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.

Church of Our Lady, Seaton Delaval Hall

900-year-old Church of Our Lady, tucked away behind Seaton Delaval Hall on the A190, has several features which make it a rarity, perhaps unique:

• Despite its age (it was built by Hubert de Laval and dedicated in 1102 by Bishop Flambard, of Durham), it has only been a parish church since 1891. Before that it was a private chapel for nearly 800 years.
• Its chancel, choir and nave are separated by superb Norman arches and to have two in a building of this size is very unusual.
• A blocked up window and stonework in the north wall of the nave and the top section of the font suggest pre-Norman origins but the nave also has a classical 18th century ceiling. So we have an Anglo-Saxon/Norman church with a Georgian ceiling!
• The church is one of very few in the Church of England dedicated solely to Our Lady – indeed it may be the only one.

Other features include 13th century effigies of a knight and a lady, eight cusped panels from about the same period containing shields bearing Delaval and other arms, a piscina bowl with credence shelf above possibly from the 14th century, six hatchments of the Delaval and Astley families, and the tracery from a 14th century window at the east end (the window was replaced in 1861 and the old tracery, carved out of one piece of stone, was placed against the south wall outside the church until it was built into the wall above the door of the entrance porch, constructed in 1895).

 

The stained glass in the windows is all Victorian. The window in the east end wall is believed to be by William Wailes, of Newcastle, and most of the others are by his successors, Wailes and Strang. The one exception is in the south wall of the choir. The Prince of Wales window, possibly by Thomas Willement, was bought in 1841 by Sir Jacob Astley, later Lord Hastings, and came from the Colosseum in Regents Park, London. It was thought at that time to depict the Black Prince and it was not until the late 1990s that it was discovered that it in fact shows Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII and brother of Henry VIII. It is a copy of a light in the Magnificat Window, in Great Malvern Priory.

 

Robert Delaval was baptised in the church on June 22, 1263, and Henry Delaval on January 12, 1343.
 

Mystery surrounds the identities of a knight and his lady, whose chest tombs were placed in the church in the 13th Century. They could be either Sir Eustace Delaval, who died in 1258 and his wife Constance de Baliol, or Sir Henry Delaval, who died in 1271, and his wife Mary de Biddleston.

For 400 years the Delavals were buried in the church crypt, with the last internment in 1796. At the end of the 19th Century the crypt was opened and a record made of the six coffins which could be identified. Plates from two of the caskets are mounted on the church walls.

Among the occupants of the vault, now bricked up, are Sir Frances Delaval and Admiral George Delaval, the builder of Seaton Delaval Hall, who died near the house after falling from his horse.
The base of an obelisk marks the spot.

But the puzzle concerns the corpse of a man in the crypt who is not a Delaval. Sir Alexander Ruthven was buried in the vault in 1722.

Also in the crypt is Lord John Delaval's mistress Elizabeth Hicks, who was 16 when the relationship began and who died in her 20s in 1796.

Hubert de la Val went on the First Crusade and helped his uncle Robert of Normandy rescue the Holy Sepulchre from the heathen.

Beverley

Beverley is a market town, civil parish and the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Beverley Preceptory, Knights Hospitaller

founded c.1201, manor of the Holy Trinity and other endowments granted by Sybilla de Valoniis;
dissolved 1540; granted to William Berkeley 1544/5

A preceptory was established at Beverley at the beginning of the 13th century, probably in 1201, when Sybil de Beverley, second wife of the third Lord Percy, gave to the Knights Hospitallers the manor of Holy Trinity, east of Beverley, the manor of North Burton and other lands.  In 1338, besides their house and grounds at Beverley, the knights had some 350 acres at Burton, 150 acres at Fitling, 120 at Walsay, 270 at Cleving, and about the same at Dalton. The voluntary offerings collected in the district were reckoned at £20, the whole issues being rather over 125 marks. From this had to be deducted various expenses for the exercise of hospitality, as enjoined by the founders, and for the support of the establishment, consisting of a preceptor, Simon Fauconer, knight, and two brethren, Simon Belcher, knight, and Philip Ewyas, sergeant, two chaplains and clerks employed to collect the voluntary offerings, a steward and the usual retinue of servants. The clear yearly profits amounted to 60 marks. The estates of the Templars' preceptory of Westerdale were at a later date put under the commander, or preceptor of Beverley, and the total value of the preceptory of Beverley was returned in 1535 as £164 9s. 10d. John Sutton was preceptor at this time, as he had been in 1528, and continued to hold the post until the suppression of the order in 1540, when he was given a pension of £200.

