The Manors and Townships
The Beginning
Fawcett in his ‘History of Dipton’ said that prehistoric axes have been found in this area (one was turned up by a plough near Bradley farm in the 1890’s) and it used to be possible to trace the remains of a prehistoric burial mound on top of Pontop Pike. There is nothing remarkable about the axes as prehistoric people were nomadic and no doubt roamed here as well as anywhere else. Nevertheless, it is interesting that some of them found the Pike top, which dominates the area a fit place to bury a chieftan or notable.
In prehistoric times, the whole of the countryside round about would have been covered by forest. Nomadic tribes would wander and hunt in it and make clearings for their primitive fields. When the Romans came to Britain they hurried northwards from the southern coast, building forts and roads through the forest as they went. They passed just to the west of the Pike (their Dere Street marches straight over its western shoulder where Leadgate traffic lights now stand) on their way to the Wall. Their empire fell and Saxons came and built settlements along the coasts and rivers. They in turn were harried by the Norsemen and were driven inland into
the forest. It was during these years that Durham was established by monks driven far inland by ‘the fury of the Norsemen’.
During all of those years there is no evidence of any human activity on the north slopes of Pontop Pike, but in 1066 William arrived and things changed very quickly. William determined to establish an orderly system of government which would put the whole countryside to good use, and bring it under centralised control. The north
nearly defeated him with the distance from London, the sparse tribal population, the very hostile neighbours in Scotland and Scandinavia more than even he could cope with. His Domesday Book does not cover our area, or Northumbria and Cumbria as it was too perilous for his men to travel at that time. He solved the problem by appointing a strong ‘deputy’ in the North, in the person of the Bishop of Durham, whom he made into a virtual Prince answerable only to himself. However, his intentions were clear from the start, when he made his first appointee not only Bishop of Durham, but Earl of Northumbria as well. Successive Norman Kings took good care that their Bishops should be capable of keeping the King’s peace and order. To bolster their position, the land itself was vested in the Bishops who were the temporal as well as spiritual lords in their own Palatine, and it
is to their organisation that we owe the beginnings of the modern villages and landscape.
The early Bishops parcelled up the land and rented it out, sometimes to great noblemen, sometimes to successful soldiers or farmers, and sometimes to simple peasants. The tenants in turn took on sub-tenants, and so a settled population developed. For administration, the Bishops divided their property in County Durham into ten great Manors, over each of which the Bishop of the day was Lord. These Manors were Chester, Houghton, Easington, Middleham, Stockton, Sadberge, Darlington, Auckland, Wolsingham, and in our area Lanchester.
The best land in each Manor was divided into small, separate Townships. They were not villages as we know them today, but simply expanses of land which had been cleared from the old forests for simple husbandry, with the primitive cottages of their occupants sparsely scattered within them. Each Township would contain a large arable field, within which each family would have their own small area of land, from which they fed themselves. There would also be a large common pasture, where their cattle fed, under the supervision of the Township’s own Herd.
At first, most of the occupants of the Townships were ‘villeins’ bound to the Bishop as Lord of the Manor, or to one of his more important tenants. They were, in effect, his tied servants. In return for their service they enjoyed his protection, and were given a plot of land in the common field, and the use of the common pasture. The Bishops were, in general, good landlords, and soon the ‘service’ which the villains had to provide was changed,
by mutual agreement, to a money payment. The villeins became ordinary tenants. The usual system of tenancy was called ‘Copyhold Tenancy’, because the Bishop’s stewards made a ‘copy’ of a document listing the services or money by which each tenant held his land.
The tenants in each Township were required by the rules of their Manor to elect their own officials.
They had to elect a ‘Greve’, a sort of bailiff, and a ‘Pounder’ a tax collector. Twice a year the Bishop’s steward would visit each of his Manors to hold a court to inquire into the Township’s affairs and see that all was well. For
example, to see that all the boundary stones were being properly maintained, whether hedges, stiles, bridges or watercourses needed mending, whether anyone was habitually obstructing the roads or letting their animals stray, and whether everyone had paid their taxes.
In our Manor, the Courts were held every Easter and Michelmas in the ‘Court Garth’ at Lanchester. In the area of the Scoped site there were 5 medieval Townships of Lanchester Moor. These were Billingside, Bradley, Pontop, Medomsley and Collierley, although this fifth Township did not share a border with Billingside and therefore I do not describe it in any detail in this paper. The land bordering the southern edge of Billingside was the Lanchester Common.
Billingside
Between the years 1377 and 1382 Thomas de Hatfield, Bishop of Durham, commissioned a survey of all tenants, their lands and its quality and any services due to the Bishop as part of that landlord/tenant relationship. Written in Latin, it was incomplete on his death but it provides an insight into the social history of those times.
The survey of the Township of Billingside indicated that Richard Lorde held one messuage and 36½ acres, once belonging to John Garreson, on a rent of 12s6d and an acre called Padbanks for 6d. (A messuage is a building, its outbuildings and the land enclosed around it).
