Durham Cathedral Priory had a dominant interest both as landlord and landowner in the town which surrounded the peninsula. No less than three of Durham's five boroughs were under the direct overlordship of its obedientiaries: Old and New Elvet were managed by the hostillar and the Old Borough was administered by the sacrist after 1423. Landmale, or ground rents, as well as the profits of the borough courts, went to these officers automatically to help them finance their duties within the priory. By 1500 the priory had succeeded in becoming the leading landlord in these parts of the urban area by its acquisition of many of the freeholds of properties, and in addition, several valuable tenements elsewhere, for example in the Bailey, Clayport and St Giles, had come into priory hands. The management as well as the revenues of this large urban estate were subdivided among the priory obedientiaries: in all, eight obedientiaries had property-holding interests in Durham from which they derived what proved to be a somewhat fluctuating income. Set against this impressive priory stake in the Durham property-market, the bishop's overlordship of only one borough in the later middle ages, the Bishop's Borough, looks poor indeed, although, like the priory, the bishop held valuable properties in other boroughs as well. But it must be borne in mind that the Bishop's Borough was the most prosperous part of Durham at all periods; it contained the one marketing area for the whole town and so, in addition to court profits, it yielded a considerable income from tolls for its overlord.