The Church of St. Mary, Beverley, is supposed to have had upon its site, a Chapel of Ease dedicated to St. Martin by Archbishop Thurston, of York, between 1114-42; it is certain, however, that it was constituted a Vicarage of St. Mary in 1325. The Nave was built about 1450, and consists of six bays and seven clerestory windows, but in 1530 the upper part of the central tower fell upon the Nave with
much loss of life. Its pillar was erected by the Guild of Minstrels, which like that of the Masons, claimed to date from Saxon times; it has upon the fluted cornishes five figures of the Minstrels with their instruments, of which only two respectively with guitar and pipe are intact; and stands on the north side facing the pulpit. The "Misere" stalls in the chancel are of the 15th century, with carved bas reliefs under the seats; one of these represents a "fox" shot through the body with a woodman's arrow, and a "monkey" approaching with a bottle of physic.

Around 1450 the will of a mason from Beverley gives a tantalising glimpse into the emergence of masonic regalia. An inventory of John Cadeby's possessions mentions several zonas, or girdles. Two were silver mounted, and one of these had the letters B and I in the middle, indicating Boaz and Jachin, the twin pillars of Solomon's Temple.

The Templars are everywhere

The arrest of the Templars in 1307, the suppression of the order in 1312 and the execution of Jacques the Molay in 1314 saw the end of the order in the eyes of academic historians. Nevertheless, the order did not cease to exist. Given the number of knights who escaped, who remained at large or who were acquitted, it would be surprising if it had.

Although King Philip's seizure and destruction of Jacques the Molay and the French Templars was quite efficient, there is no record of hid finding the Templar treasure in Paris of the secret archives of the order or its fleet, based mainly at La Rochelle in Brittany. Much evidence and some tradition points to the removal of the treasure and most of the archives on ships, with refugee Templars taking these to Portugal and to the west and east coasts of Scotland, where they were welcomed.

There is documented history for the Templars in Scotland. Following the foundation of the order in c.1119, Hugh de Payens came to England in 1128. King David of Scotland invited him to come north of the border and probably gave him land at Balantrodoch, to the south of Edinburgh. This is now known as Temple, and is where one of the order's two Scottish preceptories was founded, the other being Maryculter on the River Dee to the south-west of Aberdeen. The order also had posessions in Lothian, Falkirk and Glasgow.

Only two Templars were arrested in Scotland, Walter Clifton and William Middleton, a native of Northumberland, born near Newcastle.

In Portugal, the Templars took the name of the Knights of Christ. Columbus's father-in-law was a member of this order and it was with nautical charts inherited from this relative that Columbus undertook his voyage of discovery.

Who and when?

The date of the story is of course uncertain, but nine ascending generations from the late General Lambton, in whom popular tradition affirmed the curse to expire, would exactly reach to Sir John Lambton, Knight of Rhodes, of whom this curious entry stands in an old MS pedigree, lately in possession of the family of Middleton of Offerton:

'Johan Lambeton that slewe ye Worme was Knight of Rhoodes and Lord of Lambeton and Wod Apilton efter the dethe of fower brothers sans esshewe masle'.

That the knight ever succeeded to the family estates however contradicts the proven pedigree.

"The history of the holy, military, sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem; or, Knights Hospitallers, Knights Templars, Knights of Rhoades, Knights of Malta"  :

Sir William d'Aunay the Turcopolier, and Sir John Lambton, are selected as of the most renowned
knightfif of the English language in 1454.

Ancient and Modern Malta: Containing a Description of the Ports..., Vol. 3, by Pierre Marie Louis de Boisgelin de Kerdu, Priors and Grand Priors of England, Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem and of Rhodes:

Sir William d'Aunay the Turcopolier in the year 1453

Hospitaller Sources, calendar for 1450:

23 December, 1450
The Master Fr Jean de Lastic and the Convent to Fr John Langstrother preceptor and receiver in the priory of England: inform him that Fr John Lambeton has rendered account in front of the administrators of the Treasury about his preceptory Beverley and his expenditures as lieutenant turcopolier and for the English brethren in the Convent; from this it follows that they owe him 107 fl. 11 asp. 14 d. Rhodesian currency; Fr Langstrother shall pay him from the first incomes from mortuaria and vancantiae in England without using the responsions.

