Amble and District
     Local History

 

Menu
Duke of Northumberland's MSS.
Hist. Dunelm. Scriptores Tres. Raine, p. 42. Surtees Society, No. 9.
Dugdale, Monasticon, iv. p. 651. The 'domus de Werkeword ordinis Praemonstratensis' which disputed the possession of a salt-pan at Warkworth with the abbot and convent of Newminster has not been identified. Cf. Newminster Chartulary, Fowler, p. 205.
In or before 1859 a bronze signet ring bearing a lion passant, but of poor execution, was found in this garden ; Arch. Ael. iv. p. 40 ; and about eighty years ago there was found a silver spoon bearing the initials E. I., probably those of Elizabeth Ion, widow of vicar Ion, and afterwards wife of John Clutterbuck.
Formerly sometimes used by theatrical companies ; cf. play bill for 21st April, 1849, when Jane Shore was announced for performance.
The stack-garth has been, since the commutation of the rectorial tithes, granted by the Ecclesiastical commissioners as a garden for the vicarage.
There are now no charitable funds belonging to the parish. Circa. 1670 Maria Osmotherly was presented at the archdeacon's court for detaining a legacy of £50 left to the school of Warkworth by George Warwick. She pleaded that she had not sufficient funds from the testator, but as soon as she received them she would pay. Tate, Alnwick, ii. p. 131. 1743, 1st November. Mrs. Elizabeth Clutterbuck gave £30 to the poor of Warkworth, or 30s. a year ; but the bequest being charged upon real estate the bequest was void and became inoperative.
The day school was held in the parvis.
In 1628 it was agreed by the gentlemen and twelve of Pittington parish that whoever shall take any fox or pate or badger in this parish and bring the head to the church shall have twelve pence paid by the churchwardens.' Durham Parish Books, p. 91.
For an enumeration of the works comprised in a church library, cf. Durham Parish Books, p. 11.
Cf. Durham Parish Books, p. 19. Surtees Society, No. 84.
The chapelry of St. Margaret, Durham, formerly offered `hollibred cake ' to the parish church, the several families in the chapelry taking the duty in rotation, partly in money and partly in kind. Cf. Durham Parish Books, p. 132. At Warkworth a mark, or 13s. 4d., was collected each year, and when that sum was obtained the collector stayed. The last receipts entered upon the churchwardens' accounts was in 1749.
In 1726 Edward Cook was elected bridge master.
In 1731 the following persons were elected to be overseers of the poor : William James of Warkworth, Richard Ord of Grange, William Creswell of Hauxley fields, Edward Cook of Togston ; and the following were elected to be overseers of the highways : James P . . . . of Warkworth, John Cook of Grange, John Fawcus of Amble, and Thomas G . . . . of Acklington. Cf. Durham Parish Books, pp. 70, 88, 102, 275, 277, 303.
The north side quarter comprised Birling, with its 10 ancient farms ; Spital house, 1 ; Over Buston, 8 ; Nether Buston, 12 ; Grange, 8 ; Brotherwick, 3 ; Walk-mill, 1 ; or 43 ancient farms. The south-east quarter comprised Amble, with its 14 ancient farms ; Hauxley, 10; Morwick, 6; or 30 in all. The southwestern quarter comprised Togston, with its 12 ancient farms ; and Acklington, 18 ; 30o in all. The chapelry of Chevington was not represented.
Cf. Freeman, Growth of the English Constitution, chap. II, and Durham Parish Books, pp. 2, 213. Surtees Society, No. 84.
Orders in Council relating to the closing of the old and regulating of the new burial ground were published in the London Gazette, 11th May, 1860; 8th February, 1861 ; 3rd May, 1861 ; 10th June, 1862.
Ibid.
Archdeacon Singleton's Minute Book.
The panels painted with the Grey arms are now hung upon the south wall near the door.
Warkworth Churchwardens' Books. The initials of some of the townships can still be read upon their respective portions of the wall. Gloster-hill township computed to comprise three farms, and Acklington park four farms, were exempt from payment of church rate.
Archdeacon's Minute Book.
1763, 5th March. The gallery built by the Rev. Mr. Lawson. The quire flagged. Mr. Clutterbuck's Commonplace Book. 1763, 21st April. A large sash window put in to the quire. Ibid. This may refer either to the large east window or to a window over the chancel door, both of which were removed in 1860.
Warkworth Register
Journal, sub annis
Duke of Northumberland's MSS.
Dorathy, daughter and co-heiress of William Williams and the widow of Sir Edward Hassell, knight, of Dalemain, who was high sheriff of Cumberland in 1682. She was evidently the farmer of the great tithes, and probably erected the iron rails which used to guard the holy table (cf. p. 182), which, with the wainscotting, were taken out in 1860.
Warkworth Parish Chest
Copied from the original at Durham by Mr. John J. Howe, 10th October, 1893.
Warkworth Parish Chest.
` The Ecclesiastical State within the Archdeaconry of Northumberland,' Arch. Ael. xvii. p. 249.
`The Oliverian Survey,' Arch. Ael. 4to series, iii. p. 9.
Rev. John Hodgson's Collection, V, p. 290.
Canon Raine's notes from records at Durham.
Ecclesiastical Proceedings of Bishop Barnes, p. 36.
Ibid. Appleby, fol. 295.
Carlisle Registers, Kirkby, fol. 416.
The entire register down to 1812 has been printed by the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries, and will be found in their series 1897 and following dates.
Warkworth Register.
Foster, Alumni Oxonienses.
Mr. Thomas Clutterbuck's Commonplace Book.
Foster, Alumni Oxonienses
Mr. Thomas Clutterbuck's Commonplace Book.
Record Office, Liber Institutionum.
Mr. Thomas Clutterbuck's Commonplace Book. Dr. Hudson's nephew, bearing the same Christian and surname, served as curate-in-charge of Warkworth, 1793-1809.
Gentleman's Magazine, November, 1783, p. 983.
Addison, Roll of Graduates of Glasgow University.
Mr. Thomas Clutterbuck's Commonplace Book.
Record Office, Liber Institutionum
Newcastle papers, 30th December, 1777.
Randal, State of the Churches.
Mr. Thomas Clutterbuck's Commonplace Book, which also notes: ` 1782, 17th January. The Rev. Mr. Law, vicar of Warkworth, and the widow Tomlinson were married in London.' Cf. Gentleman's Magazine, January, 1782.
Record Office, Liber Institutioum.
Warkworth Register
Preachers' Book, St. Nicholas' church, Newcastle.
Randal, State of the Churches.
Record Office, Liber Institutionum.
Wallis, Northumberland, ii. p. 154.
Preachers' Book, St. Nicholas' church, Newcastle.
Foster, Alumni Oxonienses
Record Office, Liber Institutionum
Ibid.
Warkworth Register.
Miss Erskine's Deeds.
Foster, Alumni Oxonienses
Ibid.
Randal, State of the Churches.
Durham Registry
1692, 26th April. Thomas Brown of East Chevington and Margaret Davidson of Warkworth, married. Warkworth Register.
Edlingham Register.
Cf. vol. i. p. 97.
Randal, State of the Churches.
Warkworth Register.
Admissions to St. John's College, Cambridge.
Ibid.
Warkworth Register
Foster, Alumni Oxonienses.
Record Office, Liber Institutionum
Warkworth Register.
Record Office, Liber Institutionum.
Warkworth Register
Record Office, Liber Institutionum.
Raine, Test.
Warkworth Register.
Calamy. Elected Ministers. ii. p. 513
Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy, pt. ii. p. 272.
Surtees Society, No. 34, p. 101.
Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy, pt. ii. p. 272.
Record Office, Liber Institutionum.
Foster, Alumni Oxonienses.
Cf. vol. ii. p. 441.
Ibid.
Randal, State of the Churches.
Eccl. Proc. of Bishop Barnes, p. 76.
Clavis Ecclesiastica ; Eccl. Proc. of Bishop Barnes, p. 9.
Eccl. Proc. of Bishop Barnes, Raine, pp. 36, 37, Surtees Society, No. 22.
Durham Registers, Pilkington, Randal MSS.; Rev. John Hodgson's Collection, M, 195.
Durham Registers, Pilkington ; Rev. John Hodgson's Collection, M, 191.
Durham Registers, Tunstal, Randal MSS.
Or perhaps Hopkin, for the writing is not very legible. Durham Registers; cf. Rev. John Hodgson's Collection, M, 171.
Durham Registers, Tunstal ; Rev. John Hodgson's Collection, M, 168.
The Archbishop's Visitation of 1501, Ecclesiastical Proceedings of Bishop Barnes, p. iii. Surtees Society, No. 22.
Durham Registers; Fox; Rev. John Hodgson's_Collection, M, 216,
Ibid. Randal, State of the Churches.
Durham Registers, Fox ; Randal MSS.
Hunter MSS. Rev. John Hodgson's Collection, Ingram Guard Book.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Randal, State of the Churches.
`Proofs of Age of Heirs of Estates,' Arch. Ael. 4to series, iv. p. 328.
Carlisle Registers, Appleby, fol. 165
Ibid. p. 146
Ibid. p. 116.
Carlisle Registers, Welton, p. 99.
Randal, State of the Churches.
Brinkburn Chartulary, Page, pp. 31, 99.
Durham Registers, Hatfield.
York Registers, Zouche, p. 283 b.
Randal, State of the Churches.
R. S. Ferguson, Test. Karl.
Surtees, Durham, ii.. 241.
Carlisle Registers, Kirkby, p. 243.
Cal. of Pat. Rolls, Edw. III. pp. 315, 316.
Carlisle Registers, Halton, p. 243.
Canon Raine's notes from York Registers.
Brinkburn Chartulary, Page, p. 143.
Newminster Chartulary, Fowler, pp. 213, 214.
Placita de Quo Warranto; Hodgson, Northumberland, pt. iii. vol. i. p. 142.
1744, 11th June. William Hunter of Hartlaw buried. Warkworth Register.
Wallis, Northumberland, ii. p. 354.
Proc. of Newcastle Society of Antiquaries, iii. p. 149.
It bears the inscription : ` The gift of Richard Clutterbuck, esq., 1752.'
The cup is figured and the other pieces described in the Proc. of Newcastle Society of Antiquaries, iii. p. 149.
Cf. Wallis, Northumberland, ii. p. 354.
W. H. D. Longstaffe, The Old Heraldry of the Percies,' Arch. Ael. iv. p. 186.
During the Wars of the Roses, a person of this name acted as an emissary of Margaret of Angou in Northumberland. Cf. Bates, Border Holds, i. p. 445
A lithogram was produced in Arch. Ael. vi. p. 4.
This description is abridged from an unpublished paper by Mr. W. H. Knowles on the Effigy of a Knight in Warkworth Church.
The arrangement of the sword, belt, girdle, and kneecaps, and the equipment generally have a marked resemblance to the effigy of an unknown knight (c. 1300) in Norton church, co. Durham, to the effigies of Brian fitz Alan (c. 1302) at Bedale, of Sir John de Ifield (d. 1317), of a knight at Ash by Sandwich, and of Sir John d'Aubernoun (d. 1327), Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey; and including the plates and sollerets to that of John de Eltham.
Garments so shaped were common in the early part of the fourteenth century, and examples occur in the effigy of Sir John de Ifield (c. 1317) in Ifield church, Sussex, and in the brass of Sir John de Creke (c. 1325) at Westley Waterless, Cambridgeshire. Strutt, p. 59 ; Waller, Brasses.
Armour of leather appears in the inventory of Louis Hutin in 1316 (Arch. journal, ii. p. 319) ; also in that of Sir Humphry de Bohun, earl of Hereford, in 1322.
An early example of the rowelled spur occurs on a seal of Henry III., but it was not common until the fourteenth century.
A skirt in scale work may be seen in the Moccas effigy in Moccas church, Hereford, and in the effigy of a knight (c. 1320) in St. Peter's church, Sandwich. Cf. Hewitt, Ancient Armour, ii. p. 115.
Cotton MS. Nero, D, 1. Cf. Hewitt, Ancient Armour, i. p. 303.
Matthew Paris died in 1259, but probably the illumination may not be earlier than the close of the thirteenth century.
The canopy resembles that over the head of Brian fitz Alan (d. 1302) in Bedale church, Yorkshire, and also that attributed to Euphemia (Clavering), the first wife of Ralph Neville of Raby (d. 1331) in Staindrop church, county Durham. Cf. Arch. and Arch. Soc. of Northumberland and Durham, iv. p. 91, and Surtees, Durham, iv. p. 129.
In a Roll of Arms (c. 1295) there is a coat or, on a cross sable five eagles displayed argent attributed to Nicholas Ablin, Archaeologia, vol. 39, p. 431, No. 395. In the Treasury at Durham there is a deed dated 2nd August, 1380, to which is appended the seal of John de Derlyngton, prebendary of Esh in the collegiate church of Lanchester, bearing arms similar to those on the effigy. It is engraved in Surtees, Durham, i. pl. ix. No. 29.
Pat. Rolls, 7 Edw. VI. pt. 3.
Depositions and Ecclesiastical Proceedings at Durham, Raine, p. 50 ; Surtees Society, No. 21.
Ecclesiastical Proceedings of Bishop Barnes, p. xxxiii.
Ecclesiastical Proceedings of Bishop Barnes, Raine, p. lxxxviii.; Surtees Society, No. 22. The chantry possessed seventeen tenements. The endowment of the rood light comprised eight tenements. Tate, Alnwick, ii. p. 76.
It is shown in a view of the church in the Trans. Durham and North. Arch. Soc. i. p. 82.
At the head of these two buttresses are respectively a crescent and a locket, and the porch may be studied with that in the Lion tower of the castle, the work, judging by the badges, etc., of the fourth earl of Northumberland.
The pulpit, furnished with a sand glass, stood against the north-west side of the first pier until 1860.
The added spire is a feature which only one other church in the county possesses, that of Newbiggin, which, however, is of inferior design.
The similar space above a vaulted roof was generally accessible. See the sketch of Thockrington church, vol. iv. p. 393.
See plan
See plan
The details of the vaulting ribs and the manner in which they are carried bear a marked resemblance to some parts of the priory church of Lindisfarne.
Early Norman parish churches were almost always aisleless, comprising a simple parallelogram of nave and chancel, as is to be still seen at Longframlington, which will be described later in this volume, and at Thockrington, described in vol. iv. p. 393. The chancel at Warkworth may he compared with the larger Norman chancel at Norham.
During the alterations made to the church in 1860 there was discovered 2 feet below the present floor level the east end of a pre-Norman church measuring internally 7 to 8 feet in width (cf. figure . . . on plan) with walls about 4 feet thick. These curious remains lie buried low near the chancel arch, and consist of the angles of a building with a south wall running some distance westward. A huge stone rested upon the south-eastern corner of this wall, which on being raised disclosed in the block beneath it a longitudinal cavity. Rev. J. W. Dunn, Warkworth, History of Ber. Nat. Club, v. p. 54 (1863).
Fantosme describes the sack of Warkworth by the Scots on the 13th July, 1173 :

