(Allegedly written by John Cassels, 1959)
You might like to hear something of an historic Old House in this City - if you are natives, you won't know anything of it, if you are 'incomers' you will want to hear of it!
The House is Crook Hall - where I live - and according to Dr. Colgrave - one of the oldest inhabited houses in the City. It is just on the hill across the river from the Girls Grammar School. Its origins must be sought in the history of the early Manor of Sydgate. We read that the Manor of Sydgate was granted to AIMERY. son of the then Archdeacon of Durham in 1217. from whose family it was transferred to Peter del Croke who gave it its name.
Let us look for a few moments at the Durham of those early days. The Border lands of England - of which Durham was more or less the key - lived in strenuous times. There was almost constant strife amongst themselves and with the Scots.
In Durham itself, defence was the first consideration, especially after the bones of St. Cuthbert came to final rest on the site now the Cathedral. So the peninsula formed by the river, was accordingly, the first part inhabited - closely inhabited - mainly in wooden buildings. There was a deep ditch and/or moat across the neck and the names Moat Lane and Claypath which survive, speak for themselves.
In time. the population spread over to what is now Elvet. In B. Flambert's time. what is now the Market Place became the Borough. About then too, there was the first Slum Clearance Scheme in the town's history. B. Flambert started to clear the wooden houses from the.Palace Green to from a new Borough - Boro' of Framwellgate.
Framwellgate Bridge was built to give access. (In our post-war years the slums of Framwellgate have in turn been re-housed at 'New Jerusalem', off the Sherburn Road. and we read irr the Press that the remainder are to go to new houses near Newton Hall).
All around the town. now taking form, were Moors and Commons:
Framwellgate Moor, Crossgate Moor, Gillygate Moor, Brasside Moor and what we know as Elvet Moor. A wild sort of place it all seems and the Acts of Parliament toenclose these Moors, or what was left of them, was not passed until 1800-1820.
The people, like their surroundings, were rough and lived rough.
There were three types:
- Serfs - Servants and Slaves.
- Freedmen - Personally free.
- Noblemen etc. - the rest!
The Manor of Sydgate adjoined the new Borough of Framwellgate, Crook or Croke Hall as the Manor House, a country residence and estate, just outside the town.
Adjoining and on the east side was one of the Parks of the Bishop - which stretched almost to Finchale along the river - known as Frankland Park, where Bishops hunted. One of the Bishop's Officers was the keeper of the Park. It was enclosed as farm land - early 19th Century - but up to 1848 the Bishop made an appointment to the sinecure post of 'Keeper of Frankland Park'.
(In passing, this land remained as Church land until 1956, when it was sold to the C C.).
St. Godric's sister - at first a hermit at Finchale - then retired to a Hospital for the aged sick at Spital Fields, near St. Leonard's. Garden House (between old and new roads?). The Gallows was also near St. Leonard's by the roadside.
But in and around Durham there was constant strife. The Bishops were laws unto themselves. Many of them had little of the ecclesiastic about them. Many were little more than scoundrels out for power and themselves - fond of pomp and circumstance, in an age when that sort of thing counted for so much - spendthrifts of the very rich revenues of the Bishopric.
The Doomsday Book of William the Conqueror did not cover the North - it had a Book of its own - Boldon Book - with particulars of all land subject to the Bishop. Sydgate is not in it and other places around e.g. Houghall.
During the early development of Croke Hall Manor, Edward I was King and his great friend and adviser. Anthony Bek, was Bishop. Both strong, powerful men, they conducted the intrigues, the scheming, to acquire Scotland and the Scottish Crown. Durham was the centre, the claimants for the throne of Scotland were both Durham families: The Baliols from the now Barnard Castle area and the Bruces from the Hart area.
If you want to read about this - The Scottish Chiefs' by Jane Porter, will tell you of some of the ongoings in the Castle and how William Wallace escaped from it.
The Church, as already said, was so often just a ladder to power and was rotten with bribery and corruption. Richard Kelloe succeeded Bek, an exception to all I've just said. a quiet, learned man.
Battle of Bannockburn (1314) Edward II badly beaten and from then the English had an inferiority complex. The Scots were a thorn in their flesh - nothing was ever safe from them (anymore than now!) but they never took (captured) the castle.