Thomas Gowhill held one messuage and 24½ acres for 8s2d, 1½ acres in Padbanks and an acre called the Bog for 1d, (probably the currently protected wetlands on the north of the scoped area)
Prior to Hatfield's survey, in 1361 John de Gourlay held 20 acres in Billynside at 5s rent. Later, in the 16th Century an Agnes Raw surrendered a tenement at Billynside to John Vasey, gentleman, in 1546.
At the time of Hatfield it can be seen that Richard Lorde and Richard Gowhill held messuages that were later East and West Billingside farms, the same ruined farmsteads that currently exist on the site.There would have been a common field, a common pasture and a Greve and a Pounder. Even in medieval times parts of Billingside were being rented out to the tenant of the neighbouring eastern Township of Pontop. Anthony Meabourne, of Pontop Hall undertook inventories of land in Billingside in 1732 and again in 1738. Records throw up the occasional
reference and names of early inhabitants of the Steadings that eventually became East and West Billingside Farms.
Fawcett in his ‘History of Dipton’ said that prehistoric axes have been found in this area (one was turned up by a plough near Bradley farm in the 1890’s) and it used to be possible to trace the remains of a prehistoric burial mound on top of Pontop Pike. There is nothing remarkable about the axes as prehistoric people were nomadic and no doubt roamed here as well as anywhere else. Nevertheless, it is interesting that some of them found the Pike top, which dominates the area a fit place to bury a chieftan or notable.
In prehistoric times, the whole of the countryside round about would have been covered by forest. Nomadic tribes would wander and hunt in it and make clearings for their primitive fields. When the Romans came to Britain they hurried northwards from the southern coast, building forts and roads through the forest as they went. They passed just to the west of the Pike (their Dere Street marches straight over its western shoulder where Leadgate traffic lights now stand) on their way to the Wall. Their empire fell and Saxons came and built settlements along the coasts and rivers. They in turn were harried by the Norsemen and were driven inland into
the forest. It was during these years that Durham was established by monks driven far inland by ‘the fury of the Norsemen’.
During all of those years there is no evidence of any human activity on the north slopes of Pontop Pike, but in 1066 William arrived and things changed very quickly. William determined to establish an orderly system of government which would put the whole countryside to good use, and bring it under centralised control. The north
nearly defeated him with the distance from London, the sparse tribal population, the very hostile neighbours in Scotland and Scandinavia more than even he could cope with. His Domesday Book does not cover our area, or Northumbria and Cumbria as it was too perilous for his men to travel at that time. He solved the problem by appointing a strong ‘deputy’ in the North, in the person of the Bishop of Durham, whom he made into a virtual Prince answerable only to himself. However, his intentions were clear from the start, when he made his first appointee not only Bishop of Durham, but Earl of Northumbria as well. Successive Norman Kings took good care that their Bishops should be capable of keeping the King’s peace and order. To bolster their position, the land itself was vested in the Bishops who were the temporal as well as spiritual lords in their own Palatine, and it
is to their organisation that we owe the beginnings of the modern villages and landscape.
The early Bishops parcelled up the land and rented it out, sometimes to great noblemen, sometimes to successful soldiers or farmers, and sometimes to simple peasants. The tenants in turn took on sub-tenants, and so a settled population developed. For administration, the Bishops divided their property in County Durham into ten great Manors, over each of which the Bishop of the day was Lord. These Manors were Chester, Houghton, Easington, Middleham, Stockton, Sadberge, Darlington, Auckland, Wolsingham, and in our area Lanchester.
The best land in each Manor was divided into small, separate Townships. They were not villages as we know them today, but simply expanses of land which had been cleared from the old forests for simple husbandry, with the primitive cottages of their occupants sparsely scattered within them. Each Township would contain a large arable field, within which each family would have their own small area of land, from which they fed themselves. There would also be a large common pasture, where their cattle fed, under the supervision of the Township’s own Herd.
At first, most of the occupants of the Townships were ‘villeins’ bound to the Bishop as Lord of the Manor, or to one of his more important tenants. They were, in effect, his tied servants. In return for their service they enjoyed his protection, and were given a plot of land in the common field, and the use of the common pasture. The Bishops were, in general, good landlords, and soon the ‘service’ which the villains had to provide was changed,
by mutual agreement, to a money payment. The villeins became ordinary tenants. The usual system of tenancy was called ‘Copyhold Tenancy’, because the Bishop’s stewards made a ‘copy’ of a document listing the services or money by which each tenant held his land.
The tenants in each Township were required by the rules of their Manor to elect their own officials.
They had to elect a ‘Greve’, a sort of bailiff, and a ‘Pounder’ a tax collector. Twice a year the Bishop’s steward would visit each of his Manors to hold a court to inquire into the Township’s affairs and see that all was well. For
example, to see that all the boundary stones were being properly maintained, whether hedges, stiles, bridges or watercourses needed mending, whether anyone was habitually obstructing the roads or letting their animals stray, and whether everyone had paid their taxes.
