Books, Modern Era, Archaeologia Aeliana Series 4 Volume 32 Pages 126-159

Part 1—1206 to 1611.

Section I. The Thirteenth Century.

Walter fitz Gilbert, the last of the Buron family to hold the barony of Bolam, died in 1206.¹ He was a person of some importance in Northumberland. His wife was an Umfraville, and he was related to the Delavals and, probably, to the Baliols². He held the barony of Bolam in chief by the service of 3 knights' fees, 40s. castleguard and 8s. 8d. cornage. It consisted of Bolam, Belsay, Bradford, Trewick and Deanham in a compact block near Bolam; Aydon, Thornbrough and Little Whittington near Corbridge; and Greenleighton (including Harwood³), lying several miles to the north-west of Bolam. It also included three distant manors, Cowpen, East Brunton and Tunstall⁴.

Note 1. N.C.H,, X, 306-10 and 337-9.

Note 2. N.C.H,, IX, 315-6.

Note 3. H.N., II; i, 288; S.S., LXXXVIII, 205.

Note 4. H.N., II, i, 332. ‘

The barons of Bolam also held, by the service of 23 knights' fees, eight vills of the barony of Bolbec—Harnham, Shaftoe, South Middleton, Hawick, Cambo, Newton Grange, Rothley and Hartington⁵—with the result that the greater part of Walter fitz Gilbert's lordship was an almost continuous estate, stretching from Belsay and Trewick on the south to Greenleighton and Harwood on the north. The vills were small, and were widely separated from one another by larger areas of waste, moor and forest. Many of these vills were held by sub-tenants, and in those Walter fitz Gilberts interest was limited to the usual feudal services. Bolam and the. neighbouring vills of Harnham, Bradford and South Middleton were, however, among those held in demesne.

Note 5. Book of Fees, II, 113; Red Bk. of the Exch., I, 437; S.S., LXVI, 286-7.

John Hodgson states that, when Bolam House was built by Robert Horsley, the ruins of a large house within the prehistoric entrenchment on Bolam Hill were used as a quarry, and that previously there was still standing part of a strongly built tower, about 40 feet by 30 feet externally, with the remains of other buildings overgrown with turf⁶. Another description runs, "There has been formerly a very considerable castle at the west end of this village [Bolam]. The fosse is very visible, and has been of vast depth⁷." This house was probably Walter fitz Gilbert's home and the administrative centre of his barony.

Note 6. H.N., II, i, 336.

Note 7. Mark's Survey of Northumberland, Proc., 3rd ser., Ill, 265.

Walter fitz Gilbert's daughters, Aline and Alice, inherited the estate, and the king gave them in marriage to two brothers, John and James of Cauz, between whom the Bolam barony and the Bolbec vills were divided. From later inquisitions⁸ it seems evident that the share allotted to John and Aline of Cauz included the capital messuage at Bolam and the manor of Shortflatt, though possibly it was not then known by that name and may not have existed as a separate property.

Note 8. See pp. 129, 131-3.

Shortflatt is not named in any of the early lists of the vills comprised in the barony of Bolbec⁹ and probably came into being when the estate was divided. Harnham is the only, adjoining Bolbec vill, and I suggest that Shortflatt was originally part of Harnham. This is supported by the fact that these two places are grouped together in the 1296 Subsidy roll¹⁰.

Note 9. Note 5.

Note 10. Note 38.

It is not until 1223 that Shortflatt is mentioned by name, John of Cauz in that year nominating Everard of Shortflatt (Schorflet) as one of his two sureties in a suit against Wischard, parson of Horton¹¹. Everard must have been a man of standing, and his description indicates that in 1223 Shortflatt existed as a separate property, probably with a capital messuage.

Note 11. Northd . Pleas (N.R.C.) Nos. 242, 244.

1234. John of Cauz died in 1234, and his widow, description as Aline of Bolam, probably indicates that she resided there. Their heiress was a daughter, Margery, and her marriage was granted to Walter Gray (age 54), archbishop of York, who married her to his nephew, William le Bretun.

In 1246 both Aline of Bolam and William le Bretun were dead¹³, and the wealth of the young widow [Margaret de Cauz] excited the cupidity of a Suffolk knight, Sir Richard of Gosebek, who, with the assistance of a number of his friends, seized her at night, carried her off, and compelled her by force to be his wife¹⁴.