(In passing, when a farmer on the Raby Estate paid his rent, the receipt gave him right of refuge for his staff and his stock, in the grounds of Raby Castle, until the 80's!)
With that as background, let us look at our Manor House in Sydgate. We have seen how it passed to Peter del Croke, hence the name today. The old name is given in maps as late as 1749. From Peter it passed to John. the Cowherd of Billingham. who had the good fortune to marry the sister of the Bishop Kelloe. (She was the Princess Margaret of her day, married a commoner - social romance).
The family assumed the name of Billingham and appear to have settled down at Croke Hall until 1657 - over 300 years. To quote an old record, they were 'amongst the principle gentry of the County'.
An outstanding occupant of Croke Hall was John de Copeland, a Northumberland knight, who played a great part in the policing of the Border against the Scots when the King was engaged elsewhere. He was living at Croke Hall the night before the Battle of Nevilles Cross (1346). The story goes that he saw the reflection in the water of King David, hiding under the River Browney Bridge at Bearpark, and captured him alive. He got for his reward a Royal pension and estates in the North, he was made keeper of the Royal Forests and created a 'banneret'. he received an award for valour in the field and Copeland Castle in the North was his.
A year or two ago (1954) we had a visit from a Miss Copeland of Virginia U.S.A. There is a Copeland Society in the U.S.A., woven round Sir John, his namesakes and descendants. MissCopeland had come on a pilgrimage from the Society, to the home of Sir John. She is an interesting, if very American, old lady and we got on well as gave information.
Sir John's second wife was Joan de Struther and when Sir John was murdered by John de Clifford, at Bolton Moor near Glanton, the King awarded her his vast estates near Dumfries. Joan de Struther had a brother Alan, who was with Chaucer (Canterbury Tales) at Cambridge. Alan was one of the two scholars who tricked the Miller of Trumpington in the Reeve's Tale.
Time will not permit me to refer to all the Billinghams, just one or two. They were a fiery, ill-tempered lot, constantly falling out with people. We read that Thomas Billingham of Croke Hall, quarrelled so violently with Robert Rakinson. that his friends had to go bail for him! In 1450 the same Thomas, granted to the citizens of Durham, a supply of water from 'Framwell Meadow', and until relatively recently it supplied the 'Pant' in the Market Place. Some of you may remember it before it was removed for reasons of traffic - the statue of Neptune now in Wharton Park. This was a main supply to the centre of the town. The Pant Head as it is called, is now under the arch of the Railway just North East of Durham Station (on Parkinson's Farm).
As I've said already, the Billinghams were a bad-tempered lot and in 1631 the Billingham of the time, Cuthbert, fell out badly with his mother and sisters and the citizens of Durham and he, to quote, 'violently cutte downe the pipes of the conduit from Framwell Meadow and stopped the course of the water and cleane taken it away!'
Cuthbert was going to 'learn them!' but the citizens had the last word. took him to Court, which ordered Cuthbert 'to repaire the pipes and to remain in prison until he entered into a bond to perform the order'.
The fiery ungovernable temper of the Billinghams may give a clue to the identity of 'our' Ghost - The White Ladie of Croke Hall'. She is recorded from early times in the books on Durham and in the lists of authentic Ghosts of England! We were duly warned ere we went to live there, the old folks in Lovegreen Street etc., told us of her in tones of deep mystery, if not awe and fear!
There used to be a pit - Cat House Pit at the back of Crook Hall and the road to it passed the end of the Hall. The young men and boys on night shifts wouldn't pass the house themselves without escort! The mothers had to go
with them! (Two mothers. Mrs. Hanley and Mrs. Walker, would sit up to take their sons past Crook Hall at 1.30 a.m. when they finished their shift).
Aye, in the dark nights of Winter when the storms blow, there are noises, and in an old house the windows and the floor boards creak, at times it is eerie, you might think you feel a presence! (She moves so quietly. She comes down the old stair we're told. It is still there, just split branches of trees. roughly squared, into the Old Banquet Hall, her old haunts). When sitting late at night or lying in bed and you hear the door opening ever so gently, that slow creak, you may hold your breath and cautiously look around!!!