In our Manor, the Courts were held every Easter and Michelmas in the ‘Court Garth’ at Lanchester. In the area of the Scoped site there were 5 medieval Townships of Lanchester Moor. These were Billingside, Bradley, Pontop, Medomsley and Collierley, although this fifth Township did not share a border with Billingside and therefore I do not describe it in any detail in this paper. The land bordering the southern edge of Billingside was the Lanchester Common.
Billingside
Between the years 1377 and 1382 Thomas de Hatfield, Bishop of Durham, commissioned a survey of all tenants, their lands and its quality and any services due to the Bishop as part of that landlord/tenant relationship. Written in Latin, it was incomplete on his death but it provides an insight into the social history of those times.
The survey of the Township of Billingside indicated that Richard Lorde held one messuage and 36½ acres, once belonging to John Garreson, on a rent of 12s6d and an acre called Padbanks for 6d. (A messuage is a building, its outbuildings and the land enclosed around it).
Thomas Gowhill held one messuage and 24½ acres for 8s2d, 1½ acres in Padbanks and an acre called the Bog for 1d, (probably the currently protected wetlands on the north of the scoped area)
Prior to Hatfield's survey, in 1361 John de Gourlay held 20 acres in Billynside at 5s rent. Later, in the 16th Century an Agnes Raw surrendered a tenement at Billynside to John Vasey, gentleman, in 1546.
At the time of Hatfield it can be seen that Richard Lorde and Richard Gowhill held messuages that were later East and West Billingside farms, the same ruined farmsteads that currently exist on the site.There would have been a common field, a common pasture and a Greve and a Pounder. Even in medieval times parts of Billingside were being rented out to the tenant of the neighbouring eastern Township of Pontop. Anthony Meabourne, of Pontop Hall undertook inventories of land in Billingside in 1732 and again in 1738. Records throw up the occasional
reference and names of early inhabitants of the Steadings that eventually became East and West Billingside Farms.
1694/5 - Thomas Hunter of Billingside
1763 - Thomas Jolley was born in Billingside 1767 - Margaret Bell was born in Billingside 1788 - Thomas Jolley and Margaret Bell of Billingside were married 1789 - John Jolley was born in Billingside The population statistics were 1810- 54 inhabitants 1811- (included in Collierley) 1821- 43 inhabitants 1831- 18 inhabitants 1841- 13 inhabitants East Billingside - Joseph Oxley - head, age 30, farmer Elizabeth Oxley - wife, age 25 Emma Oxley - daughter age 2 Nicholas Wigham - age 15, male servant Jane Doxford - age 20, female servant West Billingside - Lindsay Smith - head, age 65, farmer Margaret Smith - wife, age 60 George Smith - son, age 30 Jane Smith - daughter, age 25 Anne Smith - daughter, age 25 Sarah Smith - daughter, age 25 Robert Smith – son, age 20 John Johnston - age 4 There appears to be triplets in this family which was a rarity in those days. 1851- 16 inhabitants East Billingside - Anthony Black - head, age 21, farmer Margaret Black - wife, age 21 Ralph Black - son, age 1 month Elizabeth Urwin - mother-in-law, widow, age 51, grocer Jane Urwin - sister-in-law age 29, grocer Anne Somately - age 31, house servant John White - age 16, farm servant West Billingside - Robert Minnican - head, age 32, farm servant Isabella Minnican - wife, age 31 George Minnican - son, age 10 Mary Minnican - daughter, age 8 Elizabeth Minnican - daughter, age 6 Robert Minnican - son, age 2 Billingside Cottages - Mary Charlton - widow, age 65 John Charlton - son, age 40, miner Thomas Charlton - son, age 30, woodman |
1861- 10 inhabitants
East Billingside - George Clark - head, age 71, farmer of 137 acres Elizabeth Clark - wife, age 67 Thomas Clark - son, widower, age 34 Elizabeth Clark - granddaughter, age 15, scholar George Clark - grandson, age 13, scholar Elizabeth Clark - granddaughter, age 5, scholar John Clark - lodger, age 20, brick labourer West Billingside - Edward Shotton - head, age 68, farmer of 142 acres Margaret Shotton - wife, age 62 Thomas Shotton - son, age 29 Ann Charlton - age 16, servant 1881- 9 inhabitants East Billingside - Elizabeth Clark - head, widow, age 77, farmer of 135 acres Thomas Clark - son, widower, age 45, manager Ann - age 18, maid servant James Hussey - age 30, farm servant John Hasdon - lodger, age 38, brickmaker West Billingside - Edward Shotton - head, age 78, farmer of 200 acres and employing one servant Margaret Shotton - wife, age 73 Elizabeth Morton - age 16, general servant 1891- 12 inhabitants (included in Medomsley) East Billingside - John Clark - head, age 55, farmer Eleanor Clark - wife, age 56 Mary Clark - daughter, age 24 John G. Clark - son, age 21 Thomas Clark - son, age 18 Margaret Clark - granddaughter, age 9 West Billingside - Samuel Mann - head, age 55, farmer Isabella Mann - wife, age 57 John J. Mann - son, age 19, farmer’s assistant Joseph Mann - grandson, age 5 Lydia Hunter - age 19, servant Mary Gregg - age 20, servant |
The bridge that crosses Pont Burn, connecting footpaths between West Billingside Farm and Low Bradley Farm was built by Samuel Mann and still bears his name (Sammy Mann’s Bridge). Samuel Mann was born about 1836 in Ombersley, Worcestershire. He lived at Delight Houses, Collierly, in 1881 and took over at the farm from the Shottons around 1885. Map showing the footpath between West Billingside and Low Bradley Farms and the position of Sammy Mann’s
Bridge.