Note 13. N.C.H, X, 341, 342.

Note 14. Excerp. e Rot. Fin. in Turn Lon, I, 463 and 465. Cal. P.R. 1232-47, 489.

In 1256, however, it was stated that "Margery married herself to Richard of Gosebek without the license of archbishop"¹⁵, the wording suggesting that Margery had connived at her own abduction.

Note 15. S.S., 88, p. 102.

In October 1246 the king ordered the sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk to put Gosebek's accomplices in prison and to seize their lands and chattels, as well as those of Richard and Margery, while the sheriff of Berkshire was ordered to take possession of Margery's lands in that county¹⁶. Eventually, Richard and Margery regained possession of their estates.

Note 16. See note 14.

It seems probable that after his marriage Richard of Gosebek continued to live mainly in Suffolk, where he was lord of the manor of Eston Gosebek (now Gosbeck). He took an active interest, however, in his Northumbrian property, and in 1256 and 1269 he was at Newcastle, accompanied on at least one occasion by his wife, contesting alleged encroachments on his feudal rights by the Bishop of Durham, Sir Hugh de la Val and others¹⁷. He married his daughter Alice .to a Northumbrian neighbour, Robert son of Henry of Bradford, giving him as his wife's dowry a moiety of the manor of Bradford and a moiety of the mill at Aydon¹⁸. He also gave land in Greenleighton (Lithdon) to Newminster Abbey [Map]¹⁹.

Note 17. Northd. Pleas 1198-1272. Also S.S., LXXXVIII.

Note 18. N.C.H., X, 343

Note 19. S.S., 66, pp. 88, 89.

In 1277 he was summoned to serve against the Welsh, and on the same occasion he sent three servientes to the muster at Worcester for the service due for his half-barony of Bolam²⁰.

Note 20. Harl. Soc., 81.

June 1270. During the second half of the thirteenth century there was a close connection between the Gosebeks and the family of Reymes of Wherstead, a village near Ipswich²¹. In June 1270 Richard of Gosebek was at Wherstead witnessing a settlement made by Roger of Reymes on the eve of his departure on crusade with Prince Edward. Roger returned in safety and made another settlement, as by an undated charter Sir Richard of Gosebek quitclaimed to Hugh of Reymes his rights in the manor of Wherstead "which manor I at one time held by the demise of Sir Roger of Reymes, deceased"²².

Note 21. For the early history of the family of Reymes, see S.Inst., XXIII, and Norfolk Arch., 30. The name is derived from the hamlet of Rames, near Lillebonne in Normandy (Round's Geoffrey de M andeville, 181, and The origins of some Anglo-Norman Families, Lewis C. Loyd (Harl. Soc., CHI).)

Note 22. S.Inst. XXIII, 99ff

1284. Margery died in 1284, holding land in Bolam, Greenleighton, Deanham, East Brunton, Little Whittington and Aydon in capite by the service of 1½ knights' fees and 20s. castle-guard; and also "Le Scortflat [Map], the manor and 160 acres of land", and land in Middleton, Cambo, Shaftoe and Hawick of the heirs of Hugh of Bolbec, rendering 20s. yearly to those heirs²⁸.

Note 28. Cal. Inq. Edw. I.

Note 29. App. A. In N.C.H., X, 331, William Middleton is identified with the person of that name who became vicar of Bolam before 1281 and was still vicar in Oct. 1294.

Hugh of Gosebek was thirty years of age when he succeeded his mother. He was not interested in his Northumbrian property, and before June 1290 he had leased the moiety of the barony of Bolam, with, presumably, his share of the Bolbec vills, to William of Middleton at the annual rent of 50 marks²⁹. It is curious that when in 1293 the king's judges required evidence of this, the jurors were satisfied with a writing³⁰ to the effect that the king had sanctioned the lease to Middleton of the manor of Shortflatt with the appurtenances for 50 marks yearly, although Shortflatt was not even a member of the barony.

Note 30. Cal. C.R., June 17th, 1290

Between 1293 and August 1295³¹, Hugh of Gosebek demised the moiety of the barony of Bolam to Hugh of Reymes of Wherstead and Robert his son³².

Note 31. Hugh Reymes was dead in August 1295 (note 36).

Note 32. Cal. C.R., Sept. 1296; N.C.H., X, 343.