` Mès les Escoz unt ars e lu pals guasté.
Le mustier SAINT-LAURENZ fud le jor violé,
Treis prestres el mustier par force escuillié,
E treis cenz humes morz, senz mot de fauseté.'

Jordan Fantosme, p. 78, Surtees Soc. No. II.

Placita de Quo Warranto, p. 391 a.
Calendar of Papal Registers. Papal Letters, i. p. 91. Rolls series.
Rotuli Litt. Clausarum, i. p. 405 a.
The rectory of Warkworth having been transferred to the Ecclesiastical commissioners, the advowson was conveyed by the bishop of Carlisle to the bishop of Newcastle by a deed dated 29th July, 1886, deposited in the diocesan registry.
Placita de Quo Warranto, 21 Edw. I.
` Henricus rex Angl., Ranulpho Dunolmensi episcopo et Rogero Picoto, et omnibus fidelibus suis, Francis et Anglis et ministris de Northumbria salutem. Sciatis me dedisse Ricardo de Aurea Valle, capellano meo, quatuor ecclesias de quatuor maneriis meis, scilicet Wercheorda, et Colebruge et in Wyttingham, et in Routhebiria, tarn in terris, et in decimis, et in hominibus qui ad terras harum ecclesiarum pertinent, cum soka et saka, et toll et theam, et infangandetheef, cum omnibus suis consuetudinibus. Volo ut ipsa habeat et teneat. Tu vero, Rogere Pigot, seisi eum inde, aut Aluricus de Colebruggs, aut Hamo balistarius, praepositus, aut Amewynus praepositus. Testibus, Roberto episcopo Lincoln., et Willelmo de Werlewast, et Evrardo filio comitis, et Thoma capellano. Apud Cyrecest., in Nativitate Sancti Johannis Baptistae.' The Percy Chartulary. Cf. Raine, Hexham Priory, vol. i. app. ix.
` Intravit autem (Ceolwulfus) Lindisfarnense monasterium, sancto Cuthberto secum conferens thesauros regios et terras, id est, Bregsne et Werceworde, cum suis appendiciis, simul et ecclesiam quam ibidem ipse aedificaverat; alias quoque quatuor villas, Wudecestre, Hwittingaham, Eadulfingham, Ecgwulfingham.' Symeon, Hist. Dunelm. Ecclesiæ, lib. ii. cap. I, Rolls series, vol. i. p. 47. ` Post hoc successit in regnum Ceolwulf filius Cuthwining, qui etiam se Sancto Cuthberto subdidit, et dimisso regno cum uxore pro amore Dei se cum magno thesauro ad monasterium Lindisfarnense contulit, barbam deposuit, coronam accepit, et S. Cuthberto villam nomine Werceworthe cum suis appenditiis dedit. Et hi sunt termini istius villae. Ab aqua quae vocatur Lina usque ad Cocwuda, et inde usque ad civitatem quae vocatur Brincewele, et a Cocwuda usque Hafodscelfe versus orientem, et ab Alna usque in dimidiam viam inter Cocwud et Alna.' Symeon of Durham, Hodgson-Hinde, p. 141, Surtees Society, No. 51.

WARKWORTH CHURCH

 

       When Ceolwulf resigned the throne of Northumbria in 738 and entered St. Cuthbert's monastery at Lindisfarne, at the same time endowing it with large gifts in money and land, in addition to the territory of Warkworth and its appendages, he gave the church which he had himself built there. L  Osbert, who succeeded in 849, took Warkworth away from St. Cuthbert, no doubt including in the abstraction the church and its possessions. Whether it ever again came into the hands of the congregation of St. Cuthbert or into those of any other religious body or person is not known. It was, anyhow, vested in the Crown when Henry I. became king of England. He gave it, by a brief' L addressed to Ranulf (Flambard) bishop of Durham and Roger Picot, with other valuable churches, Corbridge, Whittingham, and Rothbury, to his chaplain Richard de Aurea Valle. This gift must have been made before 1123, in the early part of which year Robert Bloet, bishop of Lincoln, one of the witnesses, died. It was a grant for life only, and Henry I., when he founded the Augustinian priory at Carlisle in 1132, endowed the canons with the church of Warkworth and the other three churches, to come to them on the death of Richard de Aurea Valle. N Though given in this way to the priory the advowson became ultimately vested in the bishop of Carlisle, in whose hands it remained until it was transferred in 1886 N to the bishop of Newcastle. Some transactions in the time of Pope Honorius III. appear to explain how the priory lost their rights in Warkworth. In the year 1219 a letter was written to the pope by Henry III., telling him that Warkworth, with the other five churches in the diocese of Durham given by Henry I., had been alienated, during the vacancy of the see, through the neglect of the canons, and asking the pope to restore and confirm them to the see. N A little later, in May, 1223, Pope Honorius confirmed to Bishop Hugh de Beaulieu (1218-28) all the possessions of the see, present and to come, at the same time referring to a division of them between the bishop and priory, made by the abbot of Holme Cultram and the prior of Hexham, under the authority of the legate, Pandulf, and other arbitrators. N
     In the reign of King John the advowson was in the king's possession, and he presented his clerk, Thomas, to the rectory of Warkworth, who was admitted and instituted. N
     The church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, N which occupies the site of the earlier one of Ceolwulf, is pleasantly situated on the right, or south, bank of the Coquet, a short distance from the river where it trends towards the east. With its long line of grey walls and sturdy though lofty spire rising from a tower of good proportion but marked by some characteristic northern severity, backed on the north by the steep slope of a wooded bank, the church forms a marked feature in the scene and well fills in the picture of a small Northumbrian town.
     Whatever may have been the nature of the church which Ceolwulf built at Warkworth before he gave it to St. Cuthbert, or whether it was more than a wooden structure, there certainly existed on the spot a stone church of pre-Conquest date, which probably remained until it was replaced by the present fabric, in the main erected about the beginning of the twelfth century. That this earlier building was a small one appears to be shown by the remains of the foundations of its eastern termination discovered, immediately west of the chancel arch, when the church was restored' in 1860. N In addition to these foundations the only other object remaining which may be supposed to belong to the pre-Conquest church is a small, rather roughly carved head-stone, with a cross and an interlacing pattern upon it, which once no doubt stood at the head of a grave in the adjoining cemetery.
 