1901 – 11 inhabitants
East Billingside - John Clark - head, age 65, farmer
Eleanor Clark - wife, age 66
Mary Clark - daughter, age 35
John G. Clark - son, age 30
Thomas Clark - son, age 28
Margaret Murton - age 19, general servant
Elizabeth Hardon - age 9
West Billingside - John Drummond Fenwick - head, age 24, farmer
Jane Fenwick - wife, age 20
Thomas Fenwick - son, age 2
William Fenwick - son, age 1
West Billingside Farm in the early 1900,s
The Fenwick Family who lived on West Billingside Farm from 1900 (approx) until the early 1950’s.
In respect to mining activity in this area little can be unearthed of the Pont Head Colliery that produced so prolifically that it caused the Western Way to be extended from Meabourne’s Spring pits across the contours and through the middle of Billingside in order to get the coals efficiently to
the staithes at Derwenthaugh. There are several drift mines recorded in Billingside, notably the East and West Billingside Drifts ,which were closed in 1873-1879, and other older shafts and drifts nearby that linked to the Western Way via a small marshalling yard. Other smaller drifts exploited the outcropping seams and can be seen on various O.S maps from 1865 onwards. These mostly exploited the Hutton seam. Other drifts above East Billingside farm in the fields behind Douglas Terrace also punched deep into the Hutton seam. Drifts below West Billingside farm exploited the Main Coal seam which outcropped there. Below this there are three substantial drifts into the Hutton seam. The Eden Colliery also extensively mined the Hutton seam on the Southerh quarter of
Billingside. There are three drifts into the Brass Thill seam of varying size. Significantly, Coal Authority seam maps not only show the extensive nature of mining activity in Billingside, they also detail sites of older workings and two main shafts and a stapple shaft that are marked as unknown proving that the surface seams have been exploited to a greater extent and for longer periods
than the Authorities record. The lower seams were generally exploited by the Eden and South Medomsley collieries and the records show extensive galleries under Billingside in the Brockwell, Three Quarter,and Busty seams.
Bradley
In 1341 William de Bradley held a messuage and 60 acres of the Lord of Bradley by the service of ‘one rose and a half a pound of cumin’. This is not uncommon that the Bishop would take goods or in the case of the rose homage to a particular saint (often Cuthbert) instead of money.
In 1377 Goceline Surtees held three messuages and 40 acres of the heirs of William de Poole by the service of one rose and 20s. In 1390 Hugh, son of Hugh de Redheugh held 2 parts of the Manor of Bradley from John de Felton. In 1470 Roger Thornton held the manor which passed by his
daughter Elizabeth to the family of Lord Lumley. John, Lord Lumley sold to the Newton family in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In 1607 John Newton died leaving the manor to his son William aged 28. At that time it was held for 12s rent. Afterwards it passed into the Walton family until it was purchased by John Simpson, the same influential coal owner mentioned earlier. On his death, Anne his daughter carried on where her father left off.
On the border between Bradley and Billingside extensive mining took place over hundreds of years. There is evidence of seven coal shafts of unknown depths pushing down below the Main coal, perhaps into the Harvey seams. There are also several drifts and identified ‘ancient workings’ on Coal
Authority seam maps where actual extent of workings is lost to the mists of time. But they were worked and extensively so.
Medomsley
The Township, substantially to the north of the scoped area was Medomsley which at the time of Bishop Hatfield paid 20s rent. At that time, it was a free manor held by a monied rent. At a subsequent time Ranulph de Medomsley appears as a frequent witness to the Iveston Charters. They were probably ancestors of the Feltons who held Medomsley, Hamsterley and Bradley in later years.
