Two Crossed Keys

The image at right represents the Keys of St. Peter, an emblem of the Catholic Church which represents the divine authority invested in the apostle Peter before the death of Christ. As such, they are emblems of papal authority in the Catholic church.

A symbol that appears frequently in Christian art and in the arms of the Popes, the crossed keys were formerly an emblem of the Roman God Janus and the Mithraic Zurvan, both gods of time and keepers of doorways, and removers of obstacles.

St. Peter's Church, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland.

Grote Kerk / St. Bavokerk, Haarlem.

St. Michael's le Belfrey, York. Next door to York Minster.

Allen Banks and Staward Gorge

Staward Pele was originally an early 14th century timber blockhouse and palisaded pele, founded by Antony de Lucy of Langley. Built on the dramatic site of a Roman temple to Jupiter, this impregnable fortress stands on an oval promontory, which is accessed along a narrow causeway. 

In 1326 King Edward II, annexed the pele and Thomas de Featherstonehaugh, keeper of Tynedale offered to demolish the pele and build the king a castle. The site passed to Queen Phillippa in 1337 and then to her son Edmund of Langley, Duke of York.

In 1384 Duke of York gave property here to the Friars Eremite of Hexham. In the mid 16th century it went to the Howards and then to the Sandersons, and was later the home of the mining speculator John Bacon. Dickey of Kingswood, a notorious horse thief, lived here c1710. 

Village of Cartmel, Cumbria

In the year 79, of our era, being the last year of the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, Roman General Agricola, in his second campaign in Britain, contending with the Brigantes, drove them through their thick woods and morasses, till he reached the southern shores of Morecambe Bay; and, having with difficulty passed over the then low-lying sandbanks and quicksands of the estuary, for the first time led the Roman legions into Cartmel. This was the very year in which the city of Pompeii was overwhelmed by an eruption of Vesuvius, and was just 9 years Vespasian's son Titus had taken and utterly destroyed Jerusalem.

The first religious use of the village of Cartmel occurred in 677, when King Egfrith of Northumbria gifted the village, along with all its Britons, to St Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne.

June 1183--Henry the Younger dies in the midst of the rebellion. He had vowed to go on crusade (the breaking of which vow led him to have his dying body taken from his bed and laid on bed with ashes, with a stone pillow, a hair shirt on his back, and noose around his neck). He kissed the ring that his father had sent him as a token of peace and died. Before dying he asked William Marshal to fulfil his vow.
1183-86--William was on Crusade. Promised Templars that he would end his day amongst them and buried in a Templar house.
1187-89- Continued raids, sieges, battles, conferences and truces between Henry II and Philip Augustus.
1186 -William Marshal Enters Henry II's mesnie (i.e. household).
1187 -William receives the grant of a Fief, Cartmel.
1188 - William founded at Cartmel a Priory of Canons Regular of St. Augustine. He ordained that it should be free from all the subjection to any other religious house, and that at the death of every Prior, the Canons should elect two of their own Fellows, and then present to him (their Patron) and his Heirs; that he who had his assent to be elected should be their Prior. Priory should never be made an Abbey.

St. Guthbert appeared in a vision to the priory's architect telling him to build between two springs flowing in the opposite direction. The architect had laid the foundation stones on an appropriate site, but the next morning they had been flung to a lower field where two springs were found. This is where the church stands today.

Hilton Castle

 

The Hilton family are first recorded in North East England in 924 A.D. when Adam de Hilton presented a silver crucifix weighing 25 ounces of silver with the arms of Hylton engraven on it to the monastery at Hartlepool, hen a major port on the North Sea coast of Britain. Hartlepool was  in the ancient Kingdom of Northumbria, which stretched from Edinburgh in the north to Hull in the south, on the east coast of Britain, ruled by the kings of Northumbria. 

The Hiltons are thought to be of Norse Viking origin and settled in England "in great reputation" 300 years before 1066 A.D. when William the Conqueror invaded Britain from Normandy in France.

Sir Lancelot de Hilton and his two son's, Robert and Henry, joined William the Conqueror as he advanced on London.  Lancelot was killed near Faversham and in gratitude William deeded land to Lancelot's sons, which later became the home of Hilton Castle. Henry constructed the first Hilton castle around 1072.

 

In the reign of Edward III John Hilton, who sent four of his sons to the wars in France, under the Black Prince, was first created Baron of Hilton Castle for the defence of it against the Scots. This peerage continued in the family seven generations, until it was forfeited on account of some unguarded words, of which the Bishop of Durham gave information to the court, which William, the seventh and last Baron, spoke against the queen and her favourite De La Poole.