Pre-Conquest Head-stone

Pre-Conquest Head-stone

 
      The present church, a very noble building, which in size and dignity rises far above what might be looked for at Warkworth, must owe its erection to a more than ordinary influence, and to the possession of means beyond what might be expected from such a community as existed there. The possession of more than mere local resources has therefore to be accounted for.
     The gift of the church at Warkworth by Henry I. to Richard de Aurea Valle has already been referred to. It appears to have an important bearing upon the building of the church. The grant may with much probability be assigned to a time between 1110 and 1120, a date quite consistent with that to which the erection of the church may be attributed, regard being had to its architectural style. The ecclesiastic, Richard de Aurival, to whom the grant was made not only of Warkworth but of the rich benefices of Corbridge, Whittingham, and Rothbury, who was also prebendary of Brownswood in the cathedral church of St. Paul's, as well as chaplain to the king, was a man of high position and wealth. Possessed of these endowments, he must have been well able to make a large expenditure upon any scheme which he took in hand, and the undertaking to build a church at one of his benefices does not seem to be at all an improbable one. The small and possibly poorly-built church then existing, may have appeared to be one quite inadequate to the dignity of his position and the largeness of his revenue, and he might reasonably be induced to replace it with a building which would equally do credit to his judgment and give honour to his position as a great ecclesiastic.
     The church, as constructed in the earlier years of the twelfth century, N consisted of a chancel with the unusual feature of a groined roof, and an aisle- less nave with a west end destitute of a tower. All the fine series of windows belonging to the chancel and nave of the church then built, the greater part of which still remain, have the semi-circular heads on the inside supported on shafts with capitals of simple cushion form in the chancel and scalloped in those of the nave. This difference in the capitals suggests that a short interval occurred between the building of the chancel and the nave, though probably there was no intermission of the work. The chancel arch, which is now pressed somewhat out of form, is richly decorated with roll and other mouldings, and is an important addition to the general effect of the building of which it forms a conspicuous feature.
     To the nave as originally constructed there was added, at the very beginning of the thirteenth century, if not a little earlier, a tower of three stages, which was further heightened in the succeeding century by another stage capped by a stone spire. Later on, about the middle of the fifteenth century, the erection of a finely proportioned and imposing south aisle, with a richly moulded arcade of five bays, and of a porch with groined roof and parvis above it, completed the church.
    
The Norman church, to judge from its architectural features, must have been commenced about 1120, the work having been begun at the east end and carried on continuously until the nave, which shows a slight advance in style, was finished at the west end a few years later. The chancel gives some indication of a Durham influence having been applied to the work, especially in the groining, which bears a strong resemblance to that of the south transept of the cathedral there. N
     The walls are built of coursed stone, both internally and externally. The chancel measures on the interior, above the string-course, 32 feet by 16 feet 5 inches, and has a double quadripartite vault with segmental diagonal ribs, the moulding being a bold roll between zig-zag ornament. Where the compartments adjoin, the diagonal ribs spring from a pair of short half-round responds with plain cushion capitals, and simple bases which stand on a bold chamfered and quirked string that passes round the chancel 7 feet above the floor level. Where the diagonal ribs spring from the corners of the chancel, they are carried on half-round responds, which correspond in detail with the others. Transversely the section of the vault is meant to be semi-circular, following the lines of the chancel arch. The contour of the transverse rib is very erratic and ill-shapen, and its section—a roll between two flat fillets which divide it from the hollow mouldings covering the edge of the rib—does not resemble the diagonal ribs. At the springing, the transverse rib appears to be intruded between the diagonals it is possible it may have been inserted later on. There are no wall ribs, and the cells of the vaults are covered with plaster. Each compartment above the level of the string-course contains a round-headed window with widely splayed internal jambs, having nook shafts on the interior angle, cushion capitals and simple bases. The jambs of the windows are not splayed alike, N the object apparently being to make the window opening appear in the centre of the responds on the inside, and in the centre of the pilasters on the outside. On the south side, below the string-course already mentioned, is a built-up priest's doorway with square lintel and tympanum under a semi-arch. N It is unusually near to the east end. Near to the door on the east is an aumbry. The south door now in use is modern. A door on the north side of the chancel admits to the vestry.

  Ground Plan of St Lawrence Church, Warkworth.

GROUND PLAN OF ST LAWRENCE CHURCH WARKWORTH. (click for larger image)

 
 
CHANCEL OF WARKWORTH CHURCH 1860 INTERIOR OF WARKWORTH CHURCH

CHANCEL OF WARKWORTH CHURCH 1860

INTERIOR OF WARKWORTH CHURCH
FROM THE SOUTH-EAST
 
     The chancel arch is semi-circular, of two orders formed of roll and hollow mouldings with a hood doubly enriched by a ball ornament and a curiously carved decoration resembling a fan in shape towards the nave, supported by responds composed of triple shafts having cushioned capitals and moulded bases on a square plinth. The corbel table on the exterior is formed of moulded corbels on the north side and beak-heads on the south side.
     The nave is 90 feet 7 inches in length and 25 feet 2 inches in width, certainly the longest of its date in Northumberland. It was proportionately high, the original height being indicated on the exterior by the lower row of corbels at the west end of the north elevation. The length of the nave on the exterior is divided into five compartments, each containing a round-headed window between flat pilasters. On the interior the window jambs are widely splayed and have a nook shaft on the angle, with moulded bases and mitred scalloped capitals with square chamfered and quirked abaci continued as a string. On the exterior there are two string-courses, one at the level of the window sill and the other a continuation of the hood moulding. The north door, now built up, is curiously arranged in the buttress ; it has a half-round arch of two orders set below a triangular arch. The outer order is supported by nook shafts with cushion capitals. The arrangement of the windows of the west end may easily be discerned ; the wall was pierced by three windows between pilasters similar to, and on the same level as, those on the north side. The south nave wall, which was taken down when the arcade was inserted, no doubt corresponded with that on the north side, excepting that a south door of greater prominence than that on the north side would probably form the access from the town.
    A feature not often met with in early churches is the circular staircase contrived in the north-east angle of the nave (the original entrance to it was from the interior by a door now blocked up near the pulpit); it gives access to the space above the chancel vaulting. N
     The tower was built about 1200. It is lighted by small slits, and is connected with the church by a door opening 6 feet 4 inches wide, cut through the west wall of the Norman nave. The south-west angle of the tower is capped by a projecting buttress which encloses a newel-staircase. On the exterior the tower is divided into four stages by weathered offsets. Whether the tower terminated when first built (three stages in height) in a parapet, or, like Ryton church in the county of Durham, had a wood and lead spire, it is impossible to say. The parapet which now crowns the tower, and the spire, belong to a later date.
      Following on the erection of the tower the massive buttresses were added to cover some weakness on the north side of the nave, and the vestry on the north side of the chancel. The latter is an oblong block, entered only from the chancel and lighted by lancet windows arranged on two levels, indicating that it was of two stories, and that the vestry had a room over it. In addition to the windows near to the ground level at the west end is a stone pierced by three slits ; its precise use is not evident. An opening of unusual shape exists in the same position in the church at Morpeth.
     The next addition was made about the middle of the fourteenth century. It comprised the belfry stage of the tower and the broached spire, which so satisfactorily crowns it and greatly improves the general appearance of the fabric. N It is octagonal in shape, without mouldings at the angles, but is relieved by three tiers of four trefoiled and gabled dormers or louvres on alternate faces. The parapet to the tower is perfectly plain ; the two-light Pointed belfry windows below may once have contained an inner order.
     About the same time as the erection of the spire the cusped recess was formed on the north side of the chancel arch ; it was the customary position for a chantry altar where aisles and transepts did not exist. The light near to this altar was improved by the insertion of a window with a widely splayed jamb shown on the plan.
     The next addition, one of much importance, was the erection of the south aisle and a clerestory over the south wall of the nave, built towards the end of the fifteenth century, the result being a very considerable alteration in the appearance of the church. The work, to judge by the style, appears to be a little later than that of the beautiful keep of the castle, and may owe its existence to the munificence of the third earl of Northumberland. There are two piscinæ in the south wall, and there is a filled-in opening near the west jamb of the easternmost window in this wall, indicating the position of the screen which enclosed the altar at the east end of the aisle, separating the chantry from the rest of the aisle. The position of the second altar was on the west side of the screen and near to the second piscina. The aisle, which is the same length as the nave, is 16 feet in width and including the depth of the arcade piers it is 20 feet. The arcade is composed of five pointed arches of two orders, with a hood moulding on both sides, supported by piers of four clustered shafts N divided by four rolls, the responds at the east and west ends being half piers of the same section. The capitals and bases follow the plan of the piers. The west bay is 3 feet narrower than the others. The aisle is lighted by four windows on the south and one at the east and another at the west end. Some of the windows, which are within deeply recessed original jambs and four centred heads, were inserted at the time of the ` restoration ' of 1860. The exterior is relieved by buttresses placed between the windows, those at the corners of the aisle being set anglewise. The base course and the parapet have mouldings of simple section. The roof, a flat one, is contemporary with the masonry. Opposite the second bay from the west end is the entrance doorway with its pointed arch and moulded jambs and hood.
    The porch which covers the entrance has a parvis over it. The outer opening, which never had a door, is chamfered only on the inside, but moulded and with a hood to the exterior, and is flanked by buttresses set anglewise. N Within there is a stone seat and a small square-headed window on each side. The porch is vaulted, and has moulded diagonal ribs springing from carved corbels, and longitudinal and transverse ridge mouldings which mitre into the wall ribs. The approach to the parvis is by a newel-stair in the re-entering angle formed by the east wall of the porch with the aisle, and is accessible from the exterior only. The parvis is lighted at the south end by a two-light traceried window, and on the east side by a square single-light window. The parapet to the porch is similar to that crowning the aisle walls, and still carries the original finial.
    The contemporary clerestory to the nave unfortunately no longer exists. N The nave had a flat roof similar to that which now covers the aisle, and the south wall was pierced by five square-headed windows.

