[See also HEXAB248 and HEXAB249]
A. D. 1634. Mable Ord, widow, gave the double-gilt chalice and paten [HEXAB2024], weighing thirty-two ounces; the communion table and green cloth, a pulpit cloth and cushion, and a mort cloth, all green. She left £100 to the poor. It is said she also gave £100 to the Free Grammar-School, and £100 to build a fountain, which was lost.
1637. Mrs Jane Lawson, spinster, daughter of Edward Lawson, of Topcliffe, in Yorkshire, Gent. (but then of Hexham) desired her father upon her death-bed to give 40s. a year for ever unto forty poor widows in Hexham, which hath been ever since distributed yearly on Good Friday. [Missing gravestone HEXAB1282]
1668. Madam Elizabeth Radcliffe, widow of the Right Worshipful Sir Edward Radcliffe, of Dilston, Bart. and mother of the Right Honourable Francis, Earl of Derwentwater, gave £4 a year to the poor Roman Catholics in Hexham, to be distributed on St Lucy's day, or thereabouts.
1673. John Tyson, yeoman, left £10 to the poor of Hexham parish; the interest to be divided among them at Christmas and Easter, yearly, for ever.
1675. James Cresswell, tanner, gave an acre of land, on Hexham Haugh, called Reah's Acre, the yearly rent thereof, 40s., to be distributed to the poor of Hexham town on the 3d of October, being his birth-day. [Missing gravestone HEXAB1290]
1677. Robert Farbridge, of Hackforth, Hexhamshire, gave £10 to the poor of the high and middle quarters of Hexhamshire; the interest to be distributed yearly at Whitley chapel on All-Saints' Day.
1679. Madam Mary Fenwick, daughter of Sir George Selby, of Newcastle, Knt., widow of Col. John Fenwick, of Hexham Abbey, who was slain at Marston Moor, July 2d, 1644, [see p. 90. note 5]*, gave £100 to the town, to bind poor children apprentices.
1680. Mrs. Ursula Mountney, of Stone-croft, widow, left by will, dated July 16th, an annuity of £3 a year to the poor of the parish of Hexham.
1681. Thomas Craig, skinner and glover, gave £20; the interest to be distributed in the church, on St. Thomas's Day, to poor widows and orphans residing in the parish of Hexham.
1684. Robert Forster, of the Upper Eshells, gave £10 to the poor of Hexhamshire; the interest to be distributed yearly at Easter.
Henry Simpson, of the Hole House, willed £10 to the poor of Hexhamshire; but dying before his will was executed, his heir, Thomas Wadeson, of Thimbleby Hill, Durham, gave £10 to the governors of Hexham Free-School.
1686. Thomas Gibson, cordwainer, bequeathed £20 to the poor, out of a certain close in Hexham Fields.
1690. Anthony Farbridge, of Newcastle, born at Hackforth, left £14 to the poor of the high and middle quarters of the shire; the interest to be distributed yearly on Good Friday, at Whitley Chapel.
1692. John Coulson, tanner, left £20 to the Free School, and £20 to the poor of Hexham town.
1693. Margaret Broadly, widow, left £10 to the friends of William Wilkinson, if they should come for it within seven years (which they did not) then to be let out for the use of the poor, and the interest distributed among them yearly, on the 11th of November.
1695. Richard Walton, of Peacock House, gave £3 towards finding a minister at Whitley Chapel; failing a minister, the interest to be distributed amongst the most needful people in the high quarter.
1702. Henry Dixon, of the Staples, gave £20 to the poor of the high, low, and middle quarters of the shire; the interest to be distributed yearly at Christmas.
Madam Ann Radcliffe, of Dilston, spinster, sister to the Right Hon. the Earl of Derwentwater, bequeathed £10 a year to the poor of Hexham parish; to be distributed on the 13th of June.
1707. Mrs Margaret Allgood, widow of Lancelot Allgood, of Newcastle, Attorney at Law, bequeathed £100 to the poor of Hexham township; the interest to be distributed by the principal inhabitants with the advice of the minister, after evening service on Christmas-day.
1709. Mrs Mary Allgood, spinster, daughter of Thomas Allgood, of Hexham, Gent. left £40 to the poor of Hexham town; the interest to be distributed.
1710. Nicholas Ridley, of Newcastle, Esq. and Alderman, gave £20 to the poor of Hexham town; the interest to be distributed yearly to the most aged and infirm, eight days before Christmas.