In 1360 William de Felton died leaving the manor held by homage, fealty and 4s rent (with Hamsterley at 4 marks rent). Fealty or oath of fealty is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically it is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or Saint’s relic, thus binding the oath taker before God. Homage was a ceremony in which a tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord. It was a more powerful pledge than fealty. It was a symbolic announcement to the Lord that the vassal or tenant was literally his man. William’s son died in 1367. Three inquisitions entailed contesting the holders of the land. Finally in 1371, John, his half brother succeeded in establishing true claim to the whole of both Townships. This last John de Felton died in 1395 leaving a son, who died underage, and a daughter Elizabeth who carried the estates into the family of Hastings by marriage.
In 1444 Elizabeth’s husband Edmond split the estate between his grandson, Edmond (two thirds), and his son (one third). Eventually Roger Hastings sold his manor and village of Medomsley in 1496 to George Carr, Merchant of Newcastle. It was still in the possession of Ralph Carr in 1656.
The family of Hunter have held property in Medomsley and heir mansions stood at the east and west entrances to the village. In 1584-5 Thomas Hunter was granted land for 36 marks 4d and John Hunter another parcel (including a messuage) for 35 marks 3s 4d. This began 400 years of association with the Hunter family as land owners in Medomsley.
Between 1871-1881 coal royalties were opened by the Consett Iron Company. Previously the Hamsterley royalties were opened in 1866 by Dr Watson and drift mined at Colt Park and Croniwell. The annual output was 30,000 tons per year with 120 coke ovens on site. Fire bricks and building
bricks were also made. It employed 400 men and boys.
Medomsley and Westwood colliery employed 191 men by 1894 and had an output of 700 tons per day and almost all of it was converted to coke on site for use in Consett’s blast furnaces. The Medomsley and Busty pit was dominated by coke ovens.
The Hunter pit opened in 1889 and was producing 300 tons of coal per day and employing 160 men and boys by 1894.
Hunter Colliery, Medomsley
The township of Medomsley had an area of 4823 acres and population statistics were
1801 - 754 (including Conside)
1811 - 391
1821 - 461
1831 - 466
1841 - 796
1851 - 840
1861 - 1296
1871 - 1859
1881 - 4429
1891 - 5306 (including Billingside)
Pontop
Pontop Township to the immediate east of the scoped site, has a much more important history, especially in respect of the persecution of the Catholics and has strong links to the Ushaw College.
Pontop is a complex and ancient name. It is best to start with Pont, the burn which flows through the valley here. Pont is the old Celtic name related to the Welsh ‘pant’ meaning valley. Anglo Saxon settlers, ignorant of the meaning of pont added 'hop' meaning valley. Therefore Pontop means
‘valley valley’. Pontop was not a conventional Township with villeins and copyholders. It was simply a piece of land which the Bishop rented out for money, to a single tenant. The first recorded tenant is Lawrence of Ponthope who, in 1246, was paying ‘exchequer rent’ of 2s per year. At that time
exchequer rent was common practice when land had been simply hacked out of the forest and unofficially enclosed. When this happened, the Bishop was normally happy to legalise matters.The original township was only about 60 acres, but it grew in the Middle Ages. By 1431 there was a mansion house, now Pontop Hall, 100 acres of pasture and 100 acres of arable land and it expanded further into the nineteenth century to include all of High Stables farm up to the boundary of the
Common land which is the A692. The Boundary wall adjacent to the road, now well neglected is nevertheless still visible.
In 1361 John de Gourlay died and left the manor of Pontop and half the manor of Shepmanstele (possibly Shipmasters Hill now) rented for 2s to his son Richard who was aged 15.
By Hatfields survey, William de Gourlay held the manor of Ponthope containing 60 acres for 2s rent; a close of 15 acres called the Park for 2s rent; a messuage and 48 acres for 8s rent; and a messuage and 30 acres called Shippyngstele for 2s rent. William died in 1395. His son Richard Gourlay passed the land to Sir William Claxton, knight, in 1409. Eventually Sir Robert Claxton divided his estate among 4 co-heirs. Ponthope was allotted to the family of Elmsden whose heirs carried the estate as well as other large possessions into the family of Sir William Butler by marriage. In 1600, Bartram Butler, great grandson of Sir William, sold his whole messuage to Anthony Meabourne. It is
supposed that his first transaction was a mortgage, followed by a lease in 1602 and a general release in 1608.Previous holders of Pontop seemed to hold it purely as an investment but Anthony Meabourne was the first true’squire’ of the Township holding the land until 1732.
In 1611 Thomas Marley conveyed’ all the tythes of corn and grain within Pontop’ to Anthony Meabourne. Four generations of Meabourne held the manor until Mary, born 1713, married Thomas Swinburne Esquire, son of Sir William Swinburne of Capheaton. Thomas died in 1786 and the estate then was in the family of Swinburne. It was in the early 1700’s that the Meaburnes ‘acquired’ lands at Billingside which would be instrumental in the eventual spread of the Western Way through Bryans Leap and Collierley around Meabourne’s Pontop hall and onward following the contours through Billingside to its terminus at the Pont head colliery.