     It is impossible to speak without regret of what was done when the church was `restored' in 1860. The fifteenth-century window at the east end of the chancel was replaced by three pseudo-Norman windows, and the roof  was raised to one of a high pitch, the repose of the gable being destroyed by a useless and obtrusive round light. The original fifteenth-century clerestory of the nave was taken down, and in place of the good, simple, massive oak roof, similar to, and contemporary with, that happily left on the aisle, was substituted a high pitched, mean, and paltry one of pine, the eastern gable like that of the chancel being defaced by a similar round light. It is needless to say how much the church has suffered by these ignorant and destructive alterations.
     In the survey of chantries made in the second year of Edward VI., it is recorded that within the parish church of Warkworth and in the 'chapell of Our Lady' there was a chantry of which the yearly value was 72s. 9d. The
. name of the incumbent or chantry priest is omitted, but he is said to be `meanly lerned, of honest conversation and qualytes, having no other lyving  then the same chauntry.' There were certain lands and tenements worth 12s. 4d. per annum, for the 'sustentacion of one lyght, called the roode lyght'; and there were nine hundred houseling people within the parish. N `Dominus Johannes Shales capellanus parochiae' appeared at the visitation made in 1501 by Archbishop Savage during a vacancy in the see of Durham. N In 1534 the office was promoted by the vicar of Warkworth against John Bulman, chaplain, `pro eo quod sacra ac sacrarnentalia infra parochiarn de Werkeworth injuste ministrat, et sine auctoritate aliquali saltem legitima.' N
     On the 9th of April, 1553, Robert Collingwood of Eslington purchased from the Crown a cottage and nine acres of arable land in Buston, then or late in the occupation of ` George Wavye,' sometime belonging to the chantry founded in the chapel of St. Mary of Warkworth, to be held as of the manor of East Greenwich a free socage. N
    In the churchyard are three stone coffins unearthed in 1860.
    At the west end of the south aisle, supported upon a Jacobean base, which bears the inscription, ` The Effigies of Sr Hvgh  of Morwicke who Gave the Common to this  Towne of Warkworth,' is the effigy of a knight which, judging by the details of the armour, may be assigned to a time between the years 1310-1330. The arms sculptured in relief on the shield, on a cross five eagles displayed, in the dexter chief an annulet, N are not those of Morwick (the last male heir of which family died about 1260). It is not improbable that the person commemorated may have been an official of John fitz Robert, the last lord of Warkworth of the Clavering line.
 
     The figure, that of a knight clad in a mixed armour of mail and plates, is placed on a slab, 7 feet long by 2 feet 6 inches wide. Over the head is an ogee crocketed canopy trefoliated within, springing from carved bosses and flanked by diminutive gabled and crocketed buttresses. The top or end of the canopy—semi-circular in shape—is filled with foliage. N The head is enclosed in a hood of mail, which slightly overlaps the surcoat on the right shoulder, and has a movable plate visor attached, which must have been pivoted to a plate cap worn inside the chain mail. This feature appears to be unique as regards examples in stone or brass, though in a MS. of Matthew Paris, N  Lives of the two Offas, there is a group which represents the Mercian king Offa combating in behalf of the king of Northumbria and defeating the Scottish army, in which, on one of the figures the head defence, composed of a mask of steel placed over the coif of banded mail, is very remarkable. N
     The chain hauberk with long sleeves is seen at the armpits, beneath the elbows, at the wrists, and above the kneecaps. A scale skirt N overlies the mail hauberk (the scales being pointed at the ends and ridged on the top), and terminates above the knees in a band or border connecting the points ; the middle scales are smaller. The arms are sheathed in plates, and have elbow caps with embossed rosettes ; similar rosettes are at the shoulder. The plate on the forearm is ridged on the underside, and at the wrists and edges of the plate there is an incised line. A heart is borne in the bare hands, which point upward in the attitude of prayer. The legs are crossed, the left uppermost, and equally with the knees are encased in plate ridged down the centre, the kneecaps being embossed with a fleur-de-lys pattern, and girt below with a cable or thong-like band. The chausses appear to be drawn together behind the legs, and the feet, in articulated sollerets, rest on a mutilated lion. The spurs, of the star rowel kind, N are secured with straps buckled over the instep. A pointed piece covers the junction of the chausses and solleret, and the end of the strap is pendent on the outside of the foot. The moulded and embossed pattern of the leg armour, taken in conjunction with the scaled skirt, seems to indicate that the material of which these defences were made was cuir bouille. N The cyclas surcoat which covers the body armour is supported from each shoulder by narrow bands, and is sleeveless; it is short and tight-fitting in front, and at the back hangs in simple folds below the level of the knees. N The surcoat, pendent on the right side, is girt at the waist by a strap or belt buckled, and below is encircled by the sword belt which has strong buckles ; the end of the strap which passes under and over the belt hangs by the side of the sword on the left of the figure, and is terminated by an ornamental tag. N The sword, which has a shaped cross-piece and extends from the hip to the knees, is damaged at the pommel and foot. Supported by the guige passing over the right shoulder is a bowed triangular shield reaching from shoulder to hip, on which the armorial bearings are sculptured in relief. N
 

 

Fourteenth- Century Effigy of a Knight in Warkworth Church.

 
     On the interior jamb of the old priest's door to the chancel is a small incised inscription in a mediæval cursive hand, the letters of which seem to form 'Hewyh' or some such word. N On the floor of the aisle, immediately within the doorway, is a grave cover, bearing the following inscription : Hic jacet Willei. Baker. N cujus animae propicietur deus. Amen.  In the east window of the south aisle are the only existing fragments of old stained glass now left in the church. In one of the lights at the top of the window is a crescent ` with the horns brought up to unite, and the space enclosed given in pale as usual, but the colours are yellow and black. The yellow is, however, pale and cross hatched with black, and perhaps the idea of red is intended to be conveyed, yellow being the only colour which the old stainers mingled with white in one piece of glass, and the size of the crescent being too small to admit of a separate insertion of red.' N  Another light contains a female figure and below it in Gothic letters the name bilba, N and in yet another light is the word meldreda.
     The communion plate comprises a cup made, circa 1665, by John Wilkinson of Newcastle ; a cover and a paten made, circa 1685, by William Ramsay of Newcastle, all of silver. The flagon is plated and bears the inscription : ` Ex dono Revd. Wilfrid. Lawson, 1772.' N There is a silver-headed staff N formerly carried by the parish clerk in preceding the old funeral processions, and a similar staff, with a white wood head, which was borne by the sexton in the rear.
    Neither of the bells is ancient and both are uninscribed. N The font is solid but very plain. In the basement of the tower is preserved the very artistic wrought iron rails displaced from before the holy table in 1860. At the west end of the nave hangs the scutcheon bearing the royal arms, probably of the time of James II., which was formerly placed over the chancel arch.
     A clock was inserted in the tower by the same benefactor who gave the school-house and market cross to the town ; the dial bore the following inscription : ` W. R. 1700. Ex dono Geo. Lawson, Gloster-hill, generosi.' N A new clock, purchased by the subscription of the parishioners, and striking the hours and quarters, was provided in 1875.
    The floor of the chancel up to the year 1877 was paved with grave covers, some of them enriched with coats armorial ; unfortunately no transcript was made when they were covered up by the present commonplace tiles. The monumental inscriptions are numerous and interesting, the following of an earlier date than the year 1800 are selected from tablets on the walls of the church and from tombstones in the churchyard :
 

MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS.

 
Sacred to the memory of Isabella, wife of Thomas Appleby of Eastfield, who died December 7th, 1787, aged 57 years. The above Thomas Appleby, who died September 23rd, 1790, aged 67 years.
Sacred to the memory of Edward Brown of Broomhill in this parish, who died 1748, aged 40 years. Also of Jane his wife, who died April 27th, 1800, aged 86 years. And of Mary their infant daughter. And of Edward Brown of Broomhill, their only son, who died September 23rd, 1784, aged 41 years.
Sacred to the memory of Edward, son of Edward Brown of East Chevington, who died May 20th, 1696. Edward Brown of East Chevington, who died January 20th, 1785, aged 66 years. Jane, his daughter, died December, 1786, aged 29 years. Eleanor his wife, died March 6th, 1804, aged 86 years.
Here lyeth the body of Robert Bullock, who departed this life the 17th day of December, anno domino 1698, freehold . . . of Amble. Phillice his wife, who departed January 12th, 1717.
Sacred to the memory of John Clark of Hauxley, who died September 27th, 1757, aged 33 years. Of Ann his daughter, who died September 2nd, 1767, aged 16 years. Of William his son, who died September 29th . . . aged . . . years. Of Phillis, wife of the above John Clark, who died September 19th, 1780, aged 61 years. Of Margaret her daughter, wife of William Richardson of North Seaton, who died March . . , 1784, aged 26 years.
Nigh this place lies interred the body of Mr. John Clutterbuck, he formerly lived in Newcastle, late of Warkworth, who died 20th February, 1720, in the 43rd year of his age. He had three wives, and left three children : Hannah to the first, Anne to the second, and Richard to the third wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Clutterbuck, who survived him.
In memory of Robert Dand of Gloster-hill, who died August 27th, 1801, aged 83 years. Also of Mary Dand his wife, who died August 27th, 1797, aged 79 years.
Here lyeth the body of Edward Dodsworth of East Chevington, huntsman to King James, who departed to the mercy of God the 30th of May, anno domini 1630. (Arms : a chevron between 3 bugle horns.)
Sacred to the memory of Lieut. John Forster, R.N., who died August 4th, 1783, aged 48 years.
John Grey of Morwick, died the 15th day of November, 1783, aged 91 years. This monument is erected to the memory of Catherine Maria Grey, wife of Charles Grey, esq., of Morwick ; she departed this life on the 21st June, 1786, aged 34 years.
Nigh this place lies interred the body of Mrs. Ann Hunter, wife of Mr. William Hunter, N who died December ye 14th, 1720. (Arms : vert 3 hounds proper, 2 and 1; on a chief 3 bugle horns. Crest : A tree of the first. Motto : ` Jucunditate afficior.')
Sacred to the memory of William Hall of Bondicar, who died May 2nd, 1795, aged 62 years. Dorothy his wife, died December 10th, 1793, aged 49 years. Elizabeth their daughter, died June 27th, 1790, aged 17 years. Dorothy their daughter, died July 22nd, 1799, aged 22 years.
This tablet, erected by desire of Sarah Widdrington, wife of the Rev. Joseph Cook of Newton hall in this county, is sacred to the memory of her ancestors the Widdringtons of Hauxley, descendants of the Widdringtons of Widdrington, who rest below. A.D. 1840. (Crest : A bull's head on a cap of maintenance.)
 
