Catalogue

Volume containing an extract of fines paid at the Courts Leet and Baron of the Manors of Witton-le-Wear and Hamsterley, 25 April 1683; Court Rolls of the Manors of Witton-le-Wear, 1732, 1735, 1738 and 1740 and Hamsterley, 1732, 1738, 1740 and 1743; Hamsterley and Witton Call Books, n.d.; Record of leases for lives granted in and near St. Day (Parish of Gwennap, co. Cornwall), 1733-1763; Licences to dig and search for tin and copper ores in the area of Gwennap, co. Cornwall, 1754-1763

Volume containing miscellaneous documents relating to Witton-le-Wear and Hamsterley including: a) Manorial records (i.e. court rolls, presentments, verdicts of the jury, pains and penalties, etc.) for Witton-le-Wear, 1672-1676, 1680, 1682, 1684, 1690,1698, 1713, 1715, 1717, 1720, 1723, 1724, 1735, 1738, 1740, 1743, 1756, 1757 and Hamsterley, 1674, 1675, 1680, 1689, 1690, 1697, 1698, 1700, 1712, 1715, 1717, 1720, 1723, 1724, 1738, 1740, 1743, 1756, 1757; appointment of Ralph Hodgson as steward of the Manors by John Cuthbert, 1756; appointment of Cuthbert Jackson as gamekeeper within the manors by J. T. H. Hopper, 1794; abstract of title to the Manor of Hamsterley, 1378-1721 b) Records relating to the church of Witton-le-Wear and the curate's stipend viz:-Draft nominations of Stephen Teasdale and John Davie Eade to the curacy by Henry Darcy and William Chaytor, 1739, 1834; subscriptions for augmenting the chapelry, 1723, 1754; instructions for drawing up the deeds of a gift of £50 for augmenting the curacy, n.d., c. 1754; official notification that the living was to be augmented by £200 and requesting that lands or tithes be found in which to invest the money, 1755; correspondence re the title and deeds for the land used to augment the living, 1757; lawyers' bills for the Rev. S. Teasdale, 1758, 1764; memorandum by John Farrer, curate, that he had pulled up and defaced four stones erected by one James Reynolds Miller of Durham on the land purchased by the Rev. S. Teasdale to augment the living, 1767; legal case between James Darcy and Ralph Stobbs and Thomas Markell re the taking away of crops in the chapelry owed as tithe to the church of St. Andrew Auckland, but alleged to belong to Wolsingham, 1671 with an account of Darcy's title to the prebends of Witton and flamsterley; tithe accounts (?) for South Bedburn, Lynesack and Softley and Morley, 1760; faculty for building a gallery granted to John Cuthbert Lord of the Manor, 1780; letter from William Chaytor, Witton Castle to Mr. Newby Lowson requesting him to take down a wall which obstructed the passage to the churchyard, 1823; terrier for Witton-le-Wear and Hamsterley, n.d., c. 1808-34; list of pews in the church with their proprietors, n.d., early 19th century c) Records relating to the school in Witton-le-Wear viz:- accounts of Mr. John Dobinson and subscription received for rebuilding a cottage to house the Parish Clerk and School-master, 1733; petition (and copy) for money to help rebuild the house of the Parish Clerk and Schoolmaster with a list of contributions gathered by John Addison, 1735; list of subscriptions and days work for rebuilding the cottage of the School-master with a petition for more money, n.d., c. 1754; memorandum re the house of the Parish Clerk and Schoolmaster and the office of schoolmaster in Witton, 1794; sundry receipts, accounts, etc., 1733, n.d. d) Miscellaneous items viz:- Legal case between Sir William Chaytor and holders of allotments on Witton-le-Wear and North Bedburn Commons re damage done in searching for and winning coals with names of the holders and yearly rental of their allotments, n.d., early 19th century; case in Court of Pleas, Durham between Christopher Blackett of Hoppyland and Jacob Darcy re a dispute concerning land, 1668; memorandum by Lancelot Ayre of Redford that he did not pay any consideration in exchanging certain lands in the Mill Ele [Islei with a Mrs. Jane ( ), 1760; extract from the records of the Consistory Court of Durham granting Letters of Administration on the estate of George Dixon of Cock field to John Raylton, 1785; agreement between John Thomas Hendry Hopper and John Smith re a house in Witton built by Smith, 1795; accounts of Bishops Acre money, land tax, Bishop's rent paid by tenants, n.d.; names of people in Witton Township and North Bedburn (servants? tenants? farmhands?) with breakdown of age levels, n.d. (1 volume) N.B. The items in these volumes are not in order