Whitchester township made a good show at the view of Musters [73] taken by Sir Eeginald Carnaby, Sir John Fenwick, and John Swinbourne, Esq., 19th April 1538; there appeared from it "Martyn Turpyn. James Bell.John Dixson. Thomas Bell. Wyllm Bell. John Bell. Thomas Armstrong. Rychard Symson ("able with horse and harnes"). John Croser. James Carr of Whitchester, gent., appears in the list of county freeholders in 1628. In 1663, the whole township valued at £100 a year belonged to Sir Thomas Widdrington, of Cheeseburn Grange. [74]
Only the northern part of the township, the farm of Loudside, now belongs to the Cheeseburn estate. Whitchester proper has come through the Thompsons [75] to the family of Johnson ; while the part south of the Military Road, known as High Seat, was purchased from a family called Mills in the county of Durham, by Mr. Dobson, of Harlow, at the beginning of the century. [76]
Only the northern part of the township, the farm of Loudside, now belongs to the Cheeseburn estate. Whitchester proper has come through the Thompsons [75] to the family of Johnson ; while the part south of the Military Road, known as High Seat, was purchased from a family called Mills in the county of Durham, by Mr. Dobson, of Harlow, at the beginning of the century. [76]
73 Arch, jfll., IV. (O.S.), pp. 173-4. A plantation in the north-west part of Whitchester township is known by the name of Scythesand Wood. Nothing is more treacherous than the superficial etymology of place-names ; but Alfwold, King of Northumberland, was murdered by a conspiracy headed by the ealdorman Sicgan, on 17th September, 788, at a place called Scythlescester near the Wall (in loco qui dicitur Scythlescester juxta mnmtrn), Sym. Dun. Hist. Itegvm,sec. 54., and there seems no reasons for concluding this to have been CILURNUM. A church, dedicated to SS. Cuthbert and Oswald, was built on the spot, which is an argument against suggesting it to have been Whitchester. Whitchester, however, was once a much more important place than we now imagine. I do
not know why a well at the south end of the township is called Finer's Well; there seems to have been no family of that name in the district. An enthusiasist on the subject of holy wells would, I suppose, remind us of the saintly Finan, Bishop of Lindisfarne. (See ante, p. 244.)
74 Hodgson's Northd., III., i., p. 290.
75 Mackenzie's Hist, of Northd., Vol. II., p. 377.
76 The Dobsons (said to have come from Patterdale, in Westmoreland) served in Cromwell's army, and participated in the plunder of Dundee. One of them married Jane, dau. of John Ridley of Hardriding. Mr. Dryden, the present owner of the High Seat, has in his possession an unredeemed bond showing that ' John Dobson of Harley-upon-the-Hill, yeoman,' lent 50 to Ralph Widdrington of Cheeseburn Grange, and William Widdrington, his son, on 16th May, 1699, to be repaid on the 14th Dec. following. The indebtedness of Jacobite families made them often callous of losing their nominal estates in the Stuart cause.
not know why a well at the south end of the township is called Finer's Well; there seems to have been no family of that name in the district. An enthusiasist on the subject of holy wells would, I suppose, remind us of the saintly Finan, Bishop of Lindisfarne. (See ante, p. 244.)
74 Hodgson's Northd., III., i., p. 290.
75 Mackenzie's Hist, of Northd., Vol. II., p. 377.
76 The Dobsons (said to have come from Patterdale, in Westmoreland) served in Cromwell's army, and participated in the plunder of Dundee. One of them married Jane, dau. of John Ridley of Hardriding. Mr. Dryden, the present owner of the High Seat, has in his possession an unredeemed bond showing that ' John Dobson of Harley-upon-the-Hill, yeoman,' lent 50 to Ralph Widdrington of Cheeseburn Grange, and William Widdrington, his son, on 16th May, 1699, to be repaid on the 14th Dec. following. The indebtedness of Jacobite families made them often callous of losing their nominal estates in the Stuart cause.
