HISTORICAL BACKGROUND of Monkwearmouth and its records

by Ken Coleman

Originally built as a monastery, much has been written about St Peter’s and its fame and reputation as the seat of learning and religion during the Saxon ages may indeed be viewed as a legitimate object of historical research. However, as the focus of this review is to deal not with the Church but more with its parishioners who resided around the mouth of the river Wear, it is felt that a potted history will suffice.

Around 674 AD, in the fourth year of the reign of Egfrid, King of Northumberland, Benedict Biscop obtained a grant of land on the north bank of the river Wear, on which he built a monastery and dedicated it to St Peter, the chief of the Apostles. The ground is believed to have been quite considerable in extent, amounting to some 15 square miles. In about 689, at the tender age of seven a young boy named Bede was brought to the monastery and committed to the care of Benedict, under whom and his successor Ceolfrid he was carefully instructed for twelve years. At the age of nineteen he was ordained deacon and became exemplary at that early age for his piety and studious life. Ordained a priest at thirty, he published his ‘Ecclesiastical History’ in 731 at the age of forty nine, and died in 735 having being bestowed with the title of Venerable Bede.

In the latter part of the eighth century, the Danes in one of their many predatory incursions, subjected the monastery at Wearmouth to merciless avarice, destroying every ornament of the church, slaying the monks and setting the building on fire. At this time, Christianity was almost extinct; very few churches were built for nearly two hundred years afterwards. After a degree of reparation, the monastery once again suffered extensive damage, firstly from the vengeance of William the Conqueror on account of the murder of Robert Comyn, a Norman baron whom the Northumbrians had slain during an insurrection, and then shortly afterwards in 1070 when Malcolm, King of Scotland laid waste the whole neighbourhood.

In 1084 in the eighteenth year of his reign, King William the Conqueror decreed that the monks of Jarrow and Wearmouth be received by the bishop, and their liberties, customs and dignities be restored. From this period Wearmouth became a cell for three or four monks only, at the Benedictine order, subordinate to the Abbey of Durham.

It was during the rule of Bishop Pudsey of Durham (1153-1197), that the parishes of Monkwearmouth and Bishopwearmouth were integrated under a charter of privileges. Through the unification of these two settlements sundered (eroded) from each other by the river Wear, the town of Sunderland came into being.

In 1358, Bishop Hatfield leased the borough of Sunderland with the fisheries in the Wear to Richard Hedworth of Southwick for twenty years. For many years religious life continued relatively uninterrupted in the area against the background of the Hundred Years war with France; intermittent wars with Scotland and Wales, and the Black Death.

In 1384, Richard II, on account of his devotions to St Cuthbert the titular saint of Durham, granted leave to export coals from the mines without paying any duties to the corporation of Newcastle. This was speedily taken advantage of and in 1395 coals were shipped to Whitby in Yorkshire from Sunderland and neighbouring ports at a rate of three shillings and four pence per chaldron of thirty-six bushels. In the year 1421, it was enacted that the ‘keels’ (an ancient Saxon word for a ship or vessel) carrying coals to the colliers (coal-carrying ships) should measure exactly twenty chaldrons, to prevent fraud in the duties payable to the King. In 1464, Edward IV granted the borough with the passage of the river, and the fisheries to Robert Bertram to which the King provided his lease with a ferry boat.

For centuries small wooden sailing ships came to the Wear for coal, glass and pottery and as they arrived on the tide and moored up, they would be served by the keels which were flat-bottomed craft carrying a variety of buckets, skips and slings. The ship’s crews and the keelman would unload the tons of sand ballast from far-away beaches. As each keel was filled it made its way to the bank where the sand would be dumped on dry land.

In 1590, Bishop Hutton leased the borough, the ferry boats and the fisheries to Ralph Bowes Esq., of Barnes. After the statute of Henry VIII by which the palatine jurisdiction was restrained and mutilated, Sunderland became a place of considerable note; and about the latter end of the reign of Elizabeth, the coal trade began to find its way into the Wear. It may be of interest to note that in 1609 Sunderland exported 11,648 tons of coal.

