The Barony of Wark and Manors of Newton

Kirknewton and Westnewton formed constituent vills of the barony of Wark-on-Tweed, which was held by the Ros (or Roos) lineage in the 13th century. The clearest outline of the barony’s extent is provided the feudal survey of 1242, where the two vills were labelled ‘Newton and the other Newton’ (Neuton et altera Neuton), respectively (Liber Feodorum II, 1120). The lordship was established by Henry I (1100-35), who was responsible for setting up the great majority of Anglo-Norman baronies in Northumberland, and granted to Walter l’Espec, one of his principal agents of government in the North (Kapelle 1979, 198-9, 207, 287).

In 1242, much of the barony was held by Robert de Ros, brother of William de Ros, the baron of Wark.  The manors of Kirknewton and Westnewton were in turn subinfeudated to an Anglo-Norman family, the Corbets, who also held neighbouring Lanton. The Corbets were established here from the reign of Henry II, at least, up until the early 14th century. They also had estates further west, along the Bowmont at Shotton and Colpenhope, and at Yetholm and Clifton across the border. Barrow argues that this Corbet sub-baronial lordship reflects some kind of institutional survival of the shire estate of Yetholm discussed above (1973, 33-5), although it was not unusual for Anglo-Norman lords to hold land on both sides of the border.

At any rate even at its zenith this family did not possess the entirety of these townships. A number of other landholders, both lay and ecclesiastical, as well as free tenants, are recorded in legal documents and monastic cartularies, Kirkham Priory being a particularly substantial landholder from the 13th century onwards (NCH XI (1922), 143-4, 156-7). Indeed the manor of Kirknewton is described as belonging to the priory in the late 13th century and in 1353 the prior leased the manor to Henry Strother for ten years (op. cit., 144).

Specific parcels of land held by the canons in Westnewton Township, around Canno Mill and Canno Bog (Berkenstrother), can be located and to some degree plotted on the basis of the record in the Kirkham Cartulary (NCH XI (1922), 156-7; Kirkham Cartulary, fols. 83-84).

The Corbet family in turn granted their manors in these two vills by charter to the Strother family in the early 14th century (MacDonald 1950, 112-4), who remained the landlords here until 1712.