Manorial Structure

The Manor of Bellingham

This manor embraced the area corresponding to the 18th-19th century townships of Bellingham, The Nook, Lee Malling on the south side of the river and much of Charlton East Quarter. Two thirds of the manor were held by the Bellingham lineage. In 1279 William de Belllingham claimed to hold it by hereditary service of being the king of Scotland’s forester in Tynedale forest (Iter of Wark, xxviii-xxix). Elsewhere in the same proceedings it is stated that William’s grandfather, Alan son of Dolfin, likewise held two thirds of Bellingham (Iter of Wark, xli). Alan granted land at Ealingham to Jedburgh Abbey which gave rise to a complex dispute between his grandson and the Abbey over grazing rights on Ealingham Common and Hesleyside (Iter of Wark, xiv, xv, xvii, xix, xxxii, xl). The remaining third of the manor was held directly by the King himself.

The Manor of Chirdon

This estate embraced the entire valley of the Chirdon Burn, one of the main tributaries of the North Tyne on the south side of the dale above Bellingham (NCH XV (1940), 273-80). As the Chirdon Burn and Tarset Burn flow into the North Tyne at virtually the same point, the core holdings of Chirdon and Tarset manors lay opposite one another, however Chirdon manor was nowhere near as extensive as its neighbour.

The manor was granted to the Justiciar of Scotland, David de Lindsay in 1233 and held by his descendents until the outbreak of the Anglo-Scottish wars whereupon it was confiscated. The manorial centre, or ‘capital messuage’ was represented by Dally Castle, where the ruins of a small 13th-century hall-house can still be seen esconced on a natural mound beside the Chirdon Burn. It contained a mill probably situated beside the castle, two parks, a dependent hamlet with five bondage tenants at Snabdaugh, beside the river and 22 shielings along the upper reaches and side tributaries of the burn.

The Manor of Tarset

Dwarfing both these two estates, however, was the manor of Tarset, which is of principal interest here. This comprised all the land in the upper valley from the limits of Bellingham manor right up to the head of the valley, with the exception of the Chirdon Burn on the south side. It included Charlton, Sundaysight (Sundayheigh), Greenhaugh and Cariteth (le Caryte), Shitlington in Wark parish, the modern parish of Thorneyburn, including Emblehope, Thorneyburn and Donkleywood, and the modern parish of Falstone, including Kielder, Belling (le Belles), Hawkhope (Haucop), Bewshaugh (le Bowhous), and Greenside (Greenstead).

The centre (or caput) of the manor lay at Tarset Hall or Castle beside the confluence of the North Tyne and the Tarset Burn. In the 13th century the manor was held by the Comyns, one of the principal Scottish baronial lineages. The manor owed suit (i.e. the obligation to attend and support proceedings there) to the court of Wark.

In addition one or two much smaller subordinate manors figure in the sources, their lords hoding the estates as fiefs (feudal tenancies) from the Comyns. Thus Adam de Charlton held the manor of Charlton, between Tarset and Bellingham, at the end of the 13th century and Adam de Swinburne held Lusburn (Lewisburn) one of the side valleys towards the head of the dale.