Meabournes Pontop Colliery opened about 1727 and used local tenant labour initially to exploit the surface seams via pits romantically called Virgins, Hall, Oak, Ash, Wood, Stubble and finally a cluster called the Spring pits. Also shown on a map of 1750 were a Sinking pit and a ‘Lost Borehole pit’. All were linked eventually to the new extended Western Way until it was later extended further into Billingside. The sites of these pits are still relatively clear, especially the Stubble when viewed on an aerial photograph, it shows the classic circular shape of a bell pit, albeit with a shaft that eventually punched 60ft into the Hutton seam. If you walk the area now you will find large surface deposits of coal from the abandoned coal heaps that were next to the pits. Later on more modern collieries would come that could exploit the reserves via huge leaps in technology, greater distances and deeper seams underground, increasing production ten fold. In Pontop Township such a colliery was the South Medomsley.
Bridge.
1901 – 11 inhabitants
East Billingside - John Clark - head, age 65, farmer
Eleanor Clark - wife, age 66
Mary Clark - daughter, age 35
John G. Clark - son, age 30
Thomas Clark - son, age 28
Margaret Murton - age 19, general servant
Elizabeth Hardon - age 9
West Billingside - John Drummond Fenwick - head, age 24, farmer
Jane Fenwick - wife, age 20
Thomas Fenwick - son, age 2
William Fenwick - son, age 1
West Billingside Farm in the early 1900,s
The Fenwick Family who lived on West Billingside Farm from 1900 (approx) until the early 1950’s.
In respect to mining activity in this area little can be unearthed of the Pont Head Colliery that produced so prolifically that it caused the Western Way to be extended from Meabourne’s Spring pits across the contours and through the middle of Billingside in order to get the coals efficiently to
the staithes at Derwenthaugh. There are several drift mines recorded in Billingside, notably the East and West Billingside Drifts ,which were closed in 1873-1879, and other older shafts and drifts nearby that linked to the Western Way via a small marshalling yard. Other smaller drifts exploited the outcropping seams and can be seen on various O.S maps from 1865 onwards. These mostly exploited the Hutton seam. Other drifts above East Billingside farm in the fields behind Douglas Terrace also punched deep into the Hutton seam. Drifts below West Billingside farm exploited the Main Coal seam which outcropped there. Below this there are three substantial drifts into the Hutton seam. The Eden Colliery also extensively mined the Hutton seam on the Southerh quarter of
Billingside. There are three drifts into the Brass Thill seam of varying size. Significantly, Coal Authority seam maps not only show the extensive nature of mining activity in Billingside, they also detail sites of older workings and two main shafts and a stapple shaft that are marked as unknown proving that the surface seams have been exploited to a greater extent and for longer periods
than the Authorities record. The lower seams were generally exploited by the Eden and South Medomsley collieries and the records show extensive galleries under Billingside in the Brockwell, Three Quarter,and Busty seams.
Bradley
In 1341 William de Bradley held a messuage and 60 acres of the Lord of Bradley by the service of ‘one rose and a half a pound of cumin’. This is not uncommon that the Bishop would take goods or in the case of the rose homage to a particular saint (often Cuthbert) instead of money.
In 1377 Goceline Surtees held three messuages and 40 acres of the heirs of William de Poole by the service of one rose and 20s. In 1390 Hugh, son of Hugh de Redheugh held 2 parts of the Manor of Bradley from John de Felton. In 1470 Roger Thornton held the manor which passed by his
daughter Elizabeth to the family of Lord Lumley. John, Lord Lumley sold to the Newton family in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In 1607 John Newton died leaving the manor to his son William aged 28. At that time it was held for 12s rent. Afterwards it passed into the Walton family until it was purchased by John Simpson, the same influential coal owner mentioned earlier. On his death, Anne his daughter carried on where her father left off.
On the border between Bradley and Billingside extensive mining took place over hundreds of years. There is evidence of seven coal shafts of unknown depths pushing down below the Main coal, perhaps into the Harvey seams. There are also several drifts and identified ‘ancient workings’ on Coal
Authority seam maps where actual extent of workings is lost to the mists of time. But they were worked and extensively so.
Medomsley
The Township, substantially to the north of the scoped area was Medomsley which at the time of Bishop Hatfield paid 20s rent. At that time, it was a free manor held by a monied rent. At a subsequent time Ranulph de Medomsley appears as a frequent witness to the Iveston Charters. They were probably ancestors of the Feltons who held Medomsley, Hamsterley and Bradley in later years.
In 1360 William de Felton died leaving the manor held by homage, fealty and 4s rent (with Hamsterley at 4 marks rent). Fealty or oath of fealty is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically it is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or Saint’s relic, thus binding the oath taker before God. Homage was a ceremony in which a tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord. It was a more powerful pledge than fealty. It was a symbolic announcement to the Lord that the vassal or tenant was literally his man. William’s son died in 1367. Three inquisitions entailed contesting the holders of the land. Finally in 1371, John, his half brother succeeded in establishing true claim to the whole of both Townships. This last John de Felton died in 1395 leaving a son, who died underage, and a daughter Elizabeth who carried the estates into the family of Hastings by marriage.
