In 1356 Sir John Lumley granted to Sir Robert Umfravill "the site, demesne, park, meadows and pasture of the manor of Raueneshelme, which Eleanor, who was wife of Richard Fitz-Marmaduke, holds for life and of which Sir John has the reversion. To hold for one year and six weeks after the death of the said Eleanor, taking in that time as much coal there as can be worked by four men in one pit".

The first specific mention of the manor of Raueneshelme is 1288, when Bishop Bec granted Sir John Fitz-Marmaduke free warren in the demesne land there. In 1356 Sir John Lumley leased "the site, demesne, park, meadows and pasture of the manor" to Sir Robert Umfravill to work coal there. In 1472 William Lumley died seised of the manor which contained 60 acres arable, 100 pasture, 10 meadow, 60 wood, 100 moor, and which he had held of the bishop "by service of half a knight's fee and by three suits to the principal county courts of Durham". It is unclear, however, what the title of manor means in this case - a set of buildings or a territory distinct from the neighbouring townships. If the latter, it is perhaps later represented by the park shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map of the area.

By a grant dated before 1128 Ranulph bishop of Durham gave his nephew Richard Hectona (Eighton), Ravensworth and Blaikeston. The description of the boundaries suggests that "the high road" (presumably Long Bank and Old Durham Road) was the eastern boundary, and hence that Eighton is perhaps represented by the modern Low Eighton. The vill seems always to have been small, and it continued to be part of the Ravensworth estate, owned by the Lumleys in the 14/15th centuries, and passing to the Liddells in the early 17th century. Surtees quotes a deed of 1608 which mentions Eighton, Over Eighton and Nether Eighton, suggesting that Eighton may have been between the modern High and Low Eighton. Team Colliery, and its reclamation have much altered this area.

In the late 13th century Robert son of John de Rasinswrthe granted Sir John Fitz- Marmaduke half his mill on Thame (Team), and the grantee agreed "not to make a mill on the north up to Blakeburne". If both parties agreed, the mill could be moved to a more suitable place on their lands between the vill of Lamesley and Blakeburne. By 1480 a mill called Blackburn mill existed, and was part of a grant returning property to Bertram Lumley. It is mentioned again in 1536. In both documents it is described as in the lordship of Raveneshelm. The Black Burn runs north of Ravensworth Park and formed the north boundary of the township of Lamesley. The site of the mill is unknown, but the name Millgreen Cottage is known on the south side of the burn.

In 1387 Bishop Fordham granted to Robert Lamb, hermit, an acre of waste at the north end of the vill of Eighton, next to and west of the high road leading to Gateshead and near a stream descending from the spring called Scotteswell (HER no. 5137), for a chapel and hermitage in honour of the Holy Trinity in which to serve God and pray for the bishop, his predecessors and successors. In 1463 Sir William and Thomas Lumley granted the hermitage and 2 acres to Henry and Agnes Chamer for life - "William Jakson, who formerly dwelt in the hermitage, to live without molestation in a house belonging to the hermitage and which he now inhabits". There are no other references. Medieval Eighton seems likely to be Low Eighton, and the hermitage was perhaps sited close to Longacre Dean (NZ 268 578). Scot's Well however, is some distance to the north east at NZ 2754 5832 and it could be that the chapel and hermitage were closer to this point. This area has been disturbed by the former Spring Pit and by subsequent colliery reclamation and tree planting.

In 1387 Bishop Fordham granted to Robert Lamb, hermit, an acre of waste at the north end of the vill of Eighton, next to and west of the high road leading to Gateshead and near a stream descending from the spring called Scotteswell (HER no. 5137), for a chapel and hermitage in honour of the Holy Trinity in which to serve God and pray for the bishop, his predecessors and successors. In 1463 Sir William and Thomas Lumley granted the hermitage and 2 acres to Henry and Agnes Chamer for life - "William Jakson, who formerly dwelt in the hermitage, to live without molestation in a house belonging to the hermitage and which he now inhabits". There are no other references. Medieval Eighton seems likely to be Low Eighton, and the hermitage was perhaps sited close to Longacre Dean (NZ 268 578). Scot's Well however, is some distance to the north east at NZ 2754 5832 and it could be that the chapel and hermitage were closer to this point. This area has been disturbed by the former Spring Pit and by subsequent colliery reclamation and tree planting.

A small number of flints were found in this area by Coupland in the 1920s and by Raistrick in the ?1930s. The kinds of flints found by Coupland certainly included waste flakes and seem also to have included a trapezoidal flint and/or blades and a microlith. Raistrick found microliths and a typical graver. Neither source states if these flints still exist, and if so where, and their grid refs are a long way apart - Wymer's (first above) is west of the Old Durham Road near the Beacon Lough Estate, and Miket's falls in a housing estate at Wrekenton, east of Black Hill.The exact location of these finds is obscure, as is their present location.

In c. 1931-2 A. Raistrick found a bronze spearhead at the Birtley claypits; it was one of several prehistoric objects recovered by him from that general area in the early 1930s. It measured 172 mm long, with a maximum width of 38 mm and socket width of 22 mm.

In 1931 "a portion of a perforated stone hammer" was found, apparently with a bronze axe (HER no. 654), in Blythe & Co.'s brickyard at Birtley. It was recovered from "a mass of clay involved in a slight landslip, in a thin patch of gravel overlying deep deposits of late glacial lake muds. The gravel is part of an old stream delta formed in the lake, a small patch of dry ground in a swamp".

In 1931 a bronze wing-flanged axe was found, apparently with a perforated stone hammer (HER no. 655), in Blythe & Co.'s brickyard at Birtley. It was recovered from "a mass of clay involved in a slight landslip, in a thin patch of gravel overlying deep deposits of late glacial lake muds. The gravel is part of an old stream delta formed in the lake, a small patch of dry ground in a swamp". The axe is 133 mm long, 52 mm wide, and has a widely splayed cutting edge and poorly developed stop ridges. It has a triangular tapering groove on each side. Raistrick's analysis: 82.73% copper, 17.2% tin, with traces of iron and nickel. It was exhibited twice to the Society of Antiquaries, but its present whereabouts are unknown.