Seventeenth Century

Shortly after Charles I was crowned in Edinburgh in 1633 Bishop Morton desirous of encouraging the rising trade of the borough, incorporated the burgesses and inhabitants by the title of Mayor, twelve Alderman and Commonality of the Borough of Sunderland, and granted the privilege of a market and annual fairs. Previous to this incorporation, the borough had been governed by a Bailiff appointed under the Bishop. The charter states “…that Sunderland had beyond the memory of man been an ancient borough known by the name of the New Borough of Weremouth, containing in itself a certain port where ships had plied….that the trade was then greatly increased by reason of the multitude of ships that resorted thither, and the borough anciently enjoyed divers liberties and free customs, as well as by prescription, as by virtue of sundry charters from the Bishops of Durham confirmed to them by the crown; which from defect in form proved insufficient for the support of the ancient liberties, privileges, and free customs of the borough.”

The gentlemen incorporated under this charter were (alphabetically) as follows:

Mayor: Sir William Belasye, of Morton House, Kent

Aldermen:

Robert Bowes, of Biddic-Waterville, Esq;

George Burgorn, of Wearmouth, Gent;

George Gray, of Southwick, Gent;

Richard Hedworth, of Chester Deannery, Esq;

Francis James, of Hetton, Esq;

Sir William Lambton, of Lambton, Kent;

William Langley, Gent;

George Lilburne, of Sunderland, Gent;

George Walton, Alderman, of Durham;

Hugh Walton, Alderman, of Durham;

Thomas Wharton, Esq;

Hugh Wright, of Durham, Esq

Common Council Men:

Thomas Atkinson; Adam Burdon; William Caldwell; Robert Collingwood; Christopher Dickenson; William Dossey; William

Freeman; John Hardcastle; Humphrey Harrison; John Harrison; George Humble; William Huntley; John Husband; Thomas

Lacie; Edward Lee, of Monkwearmouth, Gent; Clement Oldcorn; Thomas Palmer; William Potts; Thomas Scarborough,

William Thompson; William Wycliffe of Offerton, Gent; William Watt and Robert Young.

In 1641 a resolution of Parliament requested all males aged over 18 to take an oath in support of the Crown, Parliament and the Protestant religion, to oppose the “plots and conspiracies of priests and Jesuits” that were allegedly subverting the kingdom. Lists of those taking the oath in each parish were sent to Parliament in 1642. Most men took the oath and those who refused to sign (mostly Catholics) were sometimes also listed. The Protestation Returns’ for Monkwearmouth taken on 24 February, 1641 are set out below:

