their estates. The
writer of the Memoir of Ambrose Barnes states that Barnes was nephew
of Henry Dodsworth of the West park, near Romaldkirk, who was
appointed to be the king's huntsman in 1619, and who 'was well
known to King Charles I., and sometime appeared at the head of the
hounds when his majesty went to hunt.
N This Henry
Dodsworth was a kinsman, seemingly a nephew, of 'Edward Dodsworth
of East Chevington, huntsman to King James,' who, according to his
epitaph in the churchyard of Warkworth, ' departed to the mercy of
God, the 30th of May, anno domini 1630. N |
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DODSWORTH OF EAST CHEVINGTON
AND BARTON
ARMS: Argent: on a chevron three bugle horns
sable as many bezants.
Heralds' visitation of Yorkshire 1666 |
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This pedigree was prepared by the late Canon Raine of York, and
may be compared with that entered in Dugdale's Visitation of
Yorkshire, 1666. Where additions have been made by the Editor
references are given.
(a) M.I., Warkworth churchyard. (b) Foster, Admissions to Gray's
Inn. (c) Durham Probate Registry. |
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EVIDENCES TO DODSWORTH PEDIGREE. |
1630, 10th April. Will of Edward Dodsworth of East Chevington,
gentleman. To be buried in the churchyard of Warkworth. To my two
married daughters, Isabell Slow (? Stow) and Katheryne Beare (?
Beard) 50s. each ; to my unmarried children, Raph, Robert, Jane,
Francis, Mary, Margaret, and Elizabeth, two parts of my goods ; the
third part to Katheryne, my loving wife, whom I make my executor.
Seal, a chevron between three bugle horns. Proved `in capella de
Morpeth,' 27th October, 1630.
1630, 18th September. Inventory praised by William Craister, John
Spore, Edward Patterson, and Jerrard Browell. His poorse and
appareil, £10; 27 kye and calfe and a bull, £56 ; 4 quies and
swine, £8 ; 7 young beasts, £8 8s.; 18 of younger sorte, £18 ; 16
younger, £10 14s. 4d. ; 2 ox and 3 kye, £7 ; 32 ox, 40 yewes, 20
hogs, 6 meares, and a foale, £110 2s.; I ston'd colt, 3 wark horses,
2 young mares, £12 ; in parlor and aboute the house, 10s.; 8 waines 3 plews,
yocks, and harrows, £8 ; hard
corn, 16 bool, £33 14s. 4d.; 24 of oats, £60 (?) ; 6 bool of beare, £3; 3 bools of beans, £3; 3 hyves, 10s.; cupboard, a chare,
stools, and forms, £1 10s; 3 bedsteads, etc., £3; pewter and brass,
fire crooks, tongs and speet, £6 8s. 4d.; 6 silver spoons and boole,
10s. ; other beddings, chests, etc., clothes, and linen, £8 6s.
Total, £368 13s. Owing to testator : by Sir Edward Grey, £27 ; by
Jo. Sim, £5; by M. Thompson, £6 10s.; by Edmond Fynch, 18s. £39 8s.
Owing by testator, £110. servants' wages, £8 14s.
£118 14s. Durham Probate Registry.
1680, 28th September. Will of Edward Dodsworth of Barton, gent.
Being something sickly and weake in body. All my lands, etc., in
Barton to the heirs males of my sister Elizabeth Killinghall,
deceased, and of my sister, Mary Killinghall, and for defalt of
such, to my cozen John Dodsworth of Watlass, esq., and his right
heirs. I charge my brother, John Killinghall, esq., to redeliver
upp to my deare mother, Mrs. Margaret Chater, a bond for £100; to my
friends, Mr. John Theobalds, as a token, £5; remainder to my sister,
Mary Killinghall, and William Killinghall, my nephew ; to Mr.
Loftus, as a token, 5 guineas. Proved at York, 13th July, 1681. York
Probate Registry.
1683, 4th September. Will of John Sleigh the younger, of Berwick,
burgess. I give to my wife, Jane, the £30 which my uncle, Robert
Morton, burgess, deceased, left me by will, which sum Elizabeth, his
wife, was to pay me, but she having married with Samuel Barker, and
afterwards with George Walton, both of Barton in Yorkshire, the said
legacy was not paid me. Proved at Durham, 1684. Raine, Test. Dunelm.