Ancient and honourable family of Lambton

John de Lamtun was witness to the charter of Uchtred de Wodeshend between 1180 and 1200.

Robert de Lambton, Lord of Lambton son and heir of William son of Robert, occurs in an inquisition in 1350, then aged 24 years. His son, William de Lambton, married Alice daughter of Salcock of Salcock, Lancaster. He was succeeded by his son, William de Lambton.

William de Lambton was born on 1 Jan 1390 in Lambton, Durham, England, son of William de Lambton and Alice Salcock. He married Elizabeth about 1405 in Lambton, and died before 1432/1433.

The Church of Chester-le-Street - on a brass plate in the Lambton pew, in the South aile, now removed:

Orate pro animabus Wiltimi Lambton, arm. qui obiit 20 July 1430, et Alicie uxoris ejus quæ obiit 143., quor. animabus propitietur Deus.

(Pray for the souls of Wiltimi Lambton, arm. who died 20 July 1430, and Alice, his wife who died the 143., whose. for merciful God.)

Arms, Lambton, impaling, Argent, three dunghill-cocks Gules, Salcock

William and Elizabeth had the following children:
Robert Lambton- born in 1406 in Lambton, Durham, England. Married Joanna. He died after 11 Mar 1442 in London, Middlesex, England, and was buried in Church Of The Friars Carmelites, London. Will dated 11 March 1442, proved 1443.

Thomas Lambton-1408

William Lambton-born about 1410 in Lambton, Durham, England. Named in his mother’s will 1439 and that of his brother Thomas 1442, Master of University College Oxford 1461.

John Lambton- born about 1412 in Lambton, Durham, England. Named in his mother’s will 1349 and his brother in 1442, then Knight of Rhodes.

Alice Lambton-born about 1414 in Lambton, Durham, England. Mentioned in her mother’s will in 1439.

 Elizabeth Lambton- born about 1416 in Lambton, Durham, England.
             
In the 1500s, a John Lambton married Agnes Lumley, of Ludworth, forming a link between the Lumleys and Lambtons, and this also added some royal blood to the Lambton line because Agnes was a great-granddaughter of King Edward IV.

The Lambtons were a family of good and valorous repute long before the date of their family legend, which only ascends to the fourteenth century and it does not appear that the hero of the tale reaped any thing from his adventure, except the honour of the achievement and a very singular curse on his descendants to the ninth generation.

Popular tradition assigns the chapel of Brugeford as the spot where Lambton offered up his vows before and after the adventure (this foundation however it has been shown existed at a period antecedent to the earliest date assigned to the legend).

In the garden house at Lambton are two figures of no great antiquity. A knight in good style armed cap-a-pee, the back studded with razor blades, who holds the Worm by one ear with his left hand, and with his right crams his sword to the hilt down his throat, and a lady who wears a coronet with bare breasts &c in the style of Charles II Beauties, a wound on whose bosom, and an accidental mutilation of the hand, are said to have been the work of the Worm. A real good Andrea Ferrara, inscribed on the blade 152,1 notwithstanding the date, has been also pressed into the service and is said to be the identical weapon by which the Worm perished .

Penshaw Hill

Penshaw Hill is a hill fort so far missed by archaeology because of a later addition - A mock Greek temple. Because of this little is known about it other than the physical and some limited documentary evidence. Penshaw is the only triple rampart Iron Age hill fort known to exist in the north of England. It has a similar feel to Almondbury, and probably dates from the early to mid Iron Age. To add to the mystique, Penshaw Monument, which is built on top, may have been built using stone taken from a Roman dam at Sunderland.

 

Plan of the Ramparts and Monument

 

 

 

 

1864 OS Map entry for 'Painshaw Hill'

The Lost Hill Fort

 

As a consequence of the building of the monument, as well as previous quarrying on both sides of the hill, most of the earthworks were lost, today only the side closest to the nearby road has visible remains of the hill fort, even these have been assumed to be related to the monument or the quarries and little attention has been paid to the significance of this ancient site. Even the OS map of 1864, published twenty years after the erection of the monument, notes the earthworks simply as 'old quaries'

 

The first evidence as to the age of the earthworks themselves comes from a surprising source - local myth. Local legend has it that the dragon slept whilst coiled around the hill, which is how the hill got its rings. It's not often that legend plays a part in evidence for the existence of a hillfort but this legend, since it mentions the crusades does at least indicate the both the antiquity of this feature and its appearance prior to the quarries and monument.

