Plate XXIV:Plan of Heddon on the Wall Parish
Heddon Parish includes six townships Heddon-on-the-Wall, East Heddon, West Heddon, Houghton, Whitchester, and Eachwick. The first three may possibly be sub-divisions of one original township, but East Heddon appears as "Hydewin" or " Hedwin " after the village of Heddon had settled down to the present form of the name. How these six townships, originally independent of one another for civil purposes, came to group themselves into the present ecclesiastical parish cannot be explained. Possibly many townships in Northumberland lost their churches in the ravages of the Danes in the ninth century.
After the Norman Conquest, these six townships formed an enclave, or isolated portion of the Barony of Styford, bestowed by Henry I on Hugh de Bolbec. [23] His grandson, Walter de Bolbec, having founded the Praemonstratensian monastery of Blanchland [24] in 1165, "gave all the rights and patronage which he and his ancestors had in the Church of St. Andrew at Heddon to God and the Church of St. Mary at Blanchland, and the canons serving God there, for the sake of the souls of his father, Walter, and of his other ancestors," by a charter [25] witnessed by his lady and mother Sibilla, by his brother Hugh de Bolbec, by Wielard the parson of Styford, Hugh de Crawedon, [26] Reginald de Kenebell, [27] Ralph de Gray, [28] and others.
After the Norman Conquest, these six townships formed an enclave, or isolated portion of the Barony of Styford, bestowed by Henry I on Hugh de Bolbec. [23] His grandson, Walter de Bolbec, having founded the Praemonstratensian monastery of Blanchland [24] in 1165, "gave all the rights and patronage which he and his ancestors had in the Church of St. Andrew at Heddon to God and the Church of St. Mary at Blanchland, and the canons serving God there, for the sake of the souls of his father, Walter, and of his other ancestors," by a charter [25] witnessed by his lady and mother Sibilla, by his brother Hugh de Bolbec, by Wielard the parson of Styford, Hugh de Crawedon, [26] Reginald de Kenebell, [27] Ralph de Gray, [28] and others.
23 The Bolbecs derived their name, still preserved in that of Bolbeck Common, in Shotleyshire, from the town of Bolbec, near the mouth of the Seine, in Normandy. Their arms were vert, a lion rampant arg. At Bywell St. Andrew's, the principal church in the Bolbec Barony, is an early sepulchral slab with a shield bearing a lion rampant. The parish of Bywell St. Andrew was all in the Bolbec. that of Bywell St. Peter, with which it is so strangely intermingled, all in the Baliol Barony. A Hugh de Bolbec founded the Cistercian Abbey of Woburn in A.D. 1145.
24 Dugdale, Monasticon. ed. Caley, &c., VI., p. 886. Blanchland, in Northumberland (probably till then called Wulwardhope), derives its name from the Praemonstratensian priory of Blanche Lande, in Normandy, which was founded by Richard de Haye, Constable of Normandy, in 1155. Ibid. p. 1116.
25 Universis, &c., Walterus de Bolebek salutem. Noverit, &c., me dedisse, &c. Deo et ecclesias S. Mariae de Blancalanda, et canonicis ibidem Deo servientibus, quicquid juris et patronatus ego et antecessores mei habuimus in ecclesia S. Andrese de Redone, cum suis pertinentiis, in puram et perpetuam elemosinam, &c., pro anima patris mei Walter!, et pro animabus aliorum antecessorum meorum. Hiis testibus, domina mea et matre Sibilla ; Hugone de Bolibek fratre meo ; Wielardo persona de Stiford ; Hugone de Crawedone, Heginaldo de Kenebel; Thurstan filio Ricardi ; Ranulfo de Grey ; Rogero de Cogners, Eustachio clerico, Gilberto de la Vale, &c." Dugdale, Monasticon, VI., p. 886.
26 The Crawedons, who are supposed to have come from Crowdon, near Clapton, about 1 miles S.W. of Cambridge, held Houghton, Whitchester, and Wallington, under the Bolbecs.
27 This Reginald de Kynebell held in 1168, as 'Reginald fil. Wimundi, the whole of Benwell of Walter de Bolbec, as half a knight's fee of new feoffment. (Liber Niger Scaccarii, Hodgson's Northd., III., iii., p. 302.) In one place in the Testa de Neville, Benwell (originally "Bynnewalle,' Sym. Dun. Hist. 8. Cutkb., sec. 24), actually appears as Kenebell ' Rics de Kenebell, tenet medietatem de Kenebell ;' and though this is immediately followed by ' Robtus de Wycestr' et Henr' de la Val tenent aiteram medietatem de BenemelV (Hodgson's Northd., III., i., p. 205), there can be little doubt that Reginald, the son of Wimund, somehow took his surname from the fee he held. Together with ' Walter de bolebec' and others,' Rainald de Kynebel' witnessed the charter granted (1157-1185) by William de Vescy to the burgesses of Alnwick (Tate's Alntvir.k, Vol. II., App., p. 1.): and we know that in the time of Walter de Bolbec, this Reginald held also certain lands in Heddon probably those afterwards rented by Robert de Whitchester since he granted a free passage and landing-place to the monks of Newminster for their 'ship' in his land of Edwinestre (?) and liberty of going and returning by the new road he conceded to them through his coppice to the great road that led towards Throckley. If through stress of flood or wind they could not row in the customary place they were not to be molested. ' Riginaldus de Kynebell, salutem.Sciatis me pro sal. an. m. et domini mei Walter! de Bolbeke et omn. her. m. cone, et hac m. carta conf. Deo et B. M. et mo. de Novo Mon. liberum passagium et rivagium cum navi sua in terra mea de Edenstrem (?), et liberum ire et redire per novam viam quam concessi eis per boscum meum usque ad magnam viam quae vadit versus Trokeslau. Et si forte vi aquse vel venti non possunt loco solito applicare, non inde a me vel meis cambuntur. Hiis testibus, &c." New minster Cartul., Surtees Soc., 66, p. 52. The object of this ferry was to put the Cistercians of Newminster, near Morpeth, in direct communication across the Tyne with their possessions at Chopwell, on the Derwent. The course of the river must have much changed since that time. The Hedwin Streams are now a shallow rapid ; the present ferry is about half'-a-mile further down the river, and lies entirely in the parish of Ryton, the ferryman's house and the wooded field round it, called Ryton Island, being in the county of Durham, although on the north bank of the Tyne. The Editor of the Nemminster Cartulary, the Rev. J. T. Fowler, seems not to have been aware of the locality of ' Edenstrem.'