Bourne, the historian of Newcastle, writes, in 1736 that: "The present gentleman, John Hilton, Esq., a regular descendant of this ancient family, lives in the place of his ancestors, which he adorned and beautified beyond what was done in past ages; in particular the chapel, famous in the country for its
Irish wood, is so furnished with plate and books and other necessaries that it merits the character of a very beautiful chapel."

Now the whole imposing pile, deserted and desolate, stands the gradually wasting prey of wind and weather. Approaching from Sunderland, glimpses are obtained of its grey towers, rising amid lofty woods and avenues, in the vale on the left hand. As you near the lodge the gateway is seen, each of its stone pillars surmounted by the image of a large bird (black) of the falcon or buzzard tribe, with a coronet at its feet.

Proceeding along a pathway lined with ruinous park fencing for about a mile, the visitor arrives before the western or chief front of the old castle. Its centre, consisting of the front of an earlier edifice, has extensions of modern buildings on each side. The chief features of this centre are tour projecting square towers, surmounted by octagon battlements, which also extend along the recesses between the towers, as well as along the tops of the extensions or wings at the sides of the centre, so that a telling fire from under cover could be delivered against an assailing enemy along the whole front of the castle.

The architectural style of the front stamps it as belonging to the reign of Richard II. The centre and wings are adorned with shields, the arms being those of Neville, Skirlaw, Percy and Louvaine, Brabant, Hilton, Vipont, Lumley, Fitz-Randall, Washington, Ogle, Conyers and others.

Near the castle on a rising ground or terrace, stands the chapel, so famous for its 'Irish wood,' its 'plate and books, and other necessaries,' now a rapidly decaying ruin.

'Its beauty has given way to destruction. On the outside are numbers of stone shields of the Hiltons and families of their alliance as the Viponts, Stapletons,' etc.

Hilton was an enclosure on a hill upstream from the Monkwearmouth monastery of St Peter on the river Wear. It was built on the side of a hill overlooking the river, and thought to have been built in a defensive position to stop boats sailing up river to the Community of St Cuthbert at Chester le Street where the monks and their families who had fled with the treasures from Lindisfarne and settled in 885 A.D. The Hiltons had become defenders of the religious community. The monks spent 100 years at Chester le Street before moving further upstream to Durham where they built Durham Cathedral and founded Durham Priory, which became the center of learning in the North East of England which was acknowledged throughout Europe.

Durham became a Palatinate, virtually a kingdom within a kingdom, ruled by the Price Bishops and the Hiltons became Barons of the Bishopric of Durham,  responsible for upholding the laws of the church and defending Durham from attack. In 1190, William de Wessyngton (Washington) who married to the sister of the King of Scotland became their next door neighbors when William settled at Wessyngton, 3 miles upstream from Hilton Castle.

The first mention of a castle on the site was in 1072 A.D., no trace of which survives today. The castle gatehouse which still stands was built between 1390-1410 and commemorates by heraldry, the Northern rebellion of 1403, when the Bishop of Durham joined forces with the northern noble families led Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland and "Hotspur" his son. They joined forces with Owen Glendower of Wales to fight for control of England north of the river Trent.

Scotland, seventy miles north of Hilton Castle, had gained their freedom from England at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1315 when they defeated the English, but the northern rebels of 1403 were defeated by King Henry IV forces when "Hotspur"was killed on the battlefield at Shrewsbury. Another rebellion took place in 1405 which also failed and resulted in the execution of the Archbishop of York and the Baron of Hilton being outlawed in London.

Descendants of the Hiltons of Hilton Castle married well throughout the north of England. Robert Hilton, c.1208  the brother of the Baron of Hilton Castle married into a Westmoreland family, which gave them control of the strategic main route from York to Carlisle across the country along the old roman road, now known as the A66. Many of his descendents settled in Lancashire and South Durham. Descendents of the Baron of Hilton are recorded in London as early as the 15th century and in the 16th century, William Hilton was recorded as body tailor to King Henry VIII and one of his daughters as seamstress to Queen Elizabeth I.

In Medieval times the Hiltons earned their living from sheep farming, fishing and saltmaking and shipbuilding. In Elizabethan times over 400 people were involved in the saltmaking industry using the local coal to heat and evaporate sea water. It was a  monopoly granted by the queen and it enabled the Hilton family to take advantage of the fishing grounds off Newfoundland, using salt carried on board their ships to preserve the fish for sale on the London fish market at Billingsgate.

In 1543, Sir William Hylton was involved in another northern rebellion called the Pilgrimage of Grace. As Baron of the Bishoprick which included Monkwearmouth and Durham priories, he was responsible for defending and upholding the laws of the church and was probably excecuted as one of the leaders of the rebellion.

