This page is currently under construction. This contains research information with regard to Richard Eggleston-704 provided by Robert Eggleston.

In July 1635 a young man stepped onto a ship in London bound for Jamestown, Virginia— Richard Eggleston, the first American member of a now innumerable family. His exact identity is uncertain for two Richard Egglestons left that day. One, aged sixteen, left July 6 on the ship Paule and the other, aged twenty-four, left July 4 on the Transport1. One of these two young men was on board a ship which docked at Jamestown to discharge its cargo and to wait for Virginians who would pay the passage of those passengers not able to afford the fare. One such Virginian, seeking fresh hands to work his tobacco, was the Reverend Thomas Hampton, who received 300 acres for transporting six people, one of whom was Richard Eggleston2.

This then was the beginning of the Eggleston name in Virginia. Who exactly were these two young men? Were they cousins or chance owners of the same name? Were they sent for or were they simply seeking their fortunes?

Searching (unsuccessfully) for these two has meant looking at all the Eggleston families in England in 1635. Parish records, which were mandated in 1538, for that time show Egglestons concentrated in several areas: Durham and Yorkshire in the northeast, Kent in the southeast and a large family of Ecclestons in the Lancashire area3. London, which received immigrants from the provinces for centuries, had many Eggleston citizens but some were Ecclestons who changed their name. In Kent and Sussex there were many Egglestons who began as Ecclestons from Lancashire4; this family had a coat of arms which later Virginia Egglestons mistakenly adopted as their own. In Kent and Sussex there was also an ancient family whose name, with various spellings, is Iggulden, a place-name taken from a pre-Norman manor near Chichester; many changed the spelling to Eggleston but DNA shows they were not related to the Virginians. There were many Egglestons in Yorkshire and a family from Settrington emigrated to New England in 16305. DNA studies have proved this family also to be unrelated to the Virginians.

However, in 1635 the largest concentration of Egglestons was in County Durham. These Egglestons of northeast England must originally have come from the ancient manor of Eggleston on the Durham side of the river Tees, the border between Yorkshire and Durham. The name itself means the “tun” or manor of an Anglo-Saxon named Ecgel. The Anglo-Saxons had come to this area about 600 after they won the battle of Catraeth in Yorkshire. (After Catraeth it is uncertain how many Britons remained in this area.) In 1086 the Domesday Book of King William the Conqueror (which spelled it Eghiston) noted that the manor was “waste”6, unpopulated and untilled, probably because of King William`s scorched-earth campaign against the North in 1069-70. The king`s juggernaut passed right over the town and up the Tees valley. Who knows how many of the peasants survived. Probably some retreated over the moor to the Wear valley and other fled into Yorkshire. Before the Conquest the manor belonged to Earl Edwin and post-Conquest came under Count Alan Rufus of Brittany as part of the manor of Gilling. Gilling was the northern-most portion of Count Alan`s Honor of Richmond. On the south side of the Tees Eggleston was formed but not until about 1195, so it was named from the manor rather than the reverse.

Eggleston`s peasants were probably a mixture of freemen owing service to the lord and serfs who were bound more closely. After the Normans rampaged through the Eggleston name disappeared among villagers, so 1070 probably marked the exit of the family, In their new homes the displaced peasants became “those from Eggleston” which then became “Eggleston.”

From the twelfth century the name is found in southeast Durham and in adjacent Yorkshire. County Durham was politically unique throughout medieval times because it was a palatinate, governed both spiritually and temporally by the Bishop of Durham, who acted as the lord of the county, endowing abbeys, awarding manors and holding court. Durham was in the backwoods of England, underpopulated and poor, ever subject to the raids of the Scots. You will now be subjected to a flood of genealogic and historic minutia unless you avoid it all by skipping ahead a page or two.