 
     The ordination of the vicarage is no longer extant, but it was certainly of an early date and was probably made soon after the acquisition of the rectory by the abbot and convent of Carlisle. That the original endowment was ample appears from the valuation of the vicarage in the ecclesiastical taxation of Pope Nicholas IV. in 1292. In this record the rectory and vicarage are thus separately estimated : ` Decanatus de Alnewyk. Werkesworth rector. cxx marc [ £80] ; vicar. ejusdem, xxx marc [£20].'
Speaking generally, the vicar is possessed of all the petty tithes throughout the parish, though for the tithe of hay many townships have pleaded a modus. The rectorial tithes as well as the vicarial were commuted about 1838 for tithe rent charges.
 
 
 

INCUMBENTS OF WARKWORTH.

 
 

RECTORS.

1110 (circa) Richard de Aurea Valle, also prebendary of Brownswood in St. Paul's cathedral, and rector of Rothbury, Corbridge, and Whittingham.
 

VICARS.

1200 (circa) Thomas, clericus, described by King John as `clericus meus.' N
1223 (circa) William de Sallau, who released to the abbot and convent of Newminster the tithe of the salt-works they possessed at Warkworth. N
1247 Robert Maleter. N
1311 Dominus Rogerus de Stanhope, capellanus parochialis, and John de Shivington, capellanus, appeared at a visitation held at Alnwick by the archbishop of York, on 18th kal. May of that year. N
. . . Dominus Gilbertus de Burgham, vicar of Warkworth, died in 1333 N
1332 John de Penrith, the king's chaplain; presented to the vicarage of Arthuret, 11th July, 1332; N presented to the vicarage of Warkworth, 12th July, 1333; N was presented to the rectory of Whickham, 8th August, 1346. N Will dated Monday after the Purification, 1353/4, proved in the February following. N
1345 Stephen de Dunelm, N of Newcastle, deacon, instituted 27th May, 1345, after the death of Sir John, the last vicar; N ordered priest 8th kal. October, 1345, N is a witness to some of the Brinkburn charters. N
1352 John de Pulhore, after the death of Stephen de Dunelm. N
1362 Sir Peter de Morland, presented 9th August, 1362, N previously rector of Dittensalle [? Dinsdale ] and vicar of Torpenhow. N
1366 Sir Thomas Colerdoue, presented 1st February, 1365/6, N previously vicar of Stanwix. N
1367 Henry de Atten was inducted and instituted by the bishop 12th March, 1367. N
1394 (circa)  John de Blyth N occurs 2nd February, 1394
. . . Adam Tossen. N
1428 William Raven or Rawyn, presented after the death of Tossen. N He was an attesting witness to the return of a commission issued by Bishop Langley, dated at Stockton, 12th August, 1436, on the death of Thomas Dover, rector of Ingram. N
. . . Henry Ellergyll, N also rector of Ingram, died circa 1495, in which year his successor was instituted to the rectory.
1495 3rd December. John Bladesmyth, presented after the death of Ellergyll. N A monition to reside on his cure of Warkworth `of the neglect of which a crying fame had come to the ears of the bishop,' was issued 7th October, 1499. N
1501 15th December. John Curwin, M.A., instituted on the resignation of Bladesmyth. N
1533 John Williams, B.D., was instituted on the last day of February, 1532/3  N
1538 13th July. Cuthbert Hopyn, N presented on the death of Williams. N
1572 Edmund Robinson, M.A., instituted 23rd March, 1571/2, on the death of Hopyn. N
1575 12th August. Thomas Handley, after the death of Robinson. N Edward Rasshall, curate at Warkworth, had no licence 29th January, 1577/8. N The vicarage of Warkworth (1577-1589) was worth £18 5s. 8d. N Handley, in 1578, was one of Bishop Barnes' special preachers, and engaged himself to preach in the diocese nine sermons over and besides his 'ordinarie quarterlee and monethelye sermons' in his own church. N His will is dated 15th July, 1588, and was proved at Durham the same year.
1579 Humphrey Sykelmore N who was presented to Felton in 1589, and till his death continued to hold both benefices. John Lyghton occurs as curate 26th June, 1581.
1598 John Ladyman, presented on the death of Sykelmore ; N vicar of Shilbottle, 1571-79 ; of Lesbury, 1579-86. N
1610 18th August. John Warwick, son of John Warwick of Cumberland, of Queen's college, Oxford, matriculated 10th October, 1595, aged 19 ; B.A. 24th April, 1599 ; M.A. 30th June, 1602. N
1628 22nd August. John Heslyhead. N As he was officiating in his church on the Lord's day, a party of soldiers came in a very rude manner and disturbed the congregation, and one of them made up to him holding a cock'd pistol to his breast, threatening to shoot him if he did not desist. Having thus turned him out of the church, the next attempt was to turn his poor wife and children and his whole family out of the vicarage house . . . After his ejectment he hired a house in the town, but was not permitted to stay in it nor in any place of that parish, and therefore to support his family . . . he was obliged to take a farm in the neighbourhood, where, in less than half a year, what by the change of pasture, and what by thieves and plunderers, he lost upon the matter all his cattle and was reduced to extreme poverty. N There is a curious account of an action brought by Hesleyhead in 1634, against some fishermen, connected with the collection or exaction of certain tithes of fish, printed in the Acts of the High Commission at Durham. N
1648 (circa)  Archibald Moor enjoyed the profits of the living for twelve years, N  `who made a very great reformation in the parish by his prudence, diligence, and obliging behaviour : he went afterwards into Ireland, where he dy'd at Tredagh in 1670.' N
1660  John Hesleyhead restored. He died in 1667, and was buried in Warkworth church under the clerk's pew. N  
 1667, 10th April, will of John Hesleyhead, vicar of Warkworth : `To be buried in the parish church, with my funerals (sic) to be observed at the day of my buriall.' All my estate to my wife, Lucy Hesleyhead, she executrix, paying thereout £150 to my two grandchildren, John Forster and Mary Forster, and I order my said two grandchildren upon the receipt of the aforesaid £150 to give a general release unto Mr. Nicholas Forster of Newcastle. My well-beloved friends, Robert Widdrington of Hauxley, esq., and Francis Forster of Buston, gent., to be supervisors. Witnesses : Nicholas Lewin, William Lewin, Albany Fleminge. N
1667 11th May. Matthew Bonner. N Held Warkworth with Hartburn by dispensation. N Bond of marriage, 8th July, 1668, Matthew Bonner of Warkworth, clerk, and Barbara Bonner.
1680 30th July. John Child, after the death of Bonner. N He was inducted to the vicarage of Warkworth, but resigned it in the following year for the vicarage of Bromfield in Cumberland, where he died. N He, or another of the same name, was fellow of Magdalen college, Cambridge; B.A. 1667 ; M.A. 1671 ; B.D. 1678 ; vicar of Penrith, Cumberland, 1670-1694.
1681 13th June. Ralph Bell, on the resignation of Child. N Son of G. Bell of Darlington, minister. Of Corpus Christi college, Oxford ; matriculated 11th December, 1668, aged 17. N He was inducted 24th June, 1681, and died 11th December, 1685, and was buried in Warkworth church `in the grave of Mr. Hesleyhead. N
1686 Robert Simpson of Queen's college, Oxford, matriculated 9th December, 1653 ; B.A. 1657 ; vicar of Lazonby, Cumberland. 1661 ; rector of Long Marton in `Westmorland, 1661 ; vicar of Bywell St. Andrew, 1668. He died of a `lethargy' and was buried 29th July, 1694, in Warkworth chancel. N
1694  Nicholas Thomlinson, probably he of that name who was born at Thriplands in Westmorland, educated at Glasgow university, where he took the degree of M.A.; admitted pensioner to St. John's college, Cambridge, 24th June, 1684. N Previously vicar of Hutton in Cumberland ; buried in Warkworth chancel 28th August, 1696. N
1696 Robert Davison. N Curate of Bamburgh, 1690-1702. 24th February, 1692, N he had licence to marry Elizabeth Heron, spinster; and he married, secondly, at Bolton chapel in July, 1700, Mrs. Isabella Proctor of Shawdon. N He died 1702.  1701, 27th December, will of Robert Davison of Warkworth, clerk. `To be decently buried in the church of Warkworth. To my wife Isabella £300, to be paid out of my lands in Chipchase. To my brothers-in-law, Mr. Edward Brown of East Chevington, Mr. Thomas Forster of Newcastle, and Mr. Thomas Brown of Chillingham, each £40. N I leave all my personal estate, stock, and crop at Fowberry and elsewhere to my loving father Mr. Robert Davison ; Mr. John Davison of Warkworth Barns and Mr. Thomas Davison of Warkworth, they executors. N
1702 Thomas Smith. N [The register of burials from July, 1701, to September, 1704, is wanting.]
1702 William Ion, instituted 19th March, 1702/3, N after the death of Smith. N Son of Thomas Ion of Eamont Bridge in Westmorland ; of Queen's college, Oxford ; matriculated 7th March, 1692/3, aged 16 ; B.A. 1696. N `1704, 5th October. Gulielmus Ion, vicarius de Warkworth, et Elizabetha Bayles married. N   `1717, 30th March. Gulielmus Ion, vicarius de Warkworth, buried.' N
1717  8th April. Wilfrid Lawson, N perhaps he of that name of University college, who matriculated at Oxford 24th November, aged 15, who was `only son of Henry Lawson of London, fifth son of Sir Wilfrid Lawson, first baronet.' N He was ordered by Richard, bishop of Meath, N and before his preferment to Warkworth, ministered at Galtrim, co. Meath. He was inducted 4th May, 1717, died 1st April, 1732, and was buried in the churchyard on the ` right hand of the chancel door as you go into the church,' with the following monumental inscription : ` Juxta hunc locum / Jacent reliquiae / Wilfridi Lawson / Hujus ecclesiae vicarii obiit  /Apr. 1, 1732 / In vita, labor et periculum, in moriendo / Pax, et resurgendi securitas / ' N
1732 13th June. Wilfrid Lawson, N after the death of his father. N He was ordered by John, bishop of Carlisle, N and he succeeded his father in, and was inducted to, the vicarage of Warkworth, 22nd June, 1732, and retained it to his death, though he had retired about the year 1771 to Carvill, near Newcastle, which with an annuity of £200 had been devised to him by his friend George Lisle of that place. He died there on the 27th November, 1777, aged 71. N 1776, 2nd January. Will of Wilfrid Lawson, vicar of Warkworth. To the Rev. George Bowe of Warkworth my best gown and cassock, and my father's sermons and my own, which if he does not make use of himself I request it of him that he would not hack them about or lend them to others. To Mr. William Johnson of Woodhorn £20, which was a legacy to me by the will of Nicholas Brown of Bolton, esq., in the year 1762, but has never been paid by his executors. To Miss Grace Johnson, eldest daughter of my said friend, William Johnson, £220, and my household goods, plate, and china in my house at Carvill or at Warkworth. Residue of estate to my godson, Wilfrid Johnson, fourth son of the said Mr. William Johnson. I desire to be buried as near as may be to my dearly beloved father on the south side of his grave in the churchyard, and I desire a flat stone may be put over my grave close to that which is over my father, and upon the erect monumental stone I would have these words added : ` Et Revdi`. Wilfridi Lawson in hac ecclesia patri successoris obt. . . . .' here let the day of the month and the year of our Lord be set down in figures. My funeral expenses, which I desire may be as moderate as decency will admit of, six bearers to have full mourning, and the gentlemen of the twenty-four gloves. Seal, a chevron between 3 martlets; crest, 2 arms holding a ring. Proved 1777. Durham Probate Registry.
1778 John Law, D.D., instituted 21st January, N inducted 28th of same month N (after the death of Lawson. N Presented to the vicarage of Whittingham, 1777. He held both livings by dispensation. N Eldest son of Edmund Law, bishop of Carlisle. Born at Greystoke in Cumberland in 1745, educated at the Charterhouse and at Christ's college, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1762 ; fellow of his college, 25th December, 1776. After being prebendary and archdeacon of Carlisle, he was, in 1782, made successively bishop of Clonfert, of Killala, and of Elphin. The writer of his biographical notice in the Gentleman's Magazine of 1810 says that when he took possession of the see of Killala, learning that almost the whole of the population was Roman Catholic, he professed ` that as it was a hopeless task to make them Protestants, it would answer every desirable purpose to make them good Catholics,'  and with these views he printed `and distributed gratis through the diocese a new edition of the works of the Rev. J. Gother, which breathe the piety, and, in plain and intelligible language, inculcate the morality of the Bible. The bishop of Elphin has been recorded as a man of great variety of knowledge, uncommon genius, and sincere religion . . . . It is supposed that he had considerable share in the composition of the Moral and Political Philosophy of his friend Dr. Paley, and we believe the chapter "On Reverencing the Deity " has been generally ascribed to him.' He died on the 19th of March, 1810, at St. Stephen's Green, Dublin.
1782 Joseph Hudson, D.D., instituted 15th June, N inducted 13th September. N Son of John Hudson of the parish of Coldbeck, Cumberland; matriculated at Glasgow, 1740; M.A. 1742.N  In 1783 he had a dispensation to hold Warkworth along with Newburn. N He had a grant of arms from Heralds' college, 11th May, 1789 ; became a prebendary at Carlisle, and died there on the 18th of July, 1811, and was buried in the chancel of Castle Sowerby. N
1811 William Goodenough, instituted 25th September, N and inducted 28th September. N Son of Edmund Goodenough, sometime vicar of Broughton, Oxfordshire. Of Christ church, Oxford; matriculated 9th June, 1790, aged 17 ; B.A. 1794 ; M.A. 1797. Archdeacon of Carlisle, 1826 ; rector of Mareham-le-Fen, 1818; and vicar of Great Salkeld, Cumberland, 1827, until his death, 13th December, 1854. N
1818 Edmund Goodenough, inducted 1st August. N Son of Samuel Goodenough, bishop of Carlisle. Of Christ church, Oxford ; matriculated 15th May, 1801, aged 16; B.A. 1805; M.A. 1807 ; D.D. 1820. Vicar of Warkworth, 1818; head master of Westminster, 1819-1828 ; and dean of Wells, 1831, to his death, 2nd May, 1845. N
1820 Thomas Cave Winscom, B.D., instituted 16th May and inducted on the 20th of same month. N Born at Brecon, 16th October, 1787. Of Trinity college, Cambridge, at which he came under the influence and teaching of the Rev. Charles Simeon. After his ordination he became curate of Romsey in Hampshire. On his appointment to Warkworth he rebuilt the vicarage house, established a Sunday school, and influenced his parishioners to build a National school-house. He wrote and printed a small collection of hymns for the use of the parish church. He died on the 6th of March, 1840. M.I.
1840 Henry Percy, son of Hugh, bishop of Carlisle, entered at St. John's college, Cambridge, 19th October, 1832 ; B.A. 1837 ; M.A. 1842 ; canon of Carlisle, 1847 ; rector of Greystoke, 1853.
1853 John Woodham Dunn, M.A., of Queen's college, Cambridge ; B.A. 1836 ; M.A. 1866. Sometime curate of Long Houghton and of Lesbury, and successively vicar of Matterdale and Dalston. Born 17th September, 1812 ; died 18th September, 1883. M.I.
1883 Richard Watson Dixon, M.A., instituted and inducted 30th November. Of Pembroke college, Oxford ; matriculated 3rd June, 1852 ; B.A. 1857 ; M.A. 1860 ; vicar of Hayton, hon. canon of Carlisle, 1874. Author of A History of the Church of England from the Abolition of the Roman Jurisdiction, etc.
 