 

The triple ramparts can be clearly seen in the photo above. In the grassed area the ramparts have been flattened and the ditches filled, but these are much better preserved in the tree covered areas to each side.

 

The main footpath leading to Penshaw Monument rises sharply up the steep side of the hill, it crosses three earth 'steps' which on further investigation are revealed to ramparts of an apparently Iron Age hill fort, each rampart having a ditch behind it. Ramparts such as these, but on a larger scale are preserved at Maiden Castle in Dorset.

Unfortunately although the rampart is highly visible in the woods to either side of the track, on each side they disappear into extensive quarry areas. Until recently this was thought to be all that existed of the ramparts however investigations to the north east of the Monument have revealed that the three banks of the rampart can be seen running between the quarry and the wood to the north. The banks are today only a few inches high and their path through the woods is now obscured.

A further indicator that this is a place of antiquity lies in its name - Pen is a pre-roman name meaning top, hill or head.

View at top of first rampart, clearly the original fort had a considerable rampart, most of which has been eroded to fill the ditches either side.

 

 

A Roman Monument?

 

 

Opus Revinctum and Lewis holes at Penshaw Monument

More detailed investigation of the Penshaw Monument has revealed startling evidence that the monument itself mat has been created by the demolition of an earlier Roman structure. The strongest evidence is located in the 'debris' stones that lie beside the monument, these seem to be in there original shape and have Roman type 'Opus Revinctum' and Lewis Holes. It is known that this combination of stones features makes these stones highly likely to have been Roman in origin, Opus Revinctum or iron strapping was extensively used with Roman river works and was forgotten as a building method after the decline of the Roman empire.

 

 

One of the many Lewis holes in the base of Penshaw Monument

The base of the temple has a great many lewis - holed stones visible, although they have been filled, they indicate that there is a good chance that the base of Penshaw Monument was built from the same stone that was put alongside the monument.

 

Hylton Roman Dam

The possibility exists that Penshaw was built using stones recovered after the demolition of the Roman Dam at Hylton, Sunderland. It's a possibly tenuous link, but it is known that at the same time as the monument was built by craftsmen based in Sunderland, a large damlike structure across the Wear was being demolished to improve keelboat navigation. In his book 'Chester-le-Street and its place in history' Ray Selkirk makes a significant step in proving the Roman origin of this structure.

 

Circular anomaly

At the base of the hill, with one of the footpaths running though it is clearly a circular anomaly, about 8m in diameter. Nothing further is known about it but given the sites lineage this feature could well be important.

 

 

Picture of the circular anomaly at the foot of Penshaw Hill

 

Penshaw Monument

The monument was built in 1844 in honour of John George Lambton, the first Earl of Durham.

The Monument stands 136 metres above sea level. It was designed to be a copy of the Theseion, the Temple of Hephaestus, in Athens. It has also been linked with the Temple of Diana at Ephesus. It is built twice the size of the original. It was designed by Newcastle architects, John and Benjamin Green and built by Thomas Pratt of Sunderland. The Monument is the best preserved model of a Doric Hexastyle temple in Britain. The Marquess of Londonderry presented Penshaw Hill as a suitable site.

The foundation stone was laid by the Marquess of Zetland on 28th August 1844, four years after the death of the Earl. An inscription which has since been erased read as follows:

This stone was laid by Thomas, Earl of Zetland, Grandmaster of the Free and Accepted Masons of England, assisted by the Brethren of the Provinces of Durham and Northumberland, on August 28th 1844 being the Foundation Stone of a memorial to be erected to the memory of John George, Earl of Durham, who after representing the County of Durham in Parliament for 15 years was raised to the Peerage, and subsequently held the offices of Lord Privy Seal, Ambassador-Extraordinary and Minister of the Court of Petersburg and Governor-General of Canada. He died July 28th 1840, in the 49th year of his age. This monument will be erected by the private subscriptions of his fellow countrymen, admirers of his distinguished talents and exemplary private virtues.

