On the south-eastern side of Thorpe Beck, near Thorpe Thewles, there once stood a great manor house named Blakeston Hall. Since the mid-fourteenth century it had been the seat of the Blakiston family, who bore the local name. From the early seventeenth century until the late eighteenth century it was the seat of the Davisons – a leading family in this area during that period.
Their founder in these parts, Sir Alexander Davison, was a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Born of relatively humble origins, he established himself as one of the town’s greatest merchants in the early 1600s. He was also sometime governor of two of the city’s most powerful guilds, sheriff and twice mayor of Newcastle; on the second occasion he had the privilege of entertaining King Charles I at his own house during the royal visit of May 1639 and was rewarded with the honour of knighthood.
Sir Alexander was later one of the loyal royalist defenders of the town when it was stormed by the Scots army (who fought on the side of parliament) during the Civil War in 1644. He died of his wounds shortly afterwards aged almost 80! Reminders of Sir Alexander’s wealth, long service and unflinching courage can still be seen today in his imposing monument in Newcastle Cathedral and the coat of arms displayed on the fine panelling of the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall.
Earlier in life, as a means of investing his trading wealth, enhancing his prestige and establishing his sons as members of the landed gentry, Sir Alexander had bought great swathes of land in Durham, including the manors of Fulthorpe, Thorpe Thewles and Wynyard in the parish of Grindon and – the greatest prize of all – the nearby manor of Blakeston on the north-western fringe of the parish of Norton in 1630.
It is unlikely that Sir Alexander spent much time at Blakeston; it was important that he maintained his trading interests and involvement in the civic government of Newcastle. Nevertheless, when in residence his family occupied a privileged standing in local society. A seating plan of Norton church (1636) recorded in the back of the earliest parish register granted either Sir Alexander or his eldest son Thomas the best available position in ‘Blaixton porch’ (the north transept) where he was to sit with his family and servants from Blakeston.
After the Civil War it fell to Sir Alexander’s three surviving sons to bear the fines that were levied by parliament on the estates of defeated royalists. His eldest son Thomas inherited Blakeston, Fulthorpe, Thorpe Thewles and Wynyard and was therefore compelled to pay a great deal before he was pardoned and allowed to enter into his inheritance. Sir Alexander’s other sons suffered too as they had also inherited substantial estates; Ralph Davison received his father’s lands at Thornley and Samuel Davison took the estate of Wingate Grange, both in the neighbouring parish of Kelloe.
Upon the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660, the Davison brothers’ luck changed and they assumed a position amongst the wealthiest and most influential men in the county. The eldest, Thomas, who had been educated at Cambridge and Gray’s Inn and served as a Lieutenant-Colonel during the Civil War, was immediately appointed High Sheriff of Durham, knighted shortly afterwards and made a Deputy Lieutenant in 1661. As such, he was confronted with the tasks of restoring order and restraining religious non-conformists who resented the effects of the Restoration; namely, the loss of their political power and the return to orthodox church government by bishop, dean and chapter.
The most exciting source from Sir Thomas’ career, however, is a description of his response to an invasion scare during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. On a summer night of thunder and lightning in July 1666, he received an urgent post from the Mayor of Hartlepool; it stated that a Dutch warship was within cannon-shot of the town, that its long-boat had entered the Teesmouth and that an imminent invasion was anticipated. Sir Thomas set off for Hartlepool at once:
I thought it … my dutie to repaire thither both to comfort and incourage the good people and to let gainsayers see their is not the least failure in care and diligence. I went with a resolution to have staid there if need had required and to have provided as well as I could for the securitie both of towne and countrie…
Upon arrival at the headland, things were not so desperate as he had been led to imagine. There was only one inactive Dutch ship in sight and he stayed until it was safely back out at sea. The good people of Hartlepool had been terrified beyond reason, quite understandably.
Sir Thomas died in 1667. His monument is still one of the most imposing features of Norton parish church. There are also many other memorials nearby that commemorate his descendants and cousins from a distant branch of the Davison family of Newcastle who had more recently established themselves at Beamish, including another Thomas Davison, Vicar of Norton (1663-90).
The subsequent generations of the Davison family were not of any comparable significance. They remained in residence at Blakeston until the late eighteenth century when they departed this area for Kippax Park near Leeds and adopted the additional surname of Bland.
The family finally sold Blakeston in 1806 and it passed to other owners – the Ord family, the Russell family (including the Viscounts Boyne) and then the Wanless and Potter families. The old hall had supposedly been demolished by the end of the eighteenth century, although it is clear from photographs that a sizeable portion of its frontage survived in the succeeding structure. Having become practically uninhabitable, the last traces of the old hall were demolished in the 1970s. The modern house built in its place continues to use the name ‘Blakeston Hall’ to this day.
Notes & References:
- The best available printed pedigree or ‘family tree’ of the Davison family is to be found in Robert Surtees, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham &c., Vol. III (London, 1823), pp. 166-7.
- Family papers and deeds concerning their estates at Blakeston, Fulthorpe and Thorpe Thewles survive in the collection of the Bland family of Kippax Park, West Yorkshire Archive Service (Leeds).
- The papers of their cousins, the Davison family of Beamish, include several items of direct interest: Shafto (Beamish) Papers, Durham University Library (Archives & Special Collections).
- Deeds relating to the estate at Wynyard are to be found amid the Londonderry Papers, Durham County Record Office.
- Deeds relating to the estate at Thornley are to be found amongst the Greenwell Deeds, Durham County Record Office.
- The only work dedicated solely to the history of Blakeston is a short book produced by Blakeston School: James McGlashan, Blakeston (1975).
Source:
The above article is based on that submitted by Joseph Thompson in TTHG Newsletter No. 9, December 2011.
Leave a Reply