The earliest Durham Egglestons lived in the lower valleys of the Tees and Wear Rivers. A problem in identifying them is that last names at this time were ephemeral, so there is no certainty that these earliest mentions are of the same family. Family names before the fourteenth century were mostly confined to the land-owning class, so these names may have no connection to the later, more plebian Egglestons. The first family mentioned held land at Newsham just south of the Tees near Barnards Castle. Roger de Eglestain and his son Widone (Guy) witnessed a grant to Guisborough Abbey of land at Newsham in 1209.7 In 1174 a Roger de Eggleston, presumably the same man, witnessed a grant to the Bishop of Durham at Bywell and Fotherley, which are to the north along the Tyne.8 In 1260 Roger witnessed another deed for a tract near Bywell. These two grants by Lord Baliol in the Bywell neighborhood imply that Roger Eggleston had a vest interest there. In 1196 Roger was made responsible to Bishop Hugh le Puiset for a debt for grain at Gainford on the Tees; in 1210 the debt was forgiven.

Other Guisborough Abbey donations were made during Henry II`s reign (1154-1189). At Ormsby

Alan de Eggetona, son of Michael, donated a small parcel.9 Also at Ormsby at approximately the same date Alexander de Eggetona was a witness to a donation and at Trisk Stephen de Egleston gave land about 1294. 10

A second group of Egglestons of the same period lived just across the Tees near Raby Castle and may have been related. John de Eggleston witnessed a charter at Staindrop from the Neville family about 1234.11 A Sir John de Eggleston was among the Durham knights fighting for the king at the great battle of Lewes in 1264; he was identified as living at Eggleston and having succeeded his father Sir Henry by

1262.12 “Henrico de Eggleston, militibus” in 1254 witnessed the sale of timber to the Bishop of Durham.

A Sir John died about 1296 and was succeeded by his son Adam, who was styled “knight.” Sir Adam held the manor of East Burneton near Raby Castle and a manor at Newusum super Tees in the 1290s.13

Sir Adam seems to have had a son Adam who went to court against his brother John in 1351. A Thomas Eggleston witnessed grants in 1291 and 1294.14. Sadberg is in the same area; attending the Sadberg Assize in 1180 were Walter Eggleston son of Hugh and Adam son of Walter as well as Galfridi de Egleston.15

And then there were Egglestons who were middle-class. Radulfo, William and Simon de Egeton were foresters at Sletholme for Guisborough Abbey about 1300.16 A Thomas Eggleston may have belonged to this same family; he witnessed grants by Bishop Bek (1284-1311) at Bishop Middleton. 17

In the fourteenth century an Eggleston family appeared in the manor of Broadwood18 which lies on the Wear just across the river from the village of Frosterley. Broadwood was held by the Bishop but Frosterley was held by Kepier Hospital. Broadwood was distinguished from at least the eleventh century by a quarry; portions of Durham Cathedral used this distinctive limestone. The manor was probably founded from forest wilderness in the 1100s. These Egglestons held Broadwood for forest service, meaning they tended the Teesdale forest for the Bishop. This area of newly settled land was under a somewhat looser manorial system. The forest was used by the bishop as a hunting preserve and the tenants provided a support crew. In addition, the foresters managed timber harvest, livestock grazing and mining in the forest.19 This part of Durham is on the easter slope of the Pennine mountains where a bit of arable land lies along the waterways but more of the land is high heather-covered moorland

Sheep are the staple use of the upland acres. Hay and oats grow on the arable land since it is too high for wheat. The Bishop`s forest had its headquarters at Stanhope a few miles to the west of Frosterley.

This family of yeomen Egglestons could have descended from the family of Eggleston knights.

The land of Broadwood manor has been obliterated by the quarry activity of the last twelve hundred years. The existing farmhouse is of the eighteenth century.

None of these Broadwood Egglestons were knights. Hugo de Eggleston was the first of the forester family.20 Robert Eggleston, mentioned in Bishop Hatfield`s survey of 1377-1380, also held the nearby manor of Ednesknolle.21 At least two of the family were also keepers of the Bishop`s park at Wolsingham. Yeoman John Eggleston, who inherited in 1414, was among the men at arms who swore allegiance to Bishop Langley; he also obtained a grazing lease at nearby “Burnhopeschiele” and

Wolsingham Park in 1435. During Bishop Langley`s tenure (1406-1437) land was leased to Henry and to Thomas Eggleston.22 Thomas was probably the same man who inoculated the Bishop`s cattle against moraine in 1426. In 1459 a lease was granted to a John Eggleston and two partners for the farm called Landieu just to the east of Broadwood and Biggins farm just to the south; this John must have been of the next generation.23 In 1462 William Eggleston, son of John, died leaving his daughter Ellen as heiress. She died in 1507, the last of the family at Broadwood.