 

 
  The parish register, as now existing, begins in 1677, but there is evidence to indicate that up to the end of last century it began twenty or thirty years earlier. N The following are selections from it :
 
 
1677, April 30. Robertus Harper de Acklington park in templo, buried.
1678, June 22. Maria Rosemunderley vidua de Braneshaugh in templo, buried.
1678, Aug. 17. Gulielmus Culduoish (?) miles, in templo, buried.
1678, Oct. 23. Alicia uxor Henrici Wharier de Berlin, buried in woollen.
1680, Sept. 21. Sepult. Franciscus filius Stephani Palfrey.
1682, April 28. Sepult. Robertus Mushums de Acklington.
1688, Sept. 8. Sepult. Richard Forster de Low Buston.
1689, May 14. Maria uxor domini Thomae Forster de Pontiland, buried.
1692, April 12. Robertus Newton de Wallsend et Maria Milbourn de Birling, married.
1696, Dec. 1. Joseph Palfrey de Morwick et Katherine Gray de Kilay, married.
1698, May 5. Elizabeth Dodsworth . . . . . buried.
1700, Sept. 2. Bonner filius Thomae Fenwick de Warkworth, baptised.
1704, June 27. Johannes Annit de Witherington et Maria Garrat de Grange, married.
1705, Oct. 9. Elizabeth filia Gulielmi Ion, vicarii de Warkworth, baptised.
1708, July 20. Cuthbertus Rowlin de Dailmain com. Cumberland, buried.
1712, April 30. Stephanus Muscham de Acklington, buried.
1717, April 13. Caleb Buston de High Buston, buried.
1717, July 7. Johannes Gregson de Sunne-lands (Sunnilaws) et Jane Brown de East Chivington, married.
1720, April 19. Radulphus filius Radulphi Fenwick de Togston, baptised.
1722, Jan. 22. Johannes Proctor de Dunston et Elizabeth Ion de Warkworth, married.
1723, April 9. Johannes Lamb, annos natos 106, et Isabella uxor, annos natos 86, eodem die Sepult. de Warkworth.
1724, April 1. Gulielmus Cramlington filins Lansloti de Birling, buried.
1726, Oct. 3. Maria, Jana, Dorothea uno partu natae, filiae Roberti Shanks de Warkworth, baptised.
1726, Oct. 4. Phillida Peck mersa in puteo de Warkworth, buried.
1730, May 21. Benj. Ord de Newcastle et Gratia Forster de Hartlaw, married.
1734, April 23. Dorothea filia Georgii Elder de `face the devil,' baptised.
1735, May 11. Jerardus Browell de Amble et Rachel Thew de Warkworth, married,
1738, Aug. 27. Robertus Midford de Widdrington et Margaretta Carr de Chester house, married.
1739/40, Jan.13. Henricus Richardson, annos natos 101, de High Buston, buried.
1740, April 27. Henrietta Augusta filia Rev. Johannis Skelly, vicarii de Shilbottle, de Low Ruston, baptised.
1741, July 2. Gordon filius Rev. Johannis Skelly, vicarii de Shilbottle, de Warkworth, baptised.
1742, Nov. 18. Anthonius Pearson, parochia de Long Benton, et Maria Woumphrey de Acklington, married.
1743 Nov. 6. Johannes et Guleilmus gemelli filii Gulielmi Watson de Gloster-hill, baptised.
1749, May 31. Maria Palphrey de Chester house, buried.
1749/50, Feb.15. Elisebetha Brown, annos natos 105, de West Chevington, buried.
1758, Aug. 10. Gulielmus filins Henrici Cramlington de Birlin, baptised.
1759/60, Feb.12. Gulielmus Otley et Anna Cook, ambo de Warkworth, married.
1772, April 26. Benjamin Cowell, ye son of Zackeriah Tyzack of Warkworth, baptised.
1775, May 31. Elizabeth, wife of John Clennel of Isel in Cumberland, buried.
1794, Jan. 15. Stephen, son of Jesse W. . . . of Foundery, buried at Guison.
1794, Dec. 27. Joshua Wastell of the parish of St. Hild's, co. Durham, and Frances Hall of this parish, married.
1799, Feb. 21. Ann Tate of Guizon, widow, aged 84, buried at Brainshaugh.
1800, Jan. 10. Charles Preston, son of Andrew Moffat Wellwood, a captain in McLeod's Fencibles, by his wife Maria (late Taylor), aged 7 months, buried.
1800, April 30. Jane Brown of Morpeth, widow of Edward Brown of Broomhill, aged 86 years, buried.
1801, Oct. 5. John Leadbitter and Margaret Smith, married.
1801, Oct. 27. Edward Heron of Morpeth parish, and Isabella Richardson of this parish, married.
1801, Nov. 5. Benjamin Woodman of Morpeth parish, and Francis Wilson of this parish, married
1803, April 21. John Forster and Ann Muers, both of this parish, married.
1804, Oct. 15. Henry Heddington, esq., bachelor, and Eliza Maria Bates, spinster, both of this parish, married.
1804, Nov. 9. John, first son of John Leadbitter of Amble Hope house, farmer (a native of Capheaton), by his wife Margaret Smith (a native of Warton in the parish of Rothbury), baptised.
1805, Aug. 22. Charles Wilson and Rachel Frazer, both of this parish, married.
1805, Nov. 5. John Ferdinando Forster of the parish of Alnwick, and Elizabeth Huntley of this parish, married.
1806, Feb. 13. William Story of the chapelry of Brainshaugh, and Julia Caesar Forster of this parish, married.
1808, Oct. 8. John Cook, esq., of the parish of Wratling, Suffolk, major 28th Dragoons, and Elizabeth Surtees of this parish, married.
 
