THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NORTHERN TOWN IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES: THE CITY OF DURHAM, c. 1250-1540 VOLUME II (b) MARGARET M. CAMSELL Submitted for the degree of D. Phil. at the University of York Department of History October 1985 CONTENTS 3. BOROUGH OF ST. GILES St. Giles street and St. Mary Magdalen street 423 4. THE BAILEY South Bailey 485 North Bailey, Owengate, Kingsgate 519 5. BARONY OF OLD ELVET I Old Elvet, Kirkgate and Ratonrawe, south side 568 6. BOROUGH OF NEW ELVET New Elvet and Ratonrawe, north side 625 5/ 3. BOROUGH OF ST. GILES - 423 - ST. GILESt STREET AND ST. MARY MAGDALEN STREET, BOROUGH OF ST. GILES The most common forms of these street names throughout the medieval period are vicus Sancti Egidii and vicus Sancti Marie Magdalen., which occur in the majority of the surviving deeds. Vari- ations on the form Saintgiligate are found less frequently. The earliest version recorded in the deeds is spelt Santgiligate, dating from 1304.1 , 14th. The most popular -century' spelling is Seyntgiligate/Seintgiligate, occurring in deeds from 1343 to 1384.2 By the 15th. century, the English translation of the street name is shortened to Geligate (1489), 3a Gelygate (1480) or Gyligate (1438), version which persists into the 4 16th. century. St. Mary Magdalen street has the alternative name 5 le Maudelayngate in the 14th. century. Both street names probably derive from the dedications of the local churches in the area. These two streets were situated in the borough of St. Giles. St. Giles' street, or Gillygate, ran from Clayport at its western end, rising towards the north-east. Beyond the church of St. Giles, it divided into two, one road leading east towards Sherburn Vill and hospital and the other running north towards Sunderland and the coast. It was a main route to Durham from the vills of north-east Durham and it was probably a busy road because of the traffic to and from the priory estates like Pittington. As such, it is called via regi a or vicus 6 in the deeds. The street of St. Mary Magdalen descended from the north side of St. Giles' street towards the river and the hospital from 7 which it took its name. It was of less importance than St. Giles' street because it was not a main route towards the centre of the town. 1 3.14. Spec. 35. 2 See, for example, 3.14. Spec. 60; 2.15. Spec. 10. 3 Comm. account, 1489/90; 6.4. Elem. 17; Comm. account, 1438/39. 4 Misc. Ch. 2452 (1533); Aim. rental, 1501. 5 1326,6.4. Elem. 2*. 6 See, for example, 1534: Misc. Ch. 2269; Whetelaw family deeds, 3.14. Spec. 50 etc. 7 See, for example, no. 9. -424- St. Gilest street and St. Mary Magdalen street formed the urban area of St. Giles' borough, sometimes referred to in deeds as lying 1 iuxta Durham. The boundaries of this borough seem to have been clearly demarcated in the medieval period from those of the adjacent borough, the bishop's borough, which lay to the south-west of St. Giles. The leaden cross placed in the middle of the road marked the end of 2 Clayport and the beginning of St. Giles' street. The western boundary of the borough seems to have followed the line of a lane known later as Tinklerls Lane which descended from the south side of the street towards the river, and another lane called Bakehouse 3 Lane on the northern side of the street. Pellaw stream was a natural boundary for the borough on its east side with the fields of 4 Old Durham beyond it. The northern limits of the borough seem to have been the demesne lands of Kepier, separated from St. Gilest borough by a ditch called Thwertcoverdike5, and to the north-east, the fields of the borough ran as far as Gilesgate moor, an area of 6 open grazing for the tenants of the borough. Within the borough of St. Giles was an area of separate juris- 7 diction amounting to some twenty-six acres. This was called St. Mary Magdalen parish and it lay behind the street frontage of St. Giles 8 on its northern side, between the street and the river. The historical origins of this jurisdiction are somewhat obscure, but it appears to have come into existence as a result of the foundation and endowment of a hospital for the poor, possibly in the early 13th. 9 century. The earliest surviving deeds which concern land in this area are, unfortunately, undated, but appear to be late-13th. century 10 and, in them, property is conveyed to the priory. Naturally enough, 1 Whetel aw family deeds, 1351,1.15. Spec. 13. 