The structure consists of four major parts. The stylobate is the base and foundation that supports the rest of the structure. The smooth columns, of which there are eighteen in a four by seven arrangement, are known as Doric columns. This was the first and oldest order of Greek architecture characterised by massive columns without ornament at the base or top. The columns are solid except one which contains a spiral staircase providing access to the upper walkways. This was originally open to the public but was permanently closed after a fifteen year old boy fell to his death.

Resting on the columns is the entablature which itself can be split into three main parts. The architrave, the main spanning beam across the tops of the pillars. Above the architrave is the frieze, the central patterned section. Then the cornice is the upper part which projects outwards. Finally, the pediments are the triangular facings at each end of the Monument.
              
It is 100 feet (30 metres) long, 53 feet (16 metres) wide and 70 feet (20 metres) high. The columns are each 6 feet and 6 inches (2 metres) in diameter. 

The Order of the Knights of Rhodes and the Legend of the Dragon of Rhodes

In “The Curse of the Lambton Worm”, a possible connection between the legend of the Lambton Worm to a 14th century legend about the Dragon of Rhodes is mentioned. Sir John Lambton, as a Knight of Rhodes himself, would have been fully aware of the legend and would no doubt have recounted the story on his return to England. The legend of the Dragon of Rhodes, and details of the Order of the Knights of Rhodes is expanded below:

The Order of the Knights of Rhodes was founded from the Order of St. John, or the Hospitallers, which was an order of sworn brethren which had arisen at the time of the first Crusades. The Order of St John was begun in Jerusalem by monks who assisted penniless pilgrims who arrived at the city by not only feeding and housing them, but also doing their best to cure the many diseases that they caught on the journey. The Hospitallers obtained permission from the Pope to become warriors as well as monks so that they could further the Christian cause in Jerusalem. They were thus all in one – knights, priests, and nurses; and their monasteries became both castles and hospitals; where the sick pilgrim or wounded Crusader was sure of medical care, and, if he recovered, an escort to safety.

Around 1309 the island of Rhodes became home to this Order, and they became known as the Knights of Rhodes, in existence until 1522.

A few years after the Order of the Knights of Rhodes was founded on the island, Rhodes was ravaged by an enormous creature living in a swamp at the foot of Mount St. Stephen, about two miles from the city of Rhodes. It devoured sheep and cattle when they came to the water to drink, and even young shepherd boys went missing. Known locally as a dragon, it has been suggested that a crocodile or serpent might have been brought over by storms or currents from Africa, which could have grown to a formidable size unnoticed among the marshes, or grown with the re-telling of the story! Pilgrims visiting the Chapel of St. Stephen, on the hill above its lair, put their lives at risk as it was rumoured that they may be devoured by the dragon before they could climb the hill.

Several brave knights had tried to kill the creature, but the dragon was said to have been covered with impenetrable scales and all had perished in the attempt. At last the Grand Master, Helion de Villeneuve, forbade any further attempts to kill the creature.

A young French knight, however, named Dieudonné de Goza (also known as de Gozo or de Gozon), who had seen the creature but had never managed to attack it, was unwilling to give up. He requested leave of absence, returned to his father’s castle in Languedoc, and had a model made of the monster. He had noticed that the creature’s belly was unprotected by scales, but was impossible to reach due to its huge teeth and lashing tail. He made the stomach of his model hollow and filled it with food, then trained two fierce young mastiffs to attack the underside of the monster, while he earfuld attacking the monster from above, mounted on his warhorse.

When he was satisfied that the horse and dogs were trained, he returned to Rhodes, landing in a remote part of the island for fear of being prevented from carrying out his plan. Having prayed at the chapel of St. Stephen, he left his two French squires, instructing them to return home if he were slain, but to watch and come to him if he killed the dragon, or was injured by it. He then rode down the hill towards the haunt of the dragon. It roused itself as he came, and at first he charged it with his lance, which was useless against the scales. His horse was quick to notice the difference between the true and the false monster, and reared up, so that Dieudonne was forced to leap to the ground and was knocked down by the monster’s lashing tail; but the two dogs attacked the creature as they had been trained, and the knight, regaining his feet, plunged his sword into the creature. When the servants finally arrived, they found the knight lying apparently dead under the carcass of the dragon, but they managed to revive him and brought him into the city amid the ecstatic shouts of the whole populace, who conducted him in triumph to the palace of the Grand Master.