In the middle of the 16th century, Sir Thomas Hylton was made Governor of Tynemouth Castle and Priory, a royal castle, and with family descendents at Hull and at Hartlepool he controlled all the ports along the north east coastline from Hull to Berwick. He married four times but died childless. His second marriage brought 3 stepsons of the Lamberton family into the Hilton family and his third marriage,  the heir of Gascoigne of nearby Ravensworth Castle. Sir Thomas Hylton was Sheriff of Durham and the most powerful man in the north east of England at the time.

In 1569, the northern families rebelled yet again, in the "Rising of the North", led by the Earls of Northumberland and the Earl of Westmoreland, in support of Mary Queen of Scots and the Catholic religion. The Hiltons of Hylton Castle supported Queen Elizabeth I. The rebellion failed and the 7th Earl of Northumberland was executed at York in 1572, and the Earl of Westmoreland was forced to flee abroad where he died in poverty.

In 1602, the Hiltons of Hylton Castle lost control of their estates, by the wardship of 13 year old Henry Hilton. He was married off to Mary Wortley of Yorkshire whom he never lived with, and settled at Billingshurst in Sussex and lived with Lady Shelley at Michelgrove..
In 1621 William Hilton of North Biddick Hall, in the "Original" Washington, England, a descendent of the Hiltons of Hylton Castle, sailed on the "Fortune" to Plymouth in New England in America and started the "Great Migration". His wife and two children joined him there where they founded Hilton's Point in what is today, New Hampshire. William Hilton became the founding father of New Hampshire in America, and his cousin Anthony Hilton became Governor of Nevis and St Kitts in the Caribbean in 1628. They were joined by their London cousin, Edward who became a founding father of what is today the State of Maine, U.S.A.

"They called themselves the "Pilgrim Fathers" and sailed off to the new land in the year 1620. The first ship to leave England was the "Mayflower". In the following year a second ship left this country and it carried the name of "Fortune". One of the pilgrims on board was William Hylton of Biddick Hall, who held the estate and farmed the lands Biddick." Many descendents of the Hylton family are to be found in the United States, and this Willam Hylton was referred to as the "Biddick Pilgrim Father" - Source; History and Folklore of Old Washington, Albert L Hind, 1976, Sir James Steel C.B.E., J.P., F.B.I.M. states "his roots go back sufficiently far in the century to recall the colorful characters of an earlier age.

During the Bishop's Wars and the English Civil Wars, the Hiltons of Hylton Castle fought on the Royalist side, and Hilton Manor which was built behind the current Castle Gatehouse was razed to the ground. Many of the Hilton family dispersed during the civil war, and Henry Hilton left his estates to the City of London in an attempt to protect them for future generations.

John Hilton Esquire inherited Hylton Castle and Estates. He married Dorothy Musgrave of Hayton Castle in Cumberland, daughter of Sir Richard Musgrave. John died in 1712 and the estates were inherited by Sir Richard Musgrave who married Anne, daughter of John Hilton. The estates were then inherited by Richard Musgrave, son of Sir Richard Musgrave on condition that he changed his name to Hilton which he did. The Hilton and Musgrave families had landholdings and roots stretching back centuries in Westmoreland and Cumberland. Hylton Castle was put up for sale in 1750 and bought by Lady Eleanor Bowes who did not live there, and the castle slowly fell into disrepair.


 

St. Peter's Church, Sunderland

The Britons and Scots were apparently unfamiliar with stone building involving the use of squared stone and mortar.

 

The building of Hexham was commenced in 674, and it was not till that date that Benedict Biscop was in position to engage workmen for Wearmouth, so that Wilfrid was just beforehand with Biscop, who in consequence had to look elsewhere for his architects, and he set out for Gaul to engage them there.

 

Now it does not at all follow that because Biscop brought his masons from Gaul, therefore they were not Comacines. It was as easy to find Comacines in Gaul as in England. We find them settled there at later date, when they were called artifici Franchi. There is presumptive evidence of a settlement of a guild in Gaul at this time, and it was probably some of the French Comacines that Biscop employed, for Biscop insisted on a church built after the Roman manner, a Basilica; he would have nothing else, and no builders could build a Basilica better than successors to the Roman college of architecture.

 

The twined serpents with birds' beaks on the right doorpost of the doorway under the tower singularly characteristic of the style of the Basilicas in Rome. There is a similar design on the architrave of an ancient door in San Clemente, Rome.

