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Wednesday 10th Aug[us]t
Proceeded early this morning to Buteland estate, which is a few miles from Billingham [sic]. It contains 1245A.3R.5P & is in the Tenure of the late Representatives of the late Xr [Alexander] Reed Esq of Chipchase who had a Lease of it for 21 Y[ea]rs, expiring in 1779, at 215 pAnn[um] & is lett by them to Michael Dodd, the Bailiff's Brother. In the above quantity is included 673A.0R.19P, being the Hospital's share of the Common, exclusive of 18 Acres claimed by the D[uke] of Northumberland & 7A.1R.38P by Mr Lowes of Broomhope etc. The Land therefore, including the above share of Common, is lett together for about 3s/5d 1/2 pAcre Of the inclosed Land, between 2 & 300 Acres are in Tillage of which a very small proportion is in fallow. All the rest of the Farm is ordinary pasture, most of it is laid down without Seeds; some meadow part whereof wants draining; & woodland chiefly underwood, Birch etc etc of little worth, the whole having been lately valued at 90£. A great part of the woodland has been stubbed & ploughed of late Y[ea]rs & makes exceeding good Corn Land, & the Tenant is continuing to bring still more of it into Tillage to the very great improvement of the Farm.
The High Field & the Pasture, containing together upwards of 350 Acres, are too large & should therefore be divided into several parcels, & fenced, & some plantations should be made, with proper trees & in proper places, to serve for shelter.
On the abovementioned Common the Hospital & the two persons following are entitled to the N[umber] of Stints against each exprest Vizt
Stints
The Hospital for Buteland 100
Mr Charlton Redesmouth 20
D[itt]o Mill 6
26
Mr Lowes Broomhope Mill 4
130
Besides which Mr Lowes claims 4 Stints more in lieu of his right to Turbary for the use of the
s[ai]d Mill, which claim has been judged unreasonable, and in that account & the minority of young Mr Reed, no Application has been yet made to Parliament for leave to inclose, which would certainly be a desirable thing for all parties, especially the Hospital who are entitled to so large a proportion. And rather than meet with any Obstruction from Mr Lowes, it would be better to consent to his demand especially when it is considered the damage which is done to the herbage by the exercise of his aforesaid right to Turbary, great quantities of Turf being cut by him for the purpose of drying Oats.
The Common contains about 900 Acres, <&> exclusive of the immediate advantage the Hospital would receive by getting into possession of so large a quantity of good Land, capable of immediate improvement, Limestone in great plenty being to be had on the spot, a final stop would be put to all Incroachmental Disputes. We therefore recommend, that the Receivers be directed to take the proper steps, if Mr Reed is now come of Age, or as soon as he shall be so, to bring about a Division as soon as conveniently may be.
Since the Y[ea]r 1736 the late Mr Charlton, who rented Buteland Estate, made a considerable Incroachment from the above Common part of which he annexed to the aforesaid Estate & the remainder (being considerably more than his proportion of it to his own estate at Redesmouth Vizt.
A R P
To Buteland 68 0 4
Reedsmouth 33 0 33
Total 101 0 37
thereby giving himself near 1/2 as much as the Hospital, whereas, in proportion to his number of Stints, he was intitled to little more that 1/4 of the Hospital's share. No interruption having been given to this proceeding by the other Proprietor, & the Hospital being considerably benefited by it, the Fences have been suffered to remain; and Mr Charlton has made, of late Y[ea]rs, some pretty large plantations on the part annexed to Reedsmouth. We rode over these incroachments which are all pasture & the soil appears to be very good.
On the other side of the Common is a small Incroachment made within these few Y[ea]rs by the abovementioned Mr Lowes, the fences of which we ordered to be broken down (which was accordingly done in the presence of one of his Servants) and the whole Company rode through the Breach and, over the Land, through another made in the opposite side.
On our return we found the fence of an old Inclosure belonging to the Hospital (called Fell Close, containing 4 1/4 Acres & situated in the middle of the Common detached from the rest of the Farm) thrown down & the inclosure laid to the Common again; upon enquiring of the Under Tenant how this had happened we found it had been done with his consent & that he was allowed 4 Stints in lieu of it. As this proceeding appeared to us very irregular we ordered him to reinstate the fence immediately & not to presume to do any thing of the kind in future.
There are 2 Sets of housing in this Estate having been formerly in the occupation of 2 Tenants. The Dwelling Houses are old & not kept in proper repair by the Tenant who was ordered to get what was wanting done to them out of hand. A Cottage, Byer & Dairy have been built here very lately; the two former of which, as there is so much housing on the Estate, did not appear to us to be necesary. And we found a new Barn building, being one of the Erections mentioned in the Estimate transmitted in the Receivers Letter of the 3d of June last which were not to have been taken in hand, [un]til we should have examined into the necessity of them. Upon enquiring of the Receivers how it came to pass were informed that, not expecting any Objection to the building of it, they had caused it to be set about, before the receipt of the Board's orders. The Expence of this Barn, which is a very small one, is estimated at no more than 37£.3s.8d, and as it is said to be in lieu of one of the same size become ruinous & there is a want of such a convenience on the spot where it is building, we think the Receivers were right in the proposing, but precipitate in the executing it, without proper Authority. An Error which most probably they will be cautious of falling into again. Having finished our Survey of the above Estate & the Afternoon proving exceedingly wet, we returned to Hexham.