There was, however, a great moral to be learnt from this tale – which was probably recounted to all the succeeding probationary Knights of Rhodes, including Sir John Lambton – for despite praising the knight for his brave actions, the Grand Master, Villeneuve, was angry with his disobedience and dismissed him from the Order. As he pointed out, the discipline of the Order of Rhodes was humility and implicit obedience to the Grand Master, and Dieudonné had broken this vow and followed his own self-will. Dieudonné was, however, eventually reinstated, and the dragon’s head was set up over the gate of the city, where historians allegedly saw it even in the seventeenth century, describing it as larger than that of a horse, with a huge mouth and teeth and very large eyes. Dieudonné de Goza was elected to the Grand Mastership after the death of Villeneuve in 1346, and was reputed to be a great soldier, much loved by all the poor peasants of the island, to whom he was exceedingly kind. He died in 1353, and his tomb is said to have been inscribed with these words:
“Here lies the Dragon Slayer.”

Where it all began - The Lambton Worm and Penshaw Hill

Around the time of the crusades (in some accounts) in the area around the river Wear, there is a tale told about a fearsome dragon, which terrorised the area and was dispatched with cunning by a brave warrior.
John Lambton, the young heir to Lambton Hall, was fishing on the river Wear one Sunday morning, while all the other villagers and castle residents were at mass in Brugeford Chapel. After a couple of hours of catching nothing, his hook was caught by something powerful and quick, thinking that he had hooked a great fish he set about landing the catch. He toiled for what seemed an age, and finally pulled his prize on the sandy bank.
He had caught a black worm like creature, which was only small, but twisted and coiled with great power. In appearance the creature was completely black, with the head of a salamander and needle sharp teeth. It seemed to secrete a sticky slime, and had nine holes along each side of its mouth. Cursing, he wondered what to do with the creature when an old man appeared from behind him, he asked the young Lambton what he had caught, and looking at the creature the old man crossed himself. He warned Lambton not to throw the creature back into the river. "It bodes no good for you but you must not cast it back into the river, you must keep it and do with it what you will." At this the old man walked away disappearing as quickly as he had appeared.
John Lambton picked up the creature and put it into his catch basket, walking home he mulled over the stranger's words and looked again at the hideous thing lying in his basket. A feeling of unease swept over him and he threw the catch into an ancient well on the road back to the hall (the well was forever after known as Worms Well).
The years passed and John Lambton went off to the crusades, with every passing year the worm grew in strength in its deep dark hole. The well became unusable as the water became poisoned, strange venomous vapours were seen rising out of the well, and village gossip surmised that the well had been cursed, and that something unworldly lived in its depths. One morning the village gossip was answered, during the night the worm, now in full maturity, had slipped out of the well and wrapped itself three times around a rocky island in the middle of the river, a trail of black slime outlined its path from the well.
The morning was a hive of activity as the news spread throughout the village and to neighbouring farms. Those brave enough went as close as they dared to get a glimpse of the creature. The dragon had no legs or wings, but a thick muscled body that rippled as it moved. Its head was large and its gaping maw bristled with razor sharp teeth, venomous vapours trailed from its nostrils and mouth as it breathed.
For a short time the dragon did nothing, during the day it stayed in mid stream and at night it came back to land and coiled itself three times around a nearby hill, leaving spiral patterns in the soft earth. This lull was short lived, for soon the beast became hungry and started to rampage around the countryside, always returning to its hill or Worms Rock in the river Wear. Depending on the account, the hill the worm returned to was either Penshaw Hill or, the aptly named Worm Hill in nearby Fatfield.
It took small lambs and sheep and ate them whole, and it tore open cows udders with its razor teeth to get at the milk, which it could smell from miles away.
The dragon became bolder and bolder, some brave villagers tried to kill the beast but where crushed and drowned in the river, or torn to pieces with its razor fangs.
Eventually the dragon came to Lambton Hall, where the lord lived on his own. Fortunately the local residents rallied at the hall, and were ready for its coming. They filled a large stone trough with warm milk from the nine kye of the byre. The dragon came to the hall gates but was distracted by the smell of the milk. It plunged into the trough and drained it dry, thus sated the dragon returned to its river abode.
Thus began a ritual that was not to be abated for seven years. The dragon stopped its roaming in the village and left the cows and the sheep alone. It only ventured up the lane to the hall for its daily offering of milk. As the years passed the trail became marked by a path of dark slime and the villagers returned to the village in some semblance of normality. Every so often people from far and wide would come to kill the dragon but would always meet the same fate as those early villagers.
After seven years had passed, John Lambton returned from the crusades a powerful and seasoned knight. When he heard of the plight of his village he devised plan to kill the beast. He went to the wise woman who lived in Brugeford to gain her advice. She told him that the plight of the village was his fault and that it was his duty to remedy the situation: You and you alone can kill the worm, go to the blacksmith, and have a suit of armour wrought with razor sharp spear heads studded throughout its surface. Then go to the worm's rock and await its arrival. But mark my words well, if you slay the beast you must put to death the first thing that crosses your path as you pass the threshold of Lambton Hall. If you do not do this then three times three generations of Lambtons will not die in their beds.
John listened to the advice and swore an oath to complete it. He then went to the local blacksmith and had him forge a suit of armour embedded in double-edged spikes, and spent the night in the local chapel.
During the next day John Lambton, clad in the specially made armour engaged in battle with the dragon in midstream. Every time the dragon tried to embrace him it cut itself to ribbons on the spikes, so that pieces of its flesh were sliced off and floated down the river on a crimson tide. Eventually the worm grew so weak that he could despatch it with one heavy sword blow to its head.
He then let out three blasts on his bugle to tell of his victory, and as a signal for the servants to release his favourite hound from the house to complete his vow. Unfortunately the servants forgot in the commotion and joy, and as John passed over the threshold of the hall his father rushed out to greet him. Dismayed John blew another blast on his horn and the servants released the hound, which John killed with one sweeping blow from his sword. But it was too late, the vow was broken and for generations after none of the Lambtons died in their beds. It is said that the last one died while crossing over Brugeford Bridge over a hundred and forty years ago.

