Little Usworth village

Little Usworth village

HER Number
362
District
Sunderland
Site Name
Little Usworth village
Place
Usworth
Map Sheet
NZ35NW
Class
Domestic
Site Type: Broad
Settlement
Site Type: Specific
Deserted Settlement
General Period
MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Medieval 1066 to 1540
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Description
The earliest reference to Little Usworth is in Boldon Buke, 1183 (a survey of land belonging to the Bishop of Durham, Hugh du Puiset) when it was held by William for 10s., carting wine with 8 oxen, and going in the great chase with 2 greyhounds. At the time of Hatfield's Survey in the 14th century Alice de Moderby held the vill for 10s and foreign service. From the 15th century the estate was held by the family of Lawson, and in 1844 it belonged (379 acres - 3 roods - 15 perches) to Sir W. Lawson Bt., and was let to a single tenant. Though a separate township, it never seems to have developed into a proper settlement, and in 1857 it consisted of the "Old Hall", two possible farms, a sandstone quarry and a spa well. Today its position is marked by Manor House Farm, an 18th-19th century double pile house and barn, in Manor Road, Concord.
Easting
431000
Northing
557900
Grid Reference
NZ431000557900
Sources
<< HER 362 >> W. Greenwell, ed. 1852, Boldon Buke, Surtees Society, 25, p. 44
W. Greenwell, ed. 1856, Bishop Hatfield's Survey, Surtees Society, 32, pp. 102, 263
W. Hutchinson, 1787, History of...Durham, Vol. II, pp. 492-3
R. Surtees, 1820, History of...Durham, Vol. II, pp. 46-48
W. Fordyce, 1857, History of...Durham, Vol. II, pp. 742-3
Tithe Awards, 1844, Great Usworth, Little Usworth etc. -Durham Records Office -
B.K. Roberts & D. Austin, 1975, A Preliminary Check-List of Rural Clusters in County Durham, p. 38