Start of Kirkheaton History

The origin of the settlement of Kirkheaton is unknown, the first known mention being in 1290. However, the Roman Road, the Devil’s Causeway, runs through the eastern end of the parish and has signs of bell pits on either side, so there could have been some form of settlement in Roman times. By the time it was mentioned there were two separate places, Little Heton and Caldstrother. The site of the latter is unknown but must be to the west of Kirkheaton. Both places were of a reasonable size as in the Subsidy Roll of 1296 there were 15 people mentioned in Kirkheaton and 6 in Caldestryer. Ownership at that time is vague though it seems that Walter de Bolam and John de Cambhou were involved. The chapel, (St. Bartholomew’s Church today), was held by The Prior and convent of Hexham Priory and in 1314 they “obtained a licence to acquire the moiety (half) of the manor of Little Heaton from John de Cambhou and in 1323 to obtain land from Hilbert de Babynton, William Heeson and Robert, son of Hugh de Cambhowe.

   Gilbert and John de Middleton separately owned land in Chuldstrothre and West Heaton. Gilbert Middleton was a Rebel and his lands were confiscated. Edward ll granted a toft and 10 acres in Chuldstrothre to Thomas de Heton and in 1333 John de Crumbwell (Constable for the Tower of London) died seized of Lands in Caldstruther, and in 1335 Sir John Strivelyn of Belsay obtained grant of lands of John Middleton (rebel). The receipt to the Bailiffs is held at Kew. Sir John, in 1373, by deeds entailed certain lands in Caldstrother, “which is a hamlet of Kirkheaton”. After Sir John died, the lands reverted to Sir John de Middleton.

   In 1479, the survey of the possessions of the Priory, contained in the Black Book of Hexham tells us that at Kirkheaton and Caldstrother, seven tenants who held of the prior, by homage and suit of court, thirty-three who held husbandlands , and eight cottagers. The land occupied by the last two groups totalled 1169 acres.

   Other Northumbrian family names mentioned in the early 1500s were Ilderton, Shafftow and Fenwick. The last mention of Caldstrother is in 1505/6, when “Sir Thomas Ilderton, son and heir of Thomas Ilderton, lately deceased, granted Thomas Shaftow.....and also all those lands, etc , in the vill territory, and fields of Caldstroder.”  (Vill – Territorial unit or division under the feudal system, consisting of a number of houses or buildings with their adjacent lands, more or less contiguous and having a common organisation; corresponding to the Anglo-Saxon tithing and to the modern township or civil parish.) In 1524, 400 Tynedale men, accompanied by many Scots, gathered at Ingoe and Kirkheaton and overran the country to within eight miles of Newcastle "slaying, wounding, pillaging and burning on their way"

   Some idea of the size of Kirkheaton can be gained from the Muster Roll of 1538. This showed that there were 5 men – able with horse and harness and 10 with neither horse or harness, so it was not a large community. Information about this period is fragmentary, because it was a very unsettled time with the Border Reiving. There are references to Kirkheaton in the Swinburne (Capheaton) Manuscripts and it is known that Matthew Heron, a younger son of the Herons of Chipchase, built The Manor House in about 1570 as a Bastle, or fortified house. He also acquired much of the land and by 1663 a Matthew Heron owned 6/7^th of the “lands of the Township”, whilst John Atkinson owned the remaining 1/7^th so that when the enclosures came in 1722, 1/7^th of the land to the northwest of the village was allocated to a Jacob Atkinson together with a house on the South side of the village. This remains to this day as Kirkheaton Farm and includes Black Hill, now ruined.

   The Reiving stopped early in the 17^th Century and life will have changed to be more peaceful.

The Manor House was altered to be more comfortable, the south wall being rebuilt with the windows we see today. Farming could continue without fear of losing your stock to the Scots but ownerships continued to change. For instance, the coal mines which had belonged to the Priory and thence to the King, were, by 1689 owned by Sir William Blackett of Wallington.