Penshaw Hill
One of the hills the worm is said to have frequented is actually the site of the only triple rampart, Iron Age hill fort known in the North of England. The spiral patterns or furrows suggested by the legend as being formed by the worm coiling itself thrice around the hill, could in fact be the triple ramparts of the hill fort. The hill is also known for the prominent landmark of Penhsaw Monument, a folly based on a Greek temple.

The Lambton Worm - Traditional Folksong Based on the Legend
One Sunday morn young Lambton
Went a-fishin' in the Wear;
He catched a fish upon his heuk,
He thowt leuk't varry queer,
But whatt'na kind of fish it was
Young Lambton couldna tell.
He waddna fash to carry hyem,
So he hoyed it in a well.
Chorus:
Whisht! lads, haad ya gobs,
Aa'll tell ye aall an aaful story,
Whisht! lads, haad ya gobs,
An aa'll tell ye ‘boot the worm.
Noo Lambton felt inclined to gan
An' fight in foreign wars.
He joined a troop o' Knights
That cared for neither wounds nor scars,
An' off he went to Palestine
Where queer things befel,
An' varry seun forgot aboot
The queer worm in the well.
(Chorus)
But the worm got fat an' graad an' graad,
An' graad an aaful size;
With greet big teeth, and greet big mooth,
An' greet big goggley eyes.
An' when at neets he craaled ‘oot
To pick up bits o' news,
If he felt dry upon the road,
He milked a dozen coos.
(Chorus)
This feorful worm wad often feed
On calves an' lambs an' sheep
An' swally little bairns alive
When they laid doon to sleep.
An' when he'd eaten aall he cud
An' he had had his fill,
He craaled away an' lapped his tail
Seven times roond Pensher Hill.
(Chorus)
The news of this most aaful worm
An' his queer gannins on,
Seun crossed the seas, gat to the ears
Of brave an' bowld Sir John.
So hyem he cam an' catched the beast
An' cut ‘im in three halves,
An' that seun stopped him eatin' bairns
An' sheep an' lambs and calves.
(Chorus)
So noo ye knaa hoo aall the folks
On byeth sides of the Wear
Lost lots o' sheep an' lots o' sleep
An' lived in mortal feor.
So let's hev one to brave Sir John
That kept the bairns frae harm,
Saved coos an' calves by myekin' halves
O' the famis Lambton Worm.
(Final Chorus)
Noo lads, Aa'll haad me gob,
That's aall Aa knaa aboot the story
Of Sir John's clivvor job
Wi' the aaful Lambton Worm.