 


 
 

MISCELLANEA.

 
1340, February. John de Kirkby, bishop of Carlisle, leased for two years the tithes of his churches in Northumberland, viz. : Warkworth, Newburn, and a moiety of St. Nicholas, Newcastle, to John de Burdon, rector of Rothbury, and Robert de Penreth, burgess of Newcastle. N
1368, 15th April. Receipt of the bishop of Carlisle for £40 for tithe of corn of the church of Warkworth last autumn. N
1577/8, 29th January.  At the chancellor's visitation held at Alnwick, Thomas Handley, vicar of Warkworth, was excused for non-appearance. Edward Rashall, the curate, appeared, but produced no licence. Roger Lighton, the parish clerk, was not cited. N
1578, 30th July. At a general chapter held at Alnwick, Handley, vicar of Warkworth and Woodhorn, undertook to preach a course of nine sermons, viz., in the. general chapter at Morpeth, at Bishop Auckland, at Mitford, at Felton, at Rothbury, at Harbottle, at Whittingham, at Ingram, and at Bedlington.
1600, 4th November. Warkworth : George James hath a stypend to repaire the church heges, and letts them decay, and buryed one so shallowe in the grave that he was almost pulled out of the grounde by the dogges. N
1606, l0th July. At a visitation held at Alnwick ; Warkworth : Office against Edmund Finch, his wife churched by a seminarie priest in his house. N
1650. The parish of Warkworth is a viccaridge, the late bishop of Carlisle patron ; Mr. . . . Moore, a preaching minister, serveth the cure there, and the viccaridge of the yearely value of sixte pounds. There is an impropriacon in the hands of Mr. Peter Wentworth and Mr. John Fountayne of London, which payed yearely to the bishop of Durham tenn pounds and to the bishop of Carlisle thirtye pounds and tenn shillings, out of which twentye pounds per annum is fitt to be taken and added to the said church : the chappelrye of Warkworth [? Chevington] is depending of the said church of Warkeworth, being worth twelve pounds per annum and pettye tythes, and somewhatt distant from the said parish church. N
1663. The vicaridge of Warkworth. In the gift of the lord bishop of Carlisle, valet per annum £66 6s. 8d. The impropriacon belongs to the lord bishop of Carlisle, valet per annum £400. Gleeb anciently belonging to the church (as appears in the office of first fruits), in Nether Buston, valued there at 6s., for which the incumbent receives nothing ; in East Chevington, 4s. ; in West Chevington, 6s. 8d. One chappell in the parish [at] Chevington very much ruined and vacant. No schooles, no papists, but many schismaticks. N
1663, 22nd October. A terrier N and particular of such houses, lands, and tythes as belong to the vicarage of Warkworth. The vicarage house, situate upon the west side of the church, with a little platt of ground called the garden, for the which the incumbent payeth to the earl of Northumberland 3s. 8d. per annum. The vicarage of Warkworth, in ye office of first fruits for land in East Chivington 4s., for the which the incumbent receiveth 8s. per annum. By an abstract out of the court rolls holden in that manor the 30th October, 1626, it appeareth that one Robert Albone holdeth in right of glebe land there nineteen stints or grassings besides arable land and meadow. For land in West Chevington, 6s. 8d., for the which the incumbent receiveth 13s. 4d. per annum. Tyth wool and lamb throughout the parish, with Coquet Island. Tyth calves throughout the parish and 1d. for every milck cow. Tyth hens through all the parish except the borough of Warkworth. Tyth fish of all sorts paid in sea, in rivers. Tyth pig, goose, foal, and bees throughout the parish. Acklington park pays for the petty tithes 13s. 4d. per annum.
     Every communicant throughout the parish pays a penny halfpenny at Easter. Hadston mill 3s., Hauxley mill 2s., Warkworth mill 20s., the Grange mill 2s., Hounden mill 2s. 6d., Walk-mill 2s., Morwick mill 3s. 4d. Tythe hay in kind of ye East demesne and park, New-town and Nether Buston. Tyth hemp and lint in the town of Warkworth, Amble, Hauxley, Hadston, the two Chevingtons, Nether Buston, and New-town. Composition called `hay silver' paid in Amble 1d. ob. per farm ; Hauxley, 3d. a farm ; Robert Widdrington's land, 1s. Hadston hay money, 7s. 11d.; East Chevington hay, 12s. ; West Chevington hay, William Baird pays 7d., and the rest of the town being 12 farms, pays 7d. a farm ; Togston hay, Sir William Fenwick, 3 farms, pays 4d. a farm ; Mr. Carnaby's 6 farms pays 3d. a farm ; Matthew Wharrier's land pays 4d., John Patterson's 3d., and William Smith's freehold 3d. per annum ; Acklington hay pays 3d. a farm ; Morwick hay, Lord Grey's land pays 3s. 4d., and Horsley and Errington's 10d. ob. hay money per annum ; West demesne hay money, 4d. ye farm ; Birling, 4d. a farm; Spittle houses, 4d. ; Upper Buston hay money, 7d. a farm ; Broderick hay, 1s. 2d. ; Walk-mill farm, 3d. ; Sturton Grange, being 8 farms, pays no composition for hay. Mortuaries are paid through the whole parish where they are due. Thomas Lewin, Jno. Dinnon, Robt. Hall, Robt. Mugechamp, churchwardens.
   The collection taken at Warkworth upon the fast day, October 10th, 1666, ordered by the king's proclamation for the relief of the distressed condition of the sufferers by the great fire of London, amounted to £2 1s.
1714, 23rd November. Award of Joseph Nicholson vicar of Whittingham, Richard Parker vicar of Embleton, and Christopher Laidman vicar of Woodhorn, the commissioners appointed by the bishop of Durham's vicar-general, for the appointment of the pews in a gallery lately erected in the parish church.
  To Mr. Ralph Forster of Hartlaw, the square seat in the midd'e of the front ; to Thos. Cook, two places ; Gerard Browell, two places ; Mr. Thos. Lewin, end in the seat next behind Mr. Fra. Forster ; to widow Ramsay, two places ; to Roger Grey, two places ; to James Pattison (?), one in the seat next behind ; to Mr. Ogle of Link-house, the seat on the front next the south side of the church ; to Mr. Ion two places, and Mr. Valentine four places, in the second seat on the south side ; to Wm. Wedle four places, and Jh. Wood, two places, on the third seat on the south side ; Hen. Brown four places, Thos. Baird two, in the hindmost seat on the south side ; to Mr. Edw. Cook of Coldrife, the seat next the front on the north side ; to Mr. Jo. Forster two places, and Mr. Thos. Davison four places, the second seat on the north side ; to Mr. Edw. Cook of Togston, the third seat on the north side ; to Mr. Robt. Reed and Matthew Kerton, the hindmost seat on the north side. N
1719, 17th September. ` An account of the pews in Warkworth church, beginning at the choir and proceeding forward to the font.' Settled by John Tomlinson, Joseph Nicolson, and Mark Forster, the commissioners appointed by the court of Durham. N

The north aisle: (1) John Davidson, Demesnes, Warkworth ; (2) John Huntley and Thomas Elder, Birling ; (3) Thomas Lewen, William Reavely, Ralph Elder, and William Baxter, a square pew ; (4) William Ord, Sturton Grange, 1 square pew ; (5) Edward Cook, Togston, a square pew ; (6) Robert Widdrington, Hauxley, a square pew ; (7) Joseph Forster, High Buston, and John Clutterbuck, Warkworth, a square pew ; (8) Martin Milburn and William Wharrier, Birling ; (9) Thomas Davidson, Brotherwick ; (10) Forster, Musgrave, and Strother, Low Buston ; (11) (12) (13) Roger Buston (High Buston), Joseph Straker (Walk-mill), William Wilkinson, Robert Wilson, John Deucob, and John Wilson, High Buston ; (14) Widdrington, Hauxley, and Joseph Forster, High Buston.

The north middle aisle: (1) Lewins pew, alias Hope-houses ; (2) Francis Forster, Low Buston ; (3) the vicar's seat ; (4) Mr. George Lawson, Glouster-hill ; (5) Mr. Joseph Palfrey, Acklington ; (6) Thomas Smith, Togston ; (7) Matthew Kirton, Hauxley ; (8) Mr. John Cook, Eastfield ; (9) Mr. Thomas Carr, Bondicar ; (10) Robert Reed and John Taylor, Amble ; (11) Edward Browell and John Clark, Hauxley ; (12) Bath, Wright and Thomas Harper, Acklington ; (13) William Ord, Sturton Grange ; (14) Geo. Bullock, Amble ; James and Philip Wumphrey, Acklington.

The south middle aisle: (1) Thomas Dawson, Warkworth ; (2) Mr. Francis Forster, Low Buston ; (3) a passage to the clerk's pew, where the vicar has two seats for his servants on the left hand going in ; (4) John Lee, Acklington ; (5) John James, Acklington ; (6) Thomas Horsley, Morwick ; (7) Edward Bell, Shortridge ; (8) William Cresswell and Robert Hudson, Hauxley ; (9) Robert Dawson and Philip Wumphrey, Acklington ; (10) John Appleby and John Anderson, Acklington ; (11) John Taylor and Thomas Embleton, Acklington ; (12) Robert Smart and Geo. Robinson, Acklington ; (13) Musgrave, Low Buston ; Forster, Low Buston ; Frances Strother, Low Buston ; Thomas Davison of Brotherwick, servants' seats.