   In about 1664, ownership of the township of Kirkheaton finally passed from the Herons, when Matthew Heron sold it to Sir Richard Stote of Stote’s Hall, Newcastle. He died unmarried in 1707 and left all his estates to his three younger sisters, Margaret, Frances and Dorothy. The last survivor was Dame Dorothy Windsor, who had married Dixie Windsor, third son of Thomas, first earl of Plymouth. She was responsible for rebuilding the Church which was roofless and adding a wing to the Manor House. She died a widow, childless and intestate, owning, amongst other estates, 1,759 acres in Kirkheaton, including Kirkheaton Hall and a land sale colliery which had probably been acquired from the Blacketts. Dame Dorothy’s death was followed by much litigation. The following is a summary of the events taken from the Craster's papers (Craster, Archaeologia  Achana  Vol xxxi, 4^th series) – “Six weeks before this wedding (Feb 3, 1757) an aged widow died in Upper Brook St, childless and intestate. Her name was Dame Dorothy Windsor. She was the last surviving child of that Sir Richard Stote who had helped to make John Craster’s grandfather, sheriff of Northumberland in Charles ll reign, and whose mother, Jane Bewick, had for her grandfather an Edmund Craster who had owned Craster in the days of Elizabeth. So she was 3^rd cousin once removed to John. What was also much to the point, she owned large and profitable estates in the South of Northumberland. These comprised 1,056 in Long Benton, 296 in Willington and 89 acres in Jesmond. John’s genealogical researches gave prospect of yielding a substantial dividend. He asserted his claim to be Dame Dorothy’s next-of-kin and heir at law, while the Earl of Northumberland, the Earl of Carlisle and Sir William Blackett all asserted that there were no heirs at all and claimed various portions of the estates as escheats. More than one suit was started in the Court of Exchequer, and legal proceedings dragged on for three years, threatening to involve the litigants in considerable expense. John Craster thought it wise to come to terms with Sir Robert Bewicke and make common cause with him against the other parties. They agreed to act in concert and to share expenses and benefits. Events justified the Craster-Bewicke partnership. Judgement was given in their favour and they entered into possession of the coveted estates as tenants in common”

   Until 1838 the joint ownership continued but then Thomas Wood Craster began to sell off farms and by 1849 he had realised his share of the surface rights in the Windsor estates while retaining the coal royalties. The Bewickes continued to own the Kirkheaton Estate until 1924.

   In the years that followed, Kirkheaton Farm changed hands a number of times and tenants came and went in the cottages. In 1781 there was another court case disputing the title of the Crasters and Bewickes to the Windsor estates by Stote Manby, who claimed nearer kinship to the Stotes. Stote Manby was a descendant of Sir Richard Stote’s brother Cuthbert. He obtained a verdict in his favour, but he compounded his claim by accepting £300 a year for life from the Bewicks and Crasters. In 1855-7 there was yet another court case brought by a grandson of Stote Manby but it was unsuccessful.

During the Napoleonic wars, a letter was written to William Loraine of Kirke Harle, which resulted in his writing, on September 18^th 1803 to Mr Robson of High Heaton (was this Kirkheaton or Capheaton?) the following letter:  He needed to know the number of Carts that would be required for the Removal of the Infirm and Children in the Parish and the number of carts that would be left for the other uses of Government. He instructed Mr Robson – “You will have the Number Station marked upon the Carts appropriated for the Conveyance of the Infirm etc and send me the Name of the Owner of the carts and the name of the drivers. You will appoint if possible a Blacksmith and a Carpenter with their Tools to each Twelve Carts and let me know their names and also appoint a few steady Farmers who are unfit from age to be called into actual Service and who will engage to mount themselves and provide some Arms for the Defence of the Carts from Domestic Plunderers. Sir John is of the opinion that the marking of the Cattle and Sheep should by no means be neglected with all possible dispatch. Every person should put their own private mark and also a publick one. The publick one in your Parish should be on the Shoulder of the sheep behind the Neck the figure 9 and on the Cattle the same figure on the left buttock near the top of the Back”  (I have included this letter, even though I am not sure that it was to Kirkheaton because I find it of interest!)

   The Rev. Humphrey Brown took up residence in the Manor House in 1770. He was Chaplain and also curate of Throckrington. A series of Vicars of Throckrington continued to live in the Manor House until 1900, when repairs were needed and the current owner, one of many Calverly Bewickes, was not prepared to do them.( For more on the Manor and on the Church , see the chapters on them.)

   The population in the 19^th century was quite high – 1801-147, 1811-152, 1821-140, 1851-153, 1881-133, 1891-133, 1931-134 – but in 1951 it was only 70. The reason for the drop was the closure of the Brandy Well mine in 1927 (?) The start of a decline in people working on the land no doubt accounts for the decrease to 51 in the 1991 census. By 2000 it had dropped even further to 46. At the time of writing (2019) there are 56, with one house empty and 2 more to be built in the near future. Also there are a number of young children, so the future looks good.

   There are 5 farms or houses that are mentioned in registers but no longer exist. Black Hill, above the sourse of the River Blythe, is still there but now a ruin. Fairshaw was a farm between the Ingoe road and Mount Huly Farm. The trees surrounding it are still there. A researcher into Thomas Bewick's ancestry found that another Thomas Bewick lived in Cross Stone House, Kirkheaton, while Pilfield Hall and Redwell Hall are mentioned in Registers.