 

 

 

St Bede wrote:

"After the interval of a year, Benedict crossed the sea into Gaul, and no sooner asked than he obtained and carried back with him some masons to build him a church in the Roman style, which he had always admired. ...When the work was drawing to completion, he sent messengers to Gaul to fetch makers of glass, (more properly artificers,) who were at this time unknown in Britain, that they might glaze the windows of his church, with the cloisters and dining-rooms. This was done, and they came, and not only finished the work required, but taught the English nation their handicraft, which was well adapted for enclosing the lanterns of the church, and for the vessels required for various uses.

All other things necessary for the service of the church and the altar, the sacred vessels, and the vestments, because they could not be procured in England, he took especial care to buy and bring home from foreign parts.

Some decorations and muniments there were which could not be procured even in Gaul, and these the pious founder determined to fetch from Rome..."

 

The church was built within a year between 674 and 675, and it was not a large building, although its nave proportions of 5.64m by 19.5m are not dissimilar to those of many Merovingian churches.

There are two medieval effigies. On the north side of the chancel, beneath the eastern arch of the arcade, is a canopied tomb containing a rather damaged effigy conjectured to be Sir William Hylton, builder of Hylton Castle. Hunter Blair dates the effigy to c1380-90 but the tomb itself to the 15th century. The table tomb on which the effigy rests has a panelled front to the north, with shields (now blank) within quatrefoils; this seems contemporary with the effigy, but the superstructure, which has a four-centred arch and rich panelling on the sides and arch soffit, and is surmounted by a moulded frieze with square flowers and a brattished top, looks largely restoration.

 

In the north aisle is a very worn and damaged effigy of an ecclesiastic, identified as a ‘Master of Wearmouth’, thought to be of the 14th century.

 

 

Headstones at St. Peter's Church, Sunderland

Local records; or, Historical register of remarkable events which have occurred in Northumberland and Durham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, commencing with the year 1833 to the end of 1866

1839, June 13

The body of a man was found in the river Wear, at Sunderland, attached by a rope to a large stone. the skull was fractured into numberless pieces; and the body was naked, save a flannel shirt and stockings.

The body was removed to the workhouse at Monkwearmouth, where it was identified by two of the crew of the Phoenix, of Stettin, as that of their captain, Johann Friedrich Berckholtz, who was about 55 years of age.

No doubt being held as to the deceased having met his death unfairly, instant search was made, and the cabin was found to bear evident marks of the deed. Subsequent investigation led to the committal of Jacob Friedrich Ehlert, the mate of the ship, and Daniel Muller, aged 19, the cabin boy, and they both confessed being accomplices in the murder, but mutually charged each other with the deed.

From the statement of the boy, who was admitted a witness to the crown, it appeared that on the night of the 11th, the mate, after giving him some spirits, induced him to go into the cabin where captain slept, and while he (the boy) held a lantern, the mate struck the unfortunate master three heavy blows on the head with a hammer, by which death was caused immediately.

They then got into a boat and rowed near to the bridge, dragging theory body after them, and the mate having produced a stone, he tied it to the body, and let both sink into the middle of the stream.

There were several circumstances in the boy's story corroborated by the crew and others concerned in the matter.

The jury found Ehlert guity, and he was executed at Durham on the 16th August, persisting in his innocence to the last. He was native of Barth-Pomerania.

St. Paul's Church, Jarrow

It is probably the most historically famous English church.

In order to honour the union of the Celtic Druid Church and the Roman Church, in the year 674, King Ecgfrid (Alchfrid), son of King Osuiu (Oswin) had given a gift to this new Brotherhood of seventy “hides or families” of land (60-120 acres) at the mouth of the River Wear on which to build the monastery.

This is when the Anglo-Saxon brotherhood had established the first monastery of the blessed St. Peter, the chief of the apostles to be built after he was declared rock of the Catholic Church in 666.

Shortly thereafter in 681, a sister monastery would be added and dedicated to the blessed St. Paul.

St. Bede tells us “that mutual peace and concord, mutual and perpetual affection and kindness, should be continued between the two places; so that, (for the sake of illustration,) just as the body may not be severed from the head by which it breathes, nor may the head forget the body, without which it has no life,—in like manner no one should attempt in any way to disturb the union between these two monasteries.” And St. Ceolfrid had said this of the occasion, “St. Benedict Biscop completed and ruled the monastery of St. Paul’s seven years and afterwards ably governed…….the single monastery of St. Peter and Paul in its two separate localities.”

In order to properly build churches that would last the test of time and also to lavishly decorate these buildings, Biscop had travelled to Gaul (modern day France) in order to hire stone masons and window glaziers. These craftsman were said to be Merovingian.

They were known for their opus gallicum (Latin for “Gallic work”). This was a technique where precise holes were created in stone masonry for the insertion of wooden infrastructure. These building techniques were used  extensively in church architecture. Both Bede and Biscop were actually the Irish and English kin of these Merovingians from France.