The south aisle: (1) Mr. Robert Widdrington ; (2) Linton, Patterson, and Ramsay ; (3) Collingwood and Clark ; (4) Huntley, Nicholson, and Hall ; (5) Patterson and Elder ; (6) John Watts ; (7) Donkin, Shanks, and Fawcus ; (8) Anderson, Hogg, and Wharrier ; (9) Thomas Baird ; (10) Wilson and Hudson ; (11) Thomas Davidson, John Davison, and Geo. Castles ; (12) Valentine and Wardle ; (13) Simpson, John Shotton, and James Shotton ; (14) Thomas Cook, Roger, Edward, and William Young, Rowden, Milbourne ; (15) Wilkinson, Gordon, Waugh ; (16) Robinson and Huntley ; (17) Gibson, Hall, and Lamb.
 

  The copy of a letter from Wilfrid Lawson, vicar of Warkworth, to Edward Ward of Morpeth : `Warkworth, August 21st, 1724. I am informed that my lord duke of Somersett has committed the repairing of his pews in this church to your care and management ; I must humbly desire that you will do it in a manner worthy of the house of God, worthy of my lord duke's quality, and of yourself the genteel agent. If your affairs bring you near this place I should be glad you should stop either to view the pews and give proper orders, and I could wish you would come soon, because there is other work going on ; my Lady Hazle N is wanscotting and adorning the chancel very handsomely, and as his grace's pews are next to the chancel in place, I would hope that they would be next, if not equall, to it in beauty.'
  Copy of a letter from Edward Ward to William Elder, esq., at his grace the duke of Somersett's house at Petworth, in Sussex : ` Morpeth, August 28th, 1724. The above writt is ye copy of a letter which I had from ye vicar of Warkworth about 2 days after I had sent a joiner, according to your directions, to view and make a report with ye expense of repairing of my lord duke's pew in that church would come to. The vicar, you see, proposes to have it done in ye handsomest manner ; and indeed ye workman I sent tells me that ye parishioners are repairing and beautifying all ye pews in ye church, and that my lord duke's pew is no less than six yards square, and capable of being converted into seven extraordinary good ones, which, he tells me, if made but after ye comon manner, will come to about £20 ; but if they be made with proper ornaments and distinctions suitable to my lord duke's quality, he says £25 is ye . . . . ye expense will amount to. When you give me further orders about this matter I shall put them in execution with great pleasure, as I do everything that tends to my lord duke's interest and service.' N
1761. John Wesley included Warkworth in his missionary tour, and at noon on Saturday, 16th May, preached to a `great and attentive ' congregation. N
1763, 23rd July. This day the church of Warkworth was visited by the archdeacon, Doctor John Sharp, and upon a view of the defects of the church the following directions (inter alia) were given to the churchwardens : N
 
The east end of the south isle be flag'd and kept neat and decent. The pews in it be lower'd to the level of the rest and made uniform. The few pews that want floors either to be flag'd or boarded. Two casements to be made and frequently set open in dry weather. N
The chancel to be whitewash'd.
The eight windows in the belfry filled up with sloping bons 5 or 6 inches asunder to keep out rain.
1763. The real value of the vicarage one year with another not above £130, owing to butchers taking farms and lands thrown into tillage. Mr. Ridley is the lessee of the great tithes under the bishop of Carlisle ; they were formerly farmed by Lady Hazle of Delmain. N
1794, 22nd April.  A list of what each township in the parish and chapelry repairs of the church wall, being at 2 yards per farm, beginning at the north-east corner next the tyth barn and to go round by the sun, viz. : Morwick, 6 farms, 12 yards ; Togston, 12 farms, 24 yards ; Acklington, 18 farms, 36 yards ; Hauxley, 10 farms, 20 yards ; Walk-mill, 1 farm, 2 yards ; Grange, 8 farms, 16 yards ; Amble, 14 farms, 28 yards ; Brotherick, 3 farms, 6 yards ; Spital and Low Buston, 13 farms, 26 yards ; Demesnes and Warkworth, 10 farms, 20 yards ; High Buston, 8 farms, 16 yards ; Biding-, 10 farms, 20 yards ; East Chevington, 14 farms, 27½ yards ; West Chevington, 12 farms, 24 yards ; Hadston, 8 farms, 16 yards. N
  Archdeacon Singleton, who visited Warkworth 1st June, 1826, says : The impropriation belongs to the bishopric of Carlisle, and is rented by Sir M. Ridley ; it is worth £3,000 per annum. The vicarage is worth £400 per annum from undisputed tithes, but a suit is now pending for agistment. The vicar has, however, no endowment. The population is 3,000 ; the church holds 600, but there are no free sittings, and the rated inhabitants of Chevington chapelry are entirely unprovided with accommodation. I pressed their case upon the notice of the parish. Service is performed twice on Sundays, with two sermons ; that in the evening the vicar considers voluntary. They have a clock, repaired by the town ; also a schoolhouse, one by subscription and another rented. The school is on the National system. The glebe is very small and, small as it is, is scattered. The vicarage house is new and well contrived ; a piece of the small garden belongs to the lord of the manor. In the churchyard are a few handsome trees. The clerk was appointed in 1825 by the vicar ; he is paid 1s. 6d. by each farm, 3d. a house at Easter, and church fees. The sexton has 1d. a house and 6d. a farm. The four churchwardens come in by rotation ; the vicar appoints the town churchwarden. They gather the church rate by an ancient custom from the farms ; one gathering produces £29 8s. at 4s. per farm. They have two bells, a plated flagon, a silver chalice and cover, a silver patten; and a silver mace-head given by Mr. Clutterbuck. There is a curious old monument of Sir Hugh de Morwick, who is thereon stated to have given the common to Warkworth. The Grey arms are on the gallery ; N but there are few, if any, memorials of the Percies. I requested that their dilapidated pew might be repaired, a request I made as to all the pews generally. Painting is necessary, but above all sittings for the Chevington people.' N
  And again in 1841 : `I inspected the church with the vicar, the Rev. Harry Percy. It is, I should say, a curious specimen of early Norman architecture, and although the north wall seems to have settled outward, the old sexton assured me that he had known it all his life, and seen no alteration. There is a speculation going on in the parish in forming a harbour, which, either by its success or failure, will effect strange alterations in the quiet little town. N
 
  A new burial ground, situated in a field called the Tenterheugh, was provided for the parish in 1862, N in which every inhabitant of the parish has the right of interment, the grave spaces being taken in rotation. By an order of the vicar and churchwardens published 22nd June, 1862, in consideration of a. fee of one pound per grave space, parishioners are permitted to select a grave space ; the money so paid is devoted to a fund for keeping the ground in neat and decent order.
 The surplice fees payable by the parishioners by ancient custom are as follows : Banns of marriage, 2s. (viz., the vicar 1s., clerk 1s.) ; marriage by banns, 3s. (vicar 1s., clerk 1s., sexton 1s.) ; marriage by licence, 15s. 6d. (vicar 10s. 6d., clerk 2s. 6d., sexton 2s. 6d.) ; churchings, 1s. 3d. (vicar 8d., clerk 4d., sexton 3d.). Burials : vicar 1s., clerk1s., sexton 4s. (or 6s. according to depth of grave). The vicar's fee for a monument is £2 ; for a tombstone, 15s. 9d.
 

 

    A select vestry N of twenty-four elected by co-optation still lingers as a consultative body, though it was shorn of power and responsibility at the  abolition of the compulsory payment of church rates. The lists preserved in the churchwardens' books indicate it to have been a representative body of ratepayers, for every vacancy was filled up by the appointment of another from the same farm or township, and his membership of or association with another communion neither rendered him ineligible nor relieved him of his duty to serve on the vestry and as churchwarden. The parish was divided into four districts or quarters, each of which furnished a warden who served in rotation ; these divisions were the north side, Amble or the south-east side, Acklington or the south-west side, and the town of Warkworth. N  At the meeting of the four-and-twenty various parish officers, such as overseers of the poor and of highways N  and bridge masters, N were appointed, apparently in rotation.
The following extracts are taken from the churchwardens' account-books :
 
 
1725. Note : the holy bread money N collection left off at Mr. Edward Bell's of Shortridge.
1725. Paid rogue money, 13s. 4d. N
1726. Paid for binding a book of the martyrdom of King Charles, 4s. ; N  for setting school lock; 4d. ; for four fox heads, 4s. N
1726, Feb. 7. It is ordered that one shilling per farm shall be levied upon lands in the parish and chapelry.
1736. The church steeple repaired by Thomas Hudson of Alnwick and Robert Hudson of Hauxley ; tender, £6.
1742. Received Joseph Cook of Newton's 'lairstorm,' 3s. ; Madam Forster's `lairstorm' of Newtonon-the-Moor, 2s. 6d.
1746. Holy bread money left off at John Bell's of Morwick and begins at Robert Thew's. 1759. Paid Roger Buston for a fox head, 1s.
1781, June 28. Paid for seven deals for the school above the church porch, 6s. 10d. N
1786, April 15. Received of John Wilson £1 13s. for interest on the £33 for the use of the poor of Warkworth. N
1792. The parish boundary perambulated by order of the archdeacon.
1794. The gallery was taken down, enlarged, and re-erected at the cost of 85.
 
 
     In a garden N adjoining the east side of the churchyard there is a red-tiled building which, up to the passing of the Tithes Commutation Act, was the tithe barn N of the rectory of Warkworth. Next to it is another garden, N attached to Mr. Clutterbuck's house, in which there used to stand a small Benedictine chapel, the foundations of which can still be traced at a distance of 2 feet outside of and parallel to the south wall of the garden. It was probably built for or by the two monks who, in the thirteenth century, were maintained by the prior and convent of Durham at the chapel of St. Mary Magdalene ; for whose support Nicholas de Farnham, bishop of Durham (1241-1249), appropriated the church of Branxton, N a grant confirmed by his successor Walter de Kirkham. N Dugdale was of opinion that the custom of maintaining two monks here had been discontinued long before the dissolution. In 1616 there was near the churchyard `a little yard wherein standeth the ruins of a decayed chapel.'  N
 
 

 www.fusilier.co.uk 2009