2lt is marked on Speed's plan of 1611. See Clayport, no. 17. 3 D. M. Meade, The Medieval Parish St. Giles1, T. A. A. S. D. N. of , New Series II (1970), p. 63; V. C. H. Durham I11, p. 183. 4 There was a boundary marker between St. Giles' borough and the fields of Old Durham, 1316; 3.14. Spec. 46. 5 Whetelaw family deeds, 3.14. Spec. 32,41. 6 See Whetelaw family deeds, 1305,3.14. Spec. 37. 7 V. C. H. Durham III, p. 182. 8 Alm. rental, 1424; Misc. Deeds, St. Mary Magdalen Street. 9 Memorials of St. Giles, ed. J. Barmby (Surtees Soc. XCV, 1896), pp. 236-38; V. C. H. Durham III, pp. 182-90. 10 Misc. Deeds, St. Mary Magdalen. - 425 - given the nature of the foundation, land in St. Mary Magdalen was allocated to the Almoner's estate in Durham and tenants living there owed rents and services to him. The street of St. Mary Magdalen contained a few buildings, but most of the parish consisted of small fields and closes. Some of these were kept in hand by the Almoner; the hay from them was bought in by the priory and the Almoner's horses 1 grazed on the fields. Speed's plan of Durham of 1611 shows that St. Giles' street was built up along both sides as far as the church, where gaps and irregular- ities appear in the street line. A much less regular pattern of buildings is shown on Wood's plan of 1820; the buildings peter out at the northern Magdalen end of St. Giles' street and along St. Mary street. The priory rentals, especially those of the Bursar, describe the units of land along St. Giles' street as burgages, rather than the more usual 2 term for land in Durham, tenements. These burgages probably con- tained buildings along the street frontage with gardens behind, like John de Piscernots land which had a house and garden adjoining it 3 (1338). There are few surviving indications of the layout of these burgages along the street. In only one case are the dimensions of a burgage given: in 1316, Robert, son of Ralph Daunce, held a tene- 4 ment which was forty feet wide and sixty feet long. However, several deeds refer to land lying "in length" from the road as far as, for example, the Pellaw stream, which strongly suggests a typical burgage 5 pattern of land lying with its narrow end along the street frontage. The gardens of these burgages seem to have been bordered by ditches which separated the urban area from the borough fields and, presumably, prevented animals from wandering at wi II among the crops. When Roger Gracias granted Thomas. Othehal l an acre of arable land in the borough in 1343, it was described as lying next to 6 the ditch of the gardens of St. Giles. 1 See, for example, nos. 13 and 14; R. A. Lomas, 'The Priory of Durham and its Demesnes in the 14th. and 15th. centuries', Ec. H. R. 2nd. Ser. XXXI (1978), 351. , , p. 2 See especially Burs. rental, 1382. 3 3.14. Spec. 53 4 Misc. Deeds, St. Gi les I Street: 1.15. Spec. 28. , 5 Nigel de Elmeden held land in St. Giles' borough which extended from the road in length as far as PeI Iaw stream, 1282 (3.14. Spec. 56). See also Whetelaw family deeds, 4.14. Spec. 33. 6 3.14. Spec. 60. - 426 - Most of the domestic buildings in the streets seem to have been of a fairly cheap or rudimentary fabric and construction. There are no references to stone-built houses in any surviving deeds or in the account rolls. The common building material, as mentioned in the 1 leases, was timber. Some houses had "slate stone" roofs, but others, like the Almoner's houses in St. Mary Magdalen street, were 2 thatched. Gutters presented difficulties between neighbours, as they did in Fleshewergate. William Lumley was obliged to repair the ""evesdroppes" of his house in:. St. Giles street in 1338 because the 3 overflow on to his neighbour's house was causing severe damage. There are no references to any shops or stalls in these streets in the surviving evidence. Perhaps the most important public building in St. Gi lest street was the church, set back from the south side of the street, on the 4 crest of the hill overlooking the centre of the town. A lane led to 5 the church and its cemetery between the burgages. This church was, originally, the chapel for Kepler hospital which was founded as a refuge for the poor and infirm by Bishop Flambard in 1112.6 When the hospital was re-founded by Bishop Puiset in the 1180s, it was moved to a site by the river, towards the north, and the church became the parish church for the borough.