In 1444 Elizabeth’s husband Edmond split the estate between his grandson, Edmond (two thirds), and his son (one third). Eventually Roger Hastings sold his manor and village of Medomsley in 1496 to George Carr, Merchant of Newcastle. It was still in the possession of Ralph Carr in 1656.
The family of Hunter have held property in Medomsley and heir mansions stood at the east and west entrances to the village. In 1584-5 Thomas Hunter was granted land for 36 marks 4d and John Hunter another parcel (including a messuage) for 35 marks 3s 4d. This began 400 years of association with the Hunter family as land owners in Medomsley.
Between 1871-1881 coal royalties were opened by the Consett Iron Company. Previously the Hamsterley royalties were opened in 1866 by Dr Watson and drift mined at Colt Park and Croniwell. The annual output was 30,000 tons per year with 120 coke ovens on site. Fire bricks and building
bricks were also made. It employed 400 men and boys.
Medomsley and Westwood colliery employed 191 men by 1894 and had an output of 700 tons per day and almost all of it was converted to coke on site for use in Consett’s blast furnaces. The Medomsley and Busty pit was dominated by coke ovens.
The Hunter pit opened in 1889 and was producing 300 tons of coal per day and employing 160 men and boys by 1894.
Hunter Colliery, Medomsley
The township of Medomsley had an area of 4823 acres and population statistics were
1801 - 754 (including Conside)
1811 - 391
1821 - 461
1831 - 466
1841 - 796
1851 - 840
1861 - 1296
1871 - 1859
1881 - 4429
1891 - 5306 (including Billingside)
Pontop
Pontop Township to the immediate east of the scoped site, has a much more important history, especially in respect of the persecution of the Catholics and has strong links to the Ushaw College.
Pontop is a complex and ancient name. It is best to start with Pont, the burn which flows through the valley here. Pont is the old Celtic name related to the Welsh ‘pant’ meaning valley. Anglo Saxon settlers, ignorant of the meaning of pont added 'hop' meaning valley. Therefore Pontop means
‘valley valley’. Pontop was not a conventional Township with villeins and copyholders. It was simply a piece of land which the Bishop rented out for money, to a single tenant. The first recorded tenant is Lawrence of Ponthope who, in 1246, was paying ‘exchequer rent’ of 2s per year. At that time
exchequer rent was common practice when land had been simply hacked out of the forest and unofficially enclosed. When this happened, the Bishop was normally happy to legalise matters.The original township was only about 60 acres, but it grew in the Middle Ages. By 1431 there was a mansion house, now Pontop Hall, 100 acres of pasture and 100 acres of arable land and it expanded further into the nineteenth century to include all of High Stables farm up to the boundary of the
Common land which is the A692. The Boundary wall adjacent to the road, now well neglected is nevertheless still visible.
In 1361 John de Gourlay died and left the manor of Pontop and half the manor of Shepmanstele (possibly Shipmasters Hill now) rented for 2s to his son Richard who was aged 15.
By Hatfields survey, William de Gourlay held the manor of Ponthope containing 60 acres for 2s rent; a close of 15 acres called the Park for 2s rent; a messuage and 48 acres for 8s rent; and a messuage and 30 acres called Shippyngstele for 2s rent. William died in 1395. His son Richard Gourlay passed the land to Sir William Claxton, knight, in 1409. Eventually Sir Robert Claxton divided his estate among 4 co-heirs. Ponthope was allotted to the family of Elmsden whose heirs carried the estate as well as other large possessions into the family of Sir William Butler by marriage. In 1600, Bartram Butler, great grandson of Sir William, sold his whole messuage to Anthony Meabourne. It is
supposed that his first transaction was a mortgage, followed by a lease in 1602 and a general release in 1608.Previous holders of Pontop seemed to hold it purely as an investment but Anthony Meabourne was the first true’squire’ of the Township holding the land until 1732.
In 1611 Thomas Marley conveyed’ all the tythes of corn and grain within Pontop’ to Anthony Meabourne. Four generations of Meabourne held the manor until Mary, born 1713, married Thomas Swinburne Esquire, son of Sir William Swinburne of Capheaton. Thomas died in 1786 and the estate then was in the family of Swinburne. It was in the early 1700’s that the Meaburnes ‘acquired’ lands at Billingside which would be instrumental in the eventual spread of the Western Way through Bryans Leap and Collierley around Meabourne’s Pontop hall and onward following the contours through Billingside to its terminus at the Pont head colliery.