There probably wasn`t much on-site supervision of the Weardale foresters. Certainly some were guilty of minding their own profit rather than the bishop`s. In 1397 Thomas Eggleston and three others were made to take bonds that they would not aid game poachers.24

Across the moorlands to the north of the Wear Blanchland Abbey lies on the north bank of the Derwent River, opposite the manor of Hunstanworth on the south side. In the floor of the Blanchland church are tombstones for Robert and Thomas Egylston with emblems identifying the men as foresters. They are undated but might be of two of the Broadwood family; a Robert of Broadwood died in 1386. Since the men were buried in Hunstanworth their base of operations must have been there rather than across the moor on the Wear. Two other grave stones, of William and James Eggleston, were found in the Blanchland church before its modern reconstruction but are not presently in the church. Perhaps the one stone was for Thomas Eggleston who held five acres in nearby Witton during the time of Bishop Hatfield and of Bishop Langley (1406-1437). 25

Hunstanworth manor ran from the Derwent south over the moors to the manor of Rookhope in the Wear valley. It was given to the Hospital of St Giles Kepier, a Durham city ecclesiastical institution administered by the Prior of the Durham abbey, about 1200. At that time it was “astart”, meaning it had been recently cleared from the forest. The manor was then used for grazing and for lead mining at Rookhope village.

Other Egglestons lived in Derwentdale at this time: William, son of Richard Eggleston held a manor at “Willawe nigh Slaveley”, four miles north of Blanchland. A 1538 military muster showed Richard Eggleston at Broomley and Peter Egilston at Whitonstall,22 both places near Slaley. William Eggleston of nearby Newlands had his will probated in 1587. 26

When monastic land holdings were dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539 there was a scramble throughout England to grab the pieces and in 1545 Hunstanworth was purchased by William Egleston, yeoman. 27 The north of England had revolted against Henry VIII in 1536 and he had dealt with Durham with a heavy hand, hanging many men and confiscating many estates. It may be that the resulting power struggle allowed a yeoman like William Egleston to pick up the manor, which would normally have gone to someone of greater social rank. The manor then included four farms, the parish church and a large expanse of moor, in total about 6000 acres. In 1545 this would not have been desirable farm land and even today doesn`t look prosperous. In the churchyard there is still the remnant of a peel, the ancient tower-fort used as a refuge in the Scots` raids.

William Eggleston immediately sold off a section of the manor to his brother Robert. William lived in Easington on the coastal plain but William Eggleston immediately sold off a section of the manor to his brother Robert, William lived in Easington in the coastal plain but his brothers all lived in the immediate area, with cousins nearby in Slaley and Broome.28 They must have pooled resources and perhaps William had some connection at court enabling the deal. William`s will in 1557 left his land to his four brothers and two nephews,29 all of whom were occupying Hunstanworth farms. These Egglestons continued at Hunstanworth until the early 1700s and continued at Slaley until about 1800. They were all yeomen but by 1700 some listed themselves as gentlemen.

There were many Egglestons in the church over the centuries.30 A common name in this family was Christopher and one of the Christophers was a priest in the Durham priory; at the dissolutions he was given a pension and stayed at the cathedral until his death. Robert de Eggleston was a chaplain at Newcastle in 1293. There were three monks at the cathedral chapter of Durham in the 1340s: Walter, John and William Eggleston. Two other names from the source, Thomas Eggleston in 1312 and Richard Eggleston in 1313 may have been either priests or laymen. The priest Thomas de Eggleston (perhaps the same) witnessed grants in 1290 and 1294. The Durham Liber Vitae mentions two monks, Henry and Christopher Eggleston, but without a date. However, this was the period when monks commonly abandoned their surnames and assumed the name of their birth-village. Walter of Eggleston was the vicar at Stamfordham in southern Northumberland in 1374. Gilbert Egliston was a monk at Newhouse monastery in Lincolnshire from 1478 to 1500. At Eggleston Abbey on the Tees Thomas Egleston was ordained priest in 1533 and was given a pension when the abbey was disestablished in 1540. Joan Egglestone was the prioress at Neasham nunnery in 1428. My favorite cleric Walter de Egleston, a canon at Hexham during the later 1300s. According to a report to the bishop, anonymous ballads had appeared casting scorn on the resident begging friars. Walter was detected as the soured and sent off to a remote subsidiary monastery. The report claimed he showed penitence.