Addison, John	Cuth(e)bert, Richard	Harrison, William	Rockwood, Robert	Thompson, Thomas
Addison, John	Daile, George	Henderson, James	Rockwood, Tabat	Thompson, Thomas
Ager, William	Dayle, Robert	Hesley, William	Rockwood, Thomas	Todd, John
Ammond, John	Denninge, Richard	Heworth, John	Rowland, Francis	Todd, Thomas
Amory, John	Dickeson, Thomas	Hickes, Richard **	Roxby, William	Todd, Thomas
Anderson, Thomas	Ditchburne, Ralph	Hilton, John	Sanderson, Ralph	Todd, William
Atchinson, Edward	Dodg(s)on, Thomas	Hilton, Ralph	Scurfield, Bernard	Tongue, William
Atchinson, Edward	Doweson, Richard	Hilton, Robert	Scurfield, William	Trumble, Usward
Atchinson, Robert	Drydon, Richard	Hilton, Robert, Jun	Seemar (?), William	Trumble, Usward
Atchinson, Thomas	Emmerson, John	Hopper, Edward	Shepherdson, Christop’r	Ushaw, John
Bee, Bernard	Errington, John	Humble, Alexander	Smith, Duke	Vas(e)y, Ralph
Bell, John	Fawcet, John	Hunter, Thomas	Smith, John	Vas(e)y, Ralph
Bell, John	Field, William	Hunter, William	Sparrow, John, Snr	Wade, Richard
Bell, John	Foster, John	Kitchinge, Thomas	Sparrow, John	Wake, Richard
Bell, Nicholas	Foster, Matthew	Langley, John,	Sparrow, Thomas	Wake, Thomas
Bell, Robert	Foster, Thomas	Locky, John	Spence, Andrew	Watteson, John
Bell, Robert	Foster, Thomas	Lumley, Ralph	Stoddard, Nicholas	Wear, Anthony
Boomer, Ralph	Gardiner, Richard	Lumley, Thomas	Story, Thomas	Wear, John
Bowry, William	Garret, Cuthbert	Maddison, John	Symy/Simey, Michael	Wetherall, Richard
Brough, George	Garret, Cuthbert	Matthew, Toby	Symy/Simey, William	Whittingham, Edward
Browne, Thomas	Gibson, John	Matthew, William	Taylor, Anthony	Whittingham, Matthew
Browne, William	Gibson, Thomas, Snr	Miles, Nicholas	Taylor, Edward	Wilkinson, Cuthbert
Bubby (?), Richard	Gibson, Thomas, Jun	Moody, Williams	Taylor, John	Wilson, Robert
Burlye, William	Gowland, Richard	Mushtian, John	Taylor, John	Woods, Thomas
Calvert, Christopher	Grainger, Ralph	Ourde, Henry	Taylor, Michael	Wrangam, Henry
Cocke, John	Gray, George, Snr	Page, Thomas	Taylor, Nicholas	Wright, Lancelot
Cole, William	Gray, George, Jun	Pierson, John	Taylor, Richard	Wudel, William
Colison, Ralph	Gray, John	Porrat, Thomas	Taylor, Thomas	Wygam, Christopher
Collyer, Thomas	Gray, Thomas	Rea(y), John	Teasdale, George	Young, John
Cooper, Daniel	Green, William	Rea(y), Lionel	Teasdale, Thomas	Young, John
Cotterall, Henry	Haderick, Robert	Reed, Thomas	Thompson, Cuthbert
Cotterall, John	Hall, John	Reed, William	Thompson, John
Cotterall, Richard	Hall, William	Rickaby, William	Thompson, John
Cummin, Nicholas	Harrison, John	Robinson, William	Thompson, Robert

The names of persons refusing to take the protestation, and those at sea:

Melcher Hickes, at sea. John Hilton, Jun, absent

Papists: George Simpson, Cuthbert Wilkinson, John Coleson, Henry Dickinson, and Ralph Grainger, who is absent.

Minister: Richard Hickes** Baptized at Whitburn 9 Nov 1604, son of John Hickes, rector of Whitburn, by his wife Alice Blakiston, of University College, Oxford. Licensed to the Perpetual Curacy of Monkwearmouth 13 Sept 1638. First marriage to Dorothy Heath on 15 Dec 1631. Second wife Alicia buried in Washington on 6 May 1673. Resigned in 1662, died in 1669.

Churchwardens: Thomas Collyer, Thomas Rockwood.

Constables: Christopher Shepherdson, Robert Rockwood, John Young, Thomas Wake.

Ovewseeers (for the poor): John Fawcet, Michael Symy (Simey).

The Protestation Returns’ for Bishopwearmouth are also available but have not yet been transcribed.

By mid-August 1642, all hope had faded of King Charles I and Parliament mending their differences, and the end of August saw the outbreak of the English Civil War. During this unhappy contest between king and Parliament, many of the leading families within the County of Durham supported the king; whilst the middling and lower orders, for obvious reasons, warmly espoused the cause of Parliament. In 1642 the manor of Monkwearmouth had become the property of the parliamentarian Colonel George Fenwick of Brinkburn in Northumberland. His youngest daughter Dorothea (later became the Dame Dorothy after whom the street was named), married Sir Thomas Williamson. The Williamson’s came from East Markham near Nottingham and had been penalised for their support of the Royalist cause in the Civil War. Throughout the conflict, the borough of Sunderland remained entirely devoted to parliamentary interest; a circumstance which may be attributed to the commanding influence of the Lilburne family who possessed a far greater share of both property and interest than any other private family within the borough. The first of the Lilburne family who settled in Sunderland was George Lilburne. During the civil wars he acted as the only civil magistrate within the limits of the borough.