Mr John Carr, bailiff of Hexham, bequeathed £100 to the Alms-house, and £10 to the Free School.
1712. Mrs Dorothy Allgood, spinster, eldest daughter of Thomas Allgood, bailiff of Hexham, made over her fortune to her brother James upon certain conditions, one of which was that the interest of £40 should be yearly distributed to the poor of the town of Hexham if she died before marriage.
Elizabeth Gibson, widow, gave the interest of £20 to be divided yearly among the poor of Hexham town.
Ritschel. See also Wallis, ii. p. 100, &c.
1714. George Gibson, tanner, gave £30 to the poor of the township; to be distributed in portions of £3 half-yearly for five years after his death.
1715. Joseph Bell, tanner, gave £100 to the poor of this town; the interest to be distributed yearly on the 19th of March. All his other estates (failing lawful issue to his grandchildren) he bequeathed to pious and charitable uses.
Ann Johnson, left an annual sum of £2 15s. to be distributed among the poor of Hexham every year.
Mr David Johnson, mercer, left half an acre of land in the town fields, near Maiden-cross, to the poor of Hexham, in 1773. This half acre was let for 28s. a year, which sum was given to the poor, by the minister and churchwardens for the time being.
Thomas Howdon, tanner, bequeathed 20s. to be paid yearly out of the rent of a house in Fore Street, to 20 poor widows; which has been continued ever since by John Aynesley, of Hexham, Esq. and his executors.
Edward Smith, tanner, gave £60; the interest to be distributed yearly to the poor of Hexham by the governors of the Free Grammar-School. — Quere, Has it been paid since the year 1765?
John Forbes, merchant, bequeathed £100 to the poor of Hexham; the interest to be distributed yearly, for ever. His executors purchased the Round Close, 1 acre and 1 rood, which now (1780) lets at £3. 10s. a year. The money is distributed by the minister and churchwardens on St John's Day.
Robert Andrewes, Esq. gave 50s. a year to the poor of this parish; and the Rev. Sloughter Clarke and his wife, daughter of R Andrewes, Esq., since his death have given a grant of a rent-charge of 50s. out of a close of £6 a year, near the Maiden Cross, to Robert Salmon, Gent. and Edward Charlton, mercer, and their heirs, in trust, and upon condition that they shall truly pay the said sum of 50s. yearly to the minister of Hexham, by him to be distributed to the poor of the township. [Memorial slab HEXAB1024]
Memorandum. At the division of the common, there was given by allotment for certain grounds belonging to the poor of Hexham, James Cresswell's close, in the Haugh, and David Johnson's close, in the town fields, in all 1 acre, 3 roods, and 8 perches. This ground was granted by lease to Henry Arthur, for a term of nineteen years, by the churchwardens, at the annual rent of one peppercorn for the first three years, and £1. 10s. during the remainder of the lease. The lease was entered to on Feb. 2d, 1757.
The old almshouse was originally situated on Battle hill, but in 1812 it was exchanged for the building in Hencotes. There is accommodation for four persons, preference being always given to widows. It is under the control of the governors of the grammar school. The new almshouses in the Alnmouth road were built by the trustees of the will of the late Mr Henry King of Hexham.
Lost charities: John Tyson, Thomas Craig, Thomas Gibson, Margaret Broadley, Margaret Allgood, Nicholas Ridley, Elizabeth Gibson.
Extract from the Revd G Ritschel's will, June 14th, 1717.
Item, the sum of 40s. to the mercers' lecturer of Hexham, to be by him distributed to 40 poor widows of the town of Hexham, on the feast-day of St Thomas. Item, the like sum of 40s. to the minister of Whitley chapel, failing whom, to the lecturer aforesaid, to be by him distributed to the poor of Hexhamshire and Slaley parish. See a memorial [i.e. a memo] by the Revd G Ritschel, 1713, republished in 1780 with additions.
*5 The helmet [HEXAB2198] is that of Fenwick, who was slain at the Battle of Marsden Moor. His skull [HEXAB9517], which was broken in the same place with the helmet, is still kept at the Manor Office. Concerning this skull, its power of motion, and its love for one particular room, to which it would always return when removed, many stories, as surprising as they are true, long delighted and terrified the servants of the Abbey and their gossips. Now, however, the legends are lost or disregarded, and the skull lies very quietly in its appointed place. It is probable that the monument on which the prior's effigy [HEXAB1055] rests is the tomb of Sir J. Fenwick.