28 The early mention of a Grey in Northumberland is interesting. The Greys appear to have obtained Wallington from the Crawdens by marriage, and from them it passed in the same way to the Wellingtons. Newminnter Cart., Surt. Soc., 66, p. 261.
24 Dugdale, Monasticon. ed. Caley, &c., VI., p. 886. Blanchland, in Northumberland (probably till then called Wulwardhope), derives its name from the Praemonstratensian priory of Blanche Lande, in Normandy, which was founded by Richard de Haye, Constable of Normandy, in 1155. Ibid. p. 1116.
25 Universis, &c., Walterus de Bolebek salutem. Noverit, &c., me dedisse, &c. Deo et ecclesias S. Mariae de Blancalanda, et canonicis ibidem Deo servientibus, quicquid juris et patronatus ego et antecessores mei habuimus in ecclesia S. Andrese de Redone, cum suis pertinentiis, in puram et perpetuam elemosinam, &c., pro anima patris mei Walter!, et pro animabus aliorum antecessorum meorum. Hiis testibus, domina mea et matre Sibilla ; Hugone de Bolibek fratre meo ; Wielardo persona de Stiford ; Hugone de Crawedone, Heginaldo de Kenebel; Thurstan filio Ricardi ; Ranulfo de Grey ; Rogero de Cogners, Eustachio clerico, Gilberto de la Vale, &c." Dugdale, Monasticon, VI., p. 886.
26 The Crawedons, who are supposed to have come from Crowdon, near Clapton, about 1 miles S.W. of Cambridge, held Houghton, Whitchester, and Wallington, under the Bolbecs.
27 This Reginald de Kynebell held in 1168, as 'Reginald fil. Wimundi, the whole of Benwell of Walter de Bolbec, as half a knight's fee of new feoffment. (Liber Niger Scaccarii, Hodgson's Northd., III., iii., p. 302.) In one place in the Testa de Neville, Benwell (originally "Bynnewalle,' Sym. Dun. Hist. 8. Cutkb., sec. 24), actually appears as Kenebell ' Rics de Kenebell, tenet medietatem de Kenebell ;' and though this is immediately followed by ' Robtus de Wycestr' et Henr' de la Val tenent aiteram medietatem de BenemelV (Hodgson's Northd., III., i., p. 205), there can be little doubt that Reginald, the son of Wimund, somehow took his surname from the fee he held. Together with ' Walter de bolebec' and others,' Rainald de Kynebel' witnessed the charter granted (1157-1185) by William de Vescy to the burgesses of Alnwick (Tate's Alntvir.k, Vol. II., App., p. 1.): and we know that in the time of Walter de Bolbec, this Reginald held also certain lands in Heddon probably those afterwards rented by Robert de Whitchester since he granted a free passage and landing-place to the monks of Newminster for their 'ship' in his land of Edwinestre (?) and liberty of going and returning by the new road he conceded to them through his coppice to the great road that led towards Throckley. If through stress of flood or wind they could not row in the customary place they were not to be molested. ' Riginaldus de Kynebell, salutem.Sciatis me pro sal. an. m. et domini mei Walter! de Bolbeke et omn. her. m. cone, et hac m. carta conf. Deo et B. M. et mo. de Novo Mon. liberum passagium et rivagium cum navi sua in terra mea de Edenstrem (?), et liberum ire et redire per novam viam quam concessi eis per boscum meum usque ad magnam viam quae vadit versus Trokeslau. Et si forte vi aquse vel venti non possunt loco solito applicare, non inde a me vel meis cambuntur. Hiis testibus, &c." New minster Cartul., Surtees Soc., 66, p. 52. The object of this ferry was to put the Cistercians of Newminster, near Morpeth, in direct communication across the Tyne with their possessions at Chopwell, on the Derwent. The course of the river must have much changed since that time. The Hedwin Streams are now a shallow rapid ; the present ferry is about half'-a-mile further down the river, and lies entirely in the parish of Ryton, the ferryman's house and the wooded field round it, called Ryton Island, being in the county of Durham, although on the north bank of the Tyne. The Editor of the Nemminster Cartulary, the Rev. J. T. Fowler, seems not to have been aware of the locality of ' Edenstrem.'
28 The early mention of a Grey in Northumberland is interesting. The Greys appear to have obtained Wallington from the Crawdens by marriage, and from them it passed in the same way to the Wellingtons. Newminnter Cart., Surt. Soc., 66, p. 261.