In May 1660 sees the formal restoration of the monarchy in England when Charles II is proclaimed King at the age of 30. However, for decades long before the restoration of Charles II, there were many who objected to the national church, and imbibed the principles of dissenters. From the passing of the act of uniformity in 1662, until the revolution in 1688, as many as refused to conform to the established worship, were denominated Nonconformists. Among these were about 2,000 clergy men who left the church on St Bartholomew’s day in 1662.

By the mid 1660’s, the export of coals from Sunderland had greatly increased, much to the jealousy of Newcastle men. With an intention of balancing the trade of the two ports, a fee of one shilling per chaldron (approx 1.4 tons) was imposed on all coals exported from Sunderland. In the year 1665, during the plague of London the disease was imported to Sunderland by shipping. An entry in a local parish register states that

“Jeremy Read, Billingham in Kent, bringer of the plague, of which died about thirty persons out of Sunderland in three months – July 5^th, 1665”.

No attempt was made to organize proper harbour facilities on the Wear until the mid 17^th Century, and the river’s edges were untidy-looking, especially the north bank. Before the first piers were built, the shore at Monkwearmouth was wide open to the sea, scoured by every tide, silted-up and then washed down again. Year after year, coal went out in the collier brigs and thousands of tons of sand came in. Navigation through the sand banks and mud banks was apparently not the only hazard, for it is recorded that in June 1667 “a fleet of 100 light colliers coming from Southward and in sight of Sunderland were struck by a storm with at least one half of them lost”.

In matters of religion, the country witnessed many turbulent years. Some years after Charles II secretly agreed to declare his conversion to Catholicism and subsequently to restore it to Britain, he issued his Declaration of Indulgence (March, 1672) permitting freedom of worship and assumed the right to cancel all penal legislation against both Protestants and Catholics.

Against the background of intermittent wars with Holland and France, a number of parliaments of Charles II were began and dissolved; plots of his assassinations discovered, culminating in his death in 1685. He was succeeded by his brother as James II of England and VII of Scotland. In 1688, James II issued his Declaration of Liberty of Conscience which, although professing toleration for all religions, clearly favoured Catholics. The ‘Glorious Revolution’ began when a son, James Stuart was born to James II, opening up the prospect of a succession of Catholic Kings. To counter this, Tory leaders invited the King’s son-in-law, William III of Orange, to save Britain from Catholicism. He accepted and Parliament subsequently offered the Crown to William and his wife Mary as joint sovereigns. On their accession in 1689, the name of Nonconformist was changed to that of Protestant Dissenter.

In the year 1689, Dame Dorothy, wife of Baronet Thomas Williamson bought the Monkwearmouth estates from her nephew. Upon her death in 1699, she gave the following charities, yearly, to the poor of the towns of : North Weremouth Town – 1 Pound; North Weremouth Shore – 3 Pounds; Sunderland – 2 pounds

Monkwearmouth burials, 1683-1706

An article entitled ‘Monkwearmouth Registers, 1683-1706’ appeared in the Wearmouth Magazine for December 1882. It was written by Edward J. Taylor F.S.A. who was lent a copy of the burials from the original register by W.H.D Longstaffe, Esq F.S.A. of Gateshead. The list contains 333 burial entries over a 24-year period (an average of 14 burials per annum!), indicating the small population of the five townships.

Year	Period	No of burials
1683	April 6 - March 23	11
1684	April 28 - March 21	15
1685	April 19 – February 21	12
1686	April 21 – March 20	14
1687	April 3 – March 24	18
1688	April 13 – March 11	12
1689	May 6 – March 23	12
1690	March 29 – March 16	14
1691	June 25 – March 14	11
1692	April 2 – March 24	31
1693	May 6 – February 20	9
1694	April 20 – November 23	6
1695	April 23 – February 2	20
1696	April 19 – March 21	12
1697