In summary I offer this: After the Romans left Britain a flood of immigrants from northern Europe came to eastern England from 400 to 600 AD. A group, perhaps ten families, settled in the valley of the river Tees in a village named Eggleston. In 1086 King William obliterated the village and the villagers fled. One group retreated to the Wear valley, another south into Yorkshire and a third ended in Nottinghamshire. In their new homes, these families were known by their origins as Eggleston. Time has passed and they are still around.

== Sources == 1 British Public Record Office, License to Pass, E157/20, microfilm Virginia State Library.

2 W G Stanard, “Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents”, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 6 (1898):192 . (Hereinafter Va Mag)

3 Lancashire has three Eccleston villages, probably named for an “eglise” or church. There are also Eccleston villages in nearby Merseyshire and Derbyshire. There is also an Egliston in Rutland and an Eggleston in Leicestershire.

4 W Bruce Bannerman, ed. Visitations of County of Sussex, (Harleian Society, London, 1905); Benjamin Eggleston William Eggleston of Wincheslea and Some of His Descendants, privately printed 1995, who points out that the coat of arms awarded to William Eggleston in 1570 is almost identical to that of the Lancashire Ecclestons.

5 Rosalie Eggleston and Linda McBroom, Bygod Eggleston, Englishman and Colonist and Some of His Descendants, (1991), Mary and John Clearig House

6 Ann Williams and G H Martin, editors, Domesday Book, Penguin Books (2002) 811, 874

7 Newcastle Upon Tyne Record Series volume 7:278,279; Surtees Society 83 (1889): 221

8 D W Rollason, ed. Durham Liber Vitae (London: British Library) vol 3 (2007): 487

9 “Cartularum Prioratus de Gysburne” (author not noted ) 86 (1889) 255

10 ibid, Surtees Society 86 (1889) 255, 256, 265; 89 (1894): 25, 228, 434

11 T D Hardy, editor, “The Register of Richard de Kellewe, Bishop of Durham 1314-16”, Registrum Palatinum vol IV (1878) 100

12 C H Hunter Blair, “Knights of Durham Who Fought at Lewes 14 May 1264”, Archaeologica Aeliana fourth series 24 (1946): 213; M L Holford, “Knights of Durham at the Battle of Lewes: A Reconsideration”, Northern History 66 (2009):185-210. Surtees Society 9:84 for Henrico de Egleston militibus

13 Newcastle Upon Tyne Record Series 7:27. In 1294 he was listed as a former holder of the manor

14 Frederick W Denby “Extracts from the DeBanco Rolls Relating to Northumberland”, Archaeologica Aeliana third series 6 (1908): 53 for the first group. For Thoms Eggleston, see C M Fraser “Records of Anthony Bek, Bishop and Patriarch 1283-1311” Surtees Society 162: 23, 42

15 “ Two Thirteenth-century Assize Rolls for the County of Durham” (no author given) Surtees Society 127 (1916): 9, 10;

M L Holford “Office-Holders and Political Society in the Liberty of Durham, 1241-1345 (Part 2)” Archaeological Aeliana fifth series (2009): 180

16 “The Fabric Rolls of York Minster” (no author given), Surtees Society 162 (1946): 23,44

17 Thomas D Hardy, ed., The Register of Richard de Kellawe Lord Palatinate and Bishop of Durham (London, Longman, 1873-8) vol IV: 100

