17th Century Latin Indenture, Wiserley, Wolsingham Parish, County Durham, England

Durham, England, 1681; Final concord Latin indenture in highly mannered Gothic style, executed at the court of Durham during the reign of Charles II on the 26th day of May in the year 1681 before three identified justices and the Mayor of the City Of Durham. Plaintiff is John Garstell, deforciants are Mary Hopper and Anthony Craggs and wife Amice. At issue is a tenement comprised of messuage, an orchard, twenty acres of land, twenty acres of meadow, and twenty acres of pasture, together with all goods and appurtenances, at Wiserley, Weardale township, in the parish of Wolsingham, County Durham. A sum of 160 silver marks was paid, suggesting this property was almost certainly a freehold. Indeed the names of John Gastell, Anthony Craggs and John Hopper appear as Wolsingham freeholders for 1685 in H. Conyers Surtees’ "History Of The Parish Of Wolsingham." Freeholds in Wolsingham were scarce, as the vast majority of lands were retained by the See of the Bishop of Durham. Manuscript dimensions approximately 16" x 6 1/2" fully opened. Excellent condition, vellum resilient, unstained, ink bright. A desirable manuscript pertaining to property in a richly historic region of England. It was to Durham at the very beginning of the 11th century that monks at Lindisfarne moved the body of St. Cuthbert in order to save it from Viking invasions, and his shrine there remained an important pilgrimage destination for many centuries until destroyed by Henry VIII in 1536. Archaeological remains at Weardale have been found dating from Roman Times, and Wolsingham was an ancient Anglo-Saxon settlement inhabited long before the Norman Conquest of 1066. Ships as originally folded. Complete Latin transcription and corresponding English translation are provided.