and Town-Moor were valued, at the fame time, at twenty-feven pounds per annum. This ground was always valued tythe-free.

On this tract of the town's ground, the late Mr. Smith built, a few years ago, an extenfive manufactory for tobacco and fnuff, with fome elegant dwelling-houses and gardens. They are ftill poffeffed by Mr. Harrison, his fon-in-law.

Another material and extenfive part of the townlands is

THE TOWN-MOOR.

It is, fays Bourne, a very fpacious piece of ground, containing 1037 acres I rood 2 perches. In very remote times, it is faid to have been a wood, famous for oaks, out of which have been built many hundreds of fhips, and alfo all the houses of the old town of Newcastle. Whether the houses were built from oaks cut upon the Town-moor or not, is not easily afcertained; but that most of the houses on the Sandhill, the Close, &c. were built with that wood, is certainly true; for, from dates on fome of them, they are of great antiquity.

The Moor, together with the Caftle-Leazes, called alfo the Castle-moor and Caftle-field, were the right of the town, and accounted fo, in the reign of king Edward III. who, in the fresh charter which he gave the town, confirmed to the burgeffes all their former privileges, their holding of thofe lands, working coal, ftones, &c. in them, together with all the profits arifing from them, in the fame manner he had confirmed all the immunities and privileges which had been granted by the kings, his predeceffors, to the burgeffes of Newcastle.

The

The ancient bounds of the Town-moor, which are the fame at this day, are thus defcribed in the above charter of king Edward III. viz. "From a certain place called Thorn-bufh, near the Cross; (which feems to have been on the north fide of the Barrasbridge, near a Crofs which was erected there before St. James's chapel, and which was thrown down by the town-furveyor, no doubt to prevent what he thought idolatry) and then, by certain divifions, fet up towards the said town of Newcastle, as far as the gallows, one poft of which stood on the boundary between the land of the prior of Tynemouth, and the other on that of the town of Newcastle; and fo on by the Quarrel-dyke, (that is, the Quarry-dyke) and thence, by the king's way, to the said town."

By an inquifition taken at the Caftle of Newcastle upon Tyne, Auguft 13, in the 18th year of the reign of James I. Caftle-moor appears to have contained 848 acres; and the boundaries are defcribed, at that time, as beginning at a certain houfe, called Sickman's-house, on the fouth, and fo extending to the fields of Jefmond on the east, to a certain corner there; and from thence turning weftward, to the gate leading from Newcastle to Morpeth, and so on weftward, near the limits of Coxlodge, on the north, to the corner of the Nun's-moor: on the west, to a certain corner, where a hedge was anciently, near the Cow-gate, leading from Newcastle to Hexham; by the boundaries of the fields of Elfwick, on the fouth, to the gallows; and from thence turning weftward and north, by the bounds and territories of Eaft-field on the west, to a certain corner of the Caftle-field and turning fouth and east, by the boundaries of the Castle-field on the fouth, to the faid houfe, called Sick-man's-house.

;

In

In the times of the commonwealth, it was reported, fays Bourne, that the coal-mine, or colliery, in the Town-moor extended itself one hundred acres, and that the value of it was to the town thirty-five pounds per annum.

In the year 1739, an advertisement appeared in the Courant paper, to "let the colliery of the Townmoor." By this it would appear, that the defign entertained by the corporation, of "claiming the royalty, minerals, and furface of this extenfive property," was not fuddenly taken up, in 1770; the open avowal of which occafioned the famous trial, of which we will give an impartial account.

Upon the petition of Humphrey Gill and John Cooke, dated October 28, 1657, to make a way, and bring coals out of Fenham-fields, over the Townmoor, at the diftance of fixty yards from the highway leading over the faid moor; leave was given by the common council, to cause a gate to be hung, and the way to be paved from the gate, to the said highway, upon Mr. Ord, of Fenham, paying annually one fhilling. This, and other fimilar grants, gave great offence to the burgeffes, and produced great contention in the public meetings.

In the year 1747, the turnpike-road, over the Town-moor, on the way leading to Morpeth, was begun by the corporation, at their own expence. It was in the form of a large causeway, eleven yards in breadth, well paved with whinftones, and was completed in the year 1749; William Joyce, furveyor. That from Gallowgate to Weft Cowgate, was made anno 1753.

Newcaille has not, like towns of lefs confequence. and opulence, affected taking the lead in fashionable

amufe

amusements. Horse-races, which at present are annually run upon the Town-moor, appear formerly to have been run upon Killingworth-moor, in the vici nity of that town. But, by an act of common-council, a race-ground was formed on the Town-moor; and in the year 1756, another order, by the fame authority, was given, for feventy-five pounds to be laid out towards putting the race-ground in good condition. The course is two miles in circumference, and is excellently calculated for that amufement.

But as the races always take place in June, and about the fummer folftice, it frequently happens to be rainy weather; luckily for victuallers, but lucklefs indeed for pedestrian spectators, who are often completely drenched.

This year, 1801, the races at Newcastle were attended by the greatest number of running horfes ever known north of Newmarket and York; near fifty being entered for the various sweepstakes, plates, and matches, during the week.

Adjacent to the ftarting-poft, Mr. Loftus has erected an elegant edifice, two ftories high, now called the Grand Stand, which, being built of stone, presents a very striking appearance. It is intended, not merely as a place of accommodation for fpectators at the races, but as a public tavern during the fummer season, being handfomely furnished and fitted up for that purpose. The external afpect of the building is equal to that of any gentleman's manfion in the neighbourhood, and from the galleries on its roof the fpectators command a view nearly all round the courfe.

The first king's purfe of an hundred guineas, run for upon the Town-moor, was won by a horfe called

Cato,

Cato, the property of George Bowes, Efq. June 5th, 1753

NUN's MOOR.

This large tract lies between the thorn-bufh and the hedge that feparates it from the grounds of Kenton. Richard I. confirmed to St. Mary's and the nuns of St. Bartholomew, the lands which had been granted them by Afelack, the foun. der of that hofpital. The land, from its becoming the property of thefe nuns, got the name of Nun's Field, or Nun's Moor. In the fourth year of Henry VIII. Dame Joan, priorefs of the monaftery of St. Bartholomew, and the convent of the fame, granted a lease of the Nun's Moor for one hundred years, at the annual rent of twenty-three fhillings and fourpence, to the mayor and commonalty of Newcastle.

After the diffolution of the aforefaid monaftery, it became the property, by royal grants, of feveral gentlemen; and, in the year 1651, it was purchased from® Mr. Charles Brandling, of Gateshead, by the corporation of Newcastle, who have annexed it to the Town-moor.

Thus this vaft extent of uncultivated land generally named the Town-moor has been conveyed down from time immemorial to the free burgeffes of Newcastle, to this day, and who confider it not only as the moft fubftantial mark of the paternal regard of their forefathers for the real interefts of their pofterity, but alfo, as it conftitutes the most unalienable, fo it is the most valuable of their franchifes and property, as burgeffes and freemen !

The value of lands, however, continually rifing, and it being well known that the feams of coal in

the