18 C.M Fraser, “Records of Anthony Bek, Bishop and Patriarch 1283-1311” Surtees Society 162 (1947): 23,44; William Fordyce, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham vol 1(Newcastle, 1857): 662 ; Hardy, Registrum Palatinum vol III: 132, 149, 150; J L Drury, “Papers Relating to Frosterley Manor, County Durham”, in Archives Hub

19 Peter Bowes, Weardale: Clearing the Forest: An Evaluation of Rural Life (1990, Bishop Aukland)

20 H Conyers Surtees, History of the Parishes in the County Palatine of Durham: Volume II: History of Frosterley and District (Newcastle, 1923) 13, 16, 54; Christian Liddy, The Bishopric of Durham in the Late Middle Ages (Suffolk, Boydell Press, 2008) 73, 153; William Greenwell, “Bishop Hatfield`s Survey”, Surtees Society 32 (1857): H C Surtees, The History of the Parish of Wolsingham (1929), 16, 54,70 for John Eggleston, 13 for Robert Eggleston

21 R L Story, “The Register of Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham, 1406-1447, Volume II”, Surtees Society 170:142; William Page, editor, The Victoria History of the County of Durham, Volume II, (London, 1905), 378. Peter Bowes, Settlement and Economy in the Forest and Park of Weardale, Co Durham 1100-1800 e-theses.dur.ac.uk/3599/: 14-26, 29-50

22 Greenwell “Bishop Hatfield`s Survey” Surtees Society 32 (1857): 51, 60; William Morley Egglestone, Stanhope and Its Neighborhood series two (Stanhope, 1905): 194; Liddy, Bishopric of Durham 73, 153;James Raines, ed., Historiae Dunelmensis, Scriptores Tres in Surtees Society 9 (1839): l lxxiv, ccccxlii

23 “List of Hunstanwoth Deeds belonging to Durham Dean and Chapter” Cf PSAN X (1922) 204-5 and 234-5, Palace Green Library, Durham University.;

24 Page. Victoria History of Durham vol 2: 371

25 Greenwell, “Hatfield`s Survey”, Surtees Society 32 (1857):32, 51, 60; Fraser, “Records of Bishop Bek” Surtees Society

23, 49; For the missing lid see William Hodgson, A History of Northumberland (London: Northumberland County

History Committee,1902) vol vi: 104, 203,336

26 Archaeologica Aeliana third series 2(1956): 120; Hodgson, Northumberland vol vi: 147, 194; for William Eggleston will see Special Collections, Palace Green Library, Durham University, DPRI 1/1587/E1 and 3/1587/B41 online

27 Robert Surtees, The History and Antiquities of the County Palatinate of Durham vol II (1810-40, republished 1972, LP Publishing, Ltd) 365-7

28 “List of Hunstanworth Deeds Belonging to Durham Dean and Chapter” Cf PSAN

29 J C Hodgson, “Wills and Inventories From the Register at Durham, Part III”, Surtees Society 112 (1906): 30; for the cousins see Hodgson, Northumberland vol VI: 147,194

30 Denis Hay, “The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the Diocese of Durham”, Archaeologica Aeliana fourth series xv (1938):107; C M Fraser, “Northumberland Eyre Rolls for 1293”, Surtees Society 221 (2008): 110; T D Hardy, ed. Registrum Palatinum Dunelmese; Hodgson, Northumberland XII: 202, 281 292; Claire Cross and Noreen Vickers, “Monks, Friars and Nuns in Sixteenth-Century Yorkshire”, Yorkshire Archaeologic Society Record Series vol CL(1995): 366,368; Letters and Papers of Henry VIII online 15: 510-568; “The Priory of Hexham, Volume I” (no author given) Surtees Society 44(1834): lxxxvi, lxxxvii; David and Lynda Rollason, Durham Liber Vitae, vol 1: 392; vol 23, “Reports of Durham Cathedral Priory”: 432

31 H M Wood, “Durham Protestations”, Surtees Society 135 (1922): 22, 121, 124, 146, 156; H M Wood, Registers of Stanhope, Durham (1909, Durham and Northumberland Parish Record Society)