Meabournes Pontop Colliery opened about 1727 and used local tenant labour initially to exploit the surface seams via pits romantically called Virgins, Hall, Oak, Ash, Wood, Stubble and finally a cluster called the Spring pits. Also shown on a map of 1750 were a Sinking pit and a ‘Lost Borehole pit’. All were linked eventually to the new extended Western Way until it was later extended further into Billingside. The sites of these pits are still relatively clear, especially the Stubble when viewed on an aerial photograph, it shows the classic circular shape of a bell pit, albeit with a shaft that eventually punched 60ft into the Hutton seam. If you walk the area now you will find large surface deposits of coal from the abandoned coal heaps that were next to the pits. Later on more modern collieries would come that could exploit the reserves via huge leaps in technology, greater distances and deeper seams underground, increasing production ten fold. In Pontop Township such a colliery was the South Medomsley.
The Manors and Townships 2
The South - Medomsley (Pontop) Colliery
South - Medomsley Colliery
The South Medomsley Colliery comprised of two pits, the Annie pit which was a 13ft diameter shaft sunk in 1864 and the Mary pit sunk in 1867. It was opened by Maschamp, Bainbridge and Co. who quickly became the South Medomsley Colliery Co. Ltd. They remained owners until nationalisation in 1947. It also drift mined into the Hutton, Five Quarter,Brass Thill and Little Coal seams,Most notably in Deacon’s drift which punched into the Little Coal seam under Billingside. Deacon’s Drift was named after Bob Deacon who with Jack Mason dug the rolleyway route from the drift and it’s associated Fan drift up to the Annie pit. My father, Hylton Marrs was one
of the team who closed and demolished the drift. The rolleyway of the drift crossed a dene by a wooden bridge which was built in sections at Bradley Colliery workshops and which survived precariously until the the late 1960’s
when it was removed and eventually the dene half filled to provide a footpath.
In 1894, Whellan’s Directory of County Durham lists 217 coke ovens on site of which 53 were in operation. The weekly output was 1700 tons and it employed 211 men and boys.
In 1893 an ancient wooden spade was found in old workings in the Hutton seam. This is significant as it shows that the seam had been worked for hundreds of years before 1893, which would cast doubt on any estimate of available reserves in the area. Old miners will recall that in the strike of the 1920’s seams were opened up and secretly mined to provide fuel for the whole of the village.
Employment details for the Colliery were;-
1896- 173 of which 134 were below ground
1897- 352 of which 285 were below ground
1914- 508 of which 438 were below ground
1921- 265 of which 213 were below ground
1930- 369 of which 304 were below ground
1940- 335 of which 273 were below ground
1945- 321 of which 240 were below ground
1946- 300 of which 240 were below ground
1950- 359 of which 274 were below ground
1955- 384 of which 274 were below ground
1960- 305 of which 245 were below ground
The Annie shaft was sunk 810ft above sea level and was 629ft deep. It cut through the following seams;-
The FIVE QUARTER seam at 96ft
The BRASS THILL seam at 104ft 8in
The HUTTON seam at 276ft 8in
The MAIN COAL seam at 324ft 1in
The HARVEY (or TOWNELEY) seam at 453ft
The TOP BUSTY seam at 522ft 10in
The LOWER BUSTY seam at 548ft 8in
The THREE QUARTER seam at 596ft 8in
The BROCKWELL seam at 629ft
The Mary shaft was sunk down the valley at 580ft above sea level and was 402ft 5in deep. It cut through the following seams;-
The MAIN COAL seam at 85ft 2in
The HARVEY seam at 214ft 1in
The BUSTY seam at 311ft 8in
The THREE QUARTER seam at 368ft 6in
The BROCKWELL seam at 402ft 5in
The Mary shaft as well as the main drift mines at Deacon’s, Fan, Five Quarter, Brass Thill, Foster’s, Low Hutton, Hutton and the Coronation drifts were connected back to the Annie pit via rolleyways, most still prominent today. Two of these cut paths through the Western Way of 150 years earlier.
An article in The Times of 30th June 1916 reports a court case of Durham County Council v South Medomsley Colliery where Mr Justice Neville found that evidence was proven of subsidence causing damage to Dipton School buildings in 1901 (repaired in 1910), further damage in 1909 and 1914. The County Council won an injunction to prevent more mining under or near the school and damages. At 2.30pm on 29th March 1934, in the Top Busty seam, an explosion of mine gases, unknown until that time in that area, killed 3 men and seriously injured 2 others. The dead were Joseph Merrington 37, George Nicholson 26 and Luke Newton 21. The two injured miners were Christopher Young and David Gregory. Three men, Thomas Bolam, Crossley the Deputy, and A.S.Davison received awards and certificates for extreme bravery from the Carnegie Hero Fund Trust which was reported in full by the Mines Inspector in his report in 1934. The railway link to the Eden Colliery was finally abandoned in 1964 when the last train driver, Veitch, removed the tender from the shed at the bottom of Douglas Terrace. By this time both Collieries were linked underground and all coal was being transported directly to the foot of the Eden’s main shaft. The South Medomsley Colliery finally closed in July 1980.