If you were to visit Kirkheaton
Northumberland in 2019, you would travel north from Newcastle to Belsay and a
mile beyond you would take a left turn onto a minor road which would take you
past the walls of Belsay castle and on, due west, for 5 miles, the last ¾ of a
mile being on single track with passing places. Then you would arrive on the
Village Green. This is still the size of the original medieval green and
surrounded by the original cottage and farm houses, though they have all been
enlarged over the centuries. There would have been no trees on the Green and
one of the houses at the far end was not there, though there was a small
building on the plot, possibly a cottage. I do not know the date of the original
cottage in the middle of the Green. It was extended in 2016 into a house.
Around the original Village Green and its dwellings there are newer additions,
though the Church, of which more later, which is built on the highest point to
the SW of the Green, was certainly there in 1200. Opposite the Manor House is a
new bungalow, incorporating an old stable that was used by the occupiers of the
Manor at one period. The access to the bungalow is an old track leading down to
a disused limestone quarry. On the right and still at the same level as the
bungalow, is a ruined cottage (known to have been the gamekeeper’s home in the
late 19th century and early 20th), which backs onto the churchyard.
Work is to start there shortly to turn it into another bungalow. At the bottom
of the hill is an old but modern barn which is to be demolished and rebuilt as
a house. To the west of the cottages on the north side there is another
bungalow, built in the 1940s and beyond that there are stables which can house (how many?) horses. Between No 3 North Side and West
Farm there is a track leading to another quarry which provided stone for the
roads which were tarmac-ed in the late 1920’s or early 30’s. On the right of the track is an old barn
which was converted to a house in (when), and
beyond it and the site of the old Women’s Institute Hut, is the possibly
Wesleyan Chapel, which was certainly there in the 1860’s but was probably built
in the 18th century. All the way down behind the rest of North Side
there are old farm buildings etc with Proudlock’s Haulage business at the
end. There is a gap between Nos 7 and 8,
in which there is a small piece of a ruin which is thought to have been either
a Bastle House (fortified farmhouse) or a small tower, but there are no records
to prove this. Now that you have an outline of the Hamlet in 2019 it is time to
go back in time....
[ The early part of the following history is
mostly taken from A History of Northumberland, Volume IV, Hexhamshire: Part II,
(Hexham, Whitley Chapel, Allendale, and St. John Lee), and The Parish of
Chollerton, The Chapelry of Kirkheaton, The Parish of Thockrington, By John
Crawford Hodson, dated 1897. Much of the earlier history contains different
spellings for the same places and where I have taken information from Hodson, I
have used his spelling.]
The origin of the settlement of Kirkheaton
is unknown, the first known mention being in 1290. The reason for its existence
is also unknown. Both coal and limestone were mined later on but were unlikely to
have drawn people there in the distant past. It was a very bleak site, standing
at 650ft and open to all the winds. 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. The Devil’s Causeway is thought to have been older than Hadrian’s Wall.
It starts just north of the Wall close by Corbridge, quite some distance south
of Kirkheaton and runs north to Berwick. The bell pits were a very early form
of mining for coal, so named because of their shape. At the time Kirkheaton was
first 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, as the
land to the East was farms and no signs are to be found while to the West it is
wilder and with modern methods, such as Drones, it may be possible to identify where
it was. When I arrived in 1981 villagers spoke of a lost village to the west. Something of the size of both places can be
guessed at from the Subsidy Roll of 1296 when there were 15 people mentioned in
Kirkheaton and 6 in Caldestryer, so neither were very large. Subsidy Rolls are records of taxation in England made between the
12th and 17th centuries. Ownership at that time is vague though it seems
that Walter de Bolam and John de Cambhou were involved. At that time people
tended to call themselves after the places where they lived, in this case Bolam
and Cambo.
The chapel, (St. Bartholomew’s Church
today), was held by The Prior and convent of Hexham Priory and in 1314 the
Priory “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, (another local place now (Bavington)) , William Heeson and Robert,
son of Hugh de Cambhowe.
Gilbert and John de Middleton separately
owned land in Chuldstrothre and West Heaton. (Today a descendent still owns and
lives on an estate round Belsay. In 1317
there was a rebellion against Edward II in which the Middletons were involved
so Gilbert Middleton was known as 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 Strivelyn 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, Fenwick and Swinburne.. 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.)
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. If the Scots were not coming over
the border and thieving, raping and burning, the people of the Northern areas
were doing the same on the Scottish side of the border. Information can be
found in the records of some of the big families, such as the Swinburnes and
Herons. 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.
After the union of England and Scotland things gradually became more settled and the Herons acquired much of the land and
by 1663 a Matthew Heron owned 6/7th of the “lands of the Township”,
whilst John Atkinson owned the remaining 1/7th so that when the
enclosures came in 1722, 1/7th 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, in which he was living. This remains to this day as
Kirkheaton Farm and includes Black Hill, now ruined. Black Hill had a single
room on the east end and a byre for the cattle on the west and may have been
occupied by a shepherd. There are also signs of outbuildings. It stands on a
bluff overlooking a marshy area, where the River Blythe rises and is exposed to
the prevailing westerly winds.
The Reiving stopped early in the 17th
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. 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 of Wallington. Dame Dorothy’s death was followed by much
litigation. The following is a summary of the events taken from the Crasters’
papers (Craster, Archaeologia
Achana Vol xxxi, 4th
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 3rd
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, farms
and the Manor House. 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 18th 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 pay for them. (For more on the Manor and on the
Church , see the chapters on them.)
The
population in the 19th 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. No
doubt the reason for the larger size was the coal mine and the large number of people
needed to work the land. Also there were trades people such as shoe menders! The
reduction in 1951 may have been due to a combination of the closure of the mine
and changes in farming practice. The decline in numbers of 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 source of the River Blythe, is still
there but now a ruin. Fairshaw was a farm between the Ingo 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.