The White Ladie' is believed to be specially restless around the Octave of St. Thomas (around the shortest day). Who is she? What disturbs her rest? Surmise suggests a love affair, the course of true love never runs smooth - that bad temper of the Billinghams! Would that we knew! The Ghost Room is above the Old Kitchen, we use it as a spare bedroom - better to have all our guests together. Tradition says she is young and comely to look on. if just a little pale! Our spare bedroom is popular with our guests!
We have an inventory of all the contents of the different rooms on the death of John Billingham in 1577. The inventory gives an idea of the domestic economy of a person of his rank in the time of the first Elizabeth. He had farmed his own land, grown his own corn, heckled (or combed) his own flax and wool and killed and preserved his own beef. The Registers of St. Margaret's have many references to the Billingharris (1559 - 1651).
The Mickletons (great historians) bought Crook Hall in 1657. Christopher, an Attorney at Law, his son James (1638 -1693) and Grandson James (1688 - 1717). They are justly famous for the collection of M.S. chiefly relating to the Antiquities of the Palatinate, now in the University Library. It includes Court Records, copies of foundations of Schools and Hospitals at Kepier, Houghton etc.. and St. Oswald's and St. Margaret's; an invaluable picture of the past. Many of the original documents have been lost or destroyed, hence Mickleton M S is all the more valuable. The Mickletons did some restoration work at Crook Hall to what is now the front of the centre part of Crook Hall - initials were carved over a doorway in 1671. But the Grandson James must have been very hard-up. He directed in his will that Crook Hall be sold to pay his debts!!! (He died in 1721).
It was bought in 1736 by the Hoppers of Shincliffe who seem to have been owners until fairly recent times. The Hoppers would seem to have done much building, on some old foundations, over an existing cellar - which we have searched in vain - empty!! (except for the well), built of handmade bricks by a firm at Kepier.
During the Hopper ownership, it was occupied by the famous historian, Dr James Raine, from 1834 to 1858. Raine wrote a His ory of Durham. but is most famous for his account of the opening of the tomb of St. Cuthbert and for all that he saw.
Last year, (1958) we had a visit from a very interesting old lady. a Miss Butler, a grand-daughter of the Dr. Raine. Her mother had been born and brought up at Crook Hall. her father was the brother of Bishop Butler She told us much. Dr. Raine came as a young man. fresh from college as Second Master in Durham School, under Dr. Carr. Durham School was then small but sent a large proportion of its boys (men) to Oxford and Cambridge, many became Fellows and Prizemen.
At Crook Hall, Raine had many distinguished visitors. She mentioned the Wordsworths. Dorothy and William, probably at the time they lived at Sockburn-on-the-Tees. John Ruskin - Miss Butler's mother was a skilled illuminator of M.S. and she did some of Ruskin's productions for him. Miss Butler has letters addressed to her mother from Ruskin. The Polish Count - the dwarf - was a constant visitor. He was always asking to see what was going on, as small folks do, and she remembers being told by her mother how the Count was lifted up onto the mantelpiece to look around There is a book (out of print) I've been trying to get - 'Silvestra by Mrs. Raine Ellis. She was born at Crook Hall and it tells much of the story of Durham.
After Raine died, Crook Hall seems to have been occupied and farmed by a George Peverall (died 1882). His widow continued until 1887. it was then taken over by John Fowler. The Pererras seem to have come about in 1923. Our immediate predecessors were the Pattersons, relatives of Tom Holiday's, who purchased on Patterson's death. It had been empty for 3 or 4 years when we became tenants in 1928, and in a semi-derelict state. We have purchased recently from the Holiday Trustees and at last are starting to do things we have always wanted to do and to investigate. Of necessity I've had to cut much of my story and I've said next to nothing of the buildings themselves - of the old kitchen, the cellar, the passages from the (now) scullery which lead where? or the underground passage (sic), the top of which we have found and which does not go to the river, and the old Banqueting Hall, its roof and old timbers - and windows - some of which we have unearthed but there seems to be lots more - and foundations of old buildings,awaiting the light of day.
My wife and I extend to you all an invitation to come to Crook Hall in an evening in the summer, which your Honorary Secretary can arrange.
If you happen to find out anything of the old place, let us know.
Even if it be a clue as to who the Ghost is, 'for she is still young and comely - if somewhat pale!'.