Mrs. Chaytor's alleged patriarchal age should be compared with the
date of her son's birth, as reckoned by his age when he entered his
pedigree at the Visitation of Yorkshire. The entry of her burial in
the Barton register is as follows : 1703, 26th February. The burial
of Mrs. Margarett Chaytor, and aged 100 years and odd. She marryed
Coll. Chaytor to her second husband ; Mr. Rob. Dodsworth was her
first.' |
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In the month of December, 1703, the ' Saint Anna,' a Dutch vessel,
came into Shields harbour, and a portion of the cargo was found to
comprise cases of arms. Amongst the passengers were a German named
Herman Mohl, who was going to work at Shotley Bridge sword works ;
Joseph Heron, servant to Mr. Ramsay of Brinkburn, who was a captain
in Colonel Collyer's regiment, then quartered at Bergen op Zoom ;
and Robert Dodsworth, a volunteer in the same regiment, who belonged
to the neighbourhood of Felton, and was on furlough.
N
The Felton register contains many entries relating to persons of
this name, some of whom were doubtless descendants of the huntsman's
eldest son, Ralph, who settled in that parish, but they cannot be
connected. It is possible that the husband of Edward Dodsworth's
second daughter, Catherine, may have been one of the Bards or Bairds
of West Chevington. Frances, the fourth daughter, married Edward
Rochester, vicar of Wooler. N
The Dodsworths were followed by the family of Brown, of which
successive generations, for a period of a century and a half,
enjoyed the tenancy.
N It is probable they originally came from the adjoining parish of Woodhorn, in which some
of them owned freehold lands at Cresswell and tithes at Linton and
Ellington.
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BROWN OF EAST CHEVINGTON |
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(a) Warkworth Register. (b) M.I.,
Warkworth. (c) Durham Probate Registry. (d)
Lesbury Register. (e) M.I., Woodhorn. (f)
Newcastle Courant, 16th May, 1801. (g) Mr. S.
F. Widdrington's Deeds.
* One of these two ladies seems to have married Thomas
Clark of Woodhorn. |
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EVIDENCES TO BROWN PEDIGREE. |
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1664, 21st April. Bond of marriage, John Brown of East Chevington
and Dorothy Ogle, spinster.
1691, 17th November. Mr. Thomas Brown of
Chevington buried. Milford Register.
1692, 8th October. Richard Brown of Chevington buried. Ibid.
1719, 23rd December. Will of Edward Brown of Chevington. I give my
corn tithes at Ellington to my wife Mary Brown for life, and then to
my grandson Edward Brown, son of my son Nicholas Brown. My house at
Warkworth to my wife for life, and then to my grandson Edward, son
of my son William Brown. To my grandson Edward, son of my late son
John Brown, deceased, £10. My sons Henry, Richard, and William
Brown. My household goods to my wife and to my daughters Mary Wake,
Jane Gregson, and Margaret Brown. My wife executrix. Proved 1720.
Durham Probate Registry.
1748, 9th July. Will of Edward Brown of Broomhill. I
give my tithes of Ellington to my son Edward. £4 per annum to my father, Nicholas
Brown. My daughters Alice, Isable, Jane, and Mary. My wife Jane and
my brothers Thomas Clark of Woodhorn and William Brown of Ellington,
executors. Proved 1748. Raine, Test. Dunelm.
1749/50, 15th February. Elisebetha Brown annos nata 105 de West
Chivinton. Warkworth Register of Burials.
1784, 3rd July. Will of Edward Brown of East Chevington. I give my
landed estate, houses, stock, and crop at Cresswell, and my
(leasehold) farm at East Chevington to my wife Eleanor Brown, and
after her death or remarriage I give the same equally amongst my
daughters Margaret Johnson, Eleanor and Jane Brown. The Rev. Henry
Johnson to be accountable to my daughters Eleanor and Jane Brown for
what money he has got from me. I give my shares in the 'William and
Hannah' of Sunderland and in the sloop 'Robert and Ann' of Alnmouth to
my wife. Edward Cook of Togston, esq., Mr. William Wake of Greensfield and Mr. Edward Fenwick of Newton to be executors. Proved10th April, 1786.
Durham Probate Registry. |
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The Browns were succeeded in 1805 by Mr. James Wilson, of a Berwick
family, and he in succession by Messrs. Lowrey and Alderson. Earl
Grey is now the proprietor of the whole township. |
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Also see
St. John's Church |
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www.fusilier.co.uk 2010 |