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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2015
THE PERPETUAL Curate of Allendale, an active participant in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 who later turned king's evidence, said of William, fourth Lord Widdrington, a leading rebel, ‘it had been happy for him, and so we thought would have been better for us, if he had stayed at home’.’ The comment referred both to Widdrington's military incompetence and to the ruin of his house consequent upon his attainder. For Widdrington was one of the wealthiest Northumbrian Catholics, with estates in Lincolnshire, Northumberland and Durham, none of which was heavily mortgaged or encumbered with major debt, as so many northern Catholic estates were. Moreover, his estates at Stella and Winlaton (in the north-west Durham parish of Ryton) incorporated coal-bearing lands which were ripe for development. The shallow coal seams in Whickham and Gateshead, east of Ryton, were virtually worked out and, in order to satisfy the increasingly demanding London market, northern coal-owners were about to extend operations. Widdrington's estate in north-west Durham lay in the middle of the expanding coalfield and would undoubtedly yield substantial profits. As a result of his involvement in the, ‘Fifteen, however, Widdrington forfeited what was described by an acquisitive coal-owning competitor as this ‘very improvable estate’, and, of course, any future profits its coal-mines might earn. Widdrington was fortunate, even so, in having agents in Durham who were prepared to do all in their power to ensure that he did not lose everything. Albert Silvertop and Joseph Dunn, fellow-Catholics and experienced colliery managers (or ‘viewers’), rightly supposed that whoever took over the Stella estate would work quickly to exhaust its coal reserves before the property could be restored, for the entailed estate would revert to Widdrington's heir at his death. Silvertop and Dunn therefore embarked on a remarkable campaign to deprive the new ownership of the benefits the estate promised. The struggle that ensued was long, and often bloody; it became a trial of strength between the powerful coal magnates and independent entrepreneurs, but it also developed into a contest between Protestants and Catholics in which the Catholics were conspicuous for their aggression in defence of their property and reckless in their defiance of possible repercussions under the penal laws.
1 Rev. Robert, Patten, quoted in Northern Catholic Calendar (1914) p. 115;Google Scholar A. Rounding, ‘William, fourth baron Widdrington of Blankney, c. 1675–1743’ Northern Catholic History, 22 (1985) p. 24.
2 Cotesworth to Banks, CN/11/195.
3 Lenman, B., The Jacobite Risings in Britain, 1689–1746 (1980) p. 117;Google Scholar chapter 5 is an excellent guide to the political, social and economic situation in the area at this time. See also note 8, below.
4 CN/11/103.
5 CN/11/195. Widdrington had a more substantial colliery estate in the Northumberland parishes of Woodhorn and Widdrington which was evidently beyond the means of Banks and Cotesworth for they did not bid for it. It went for £57,100 to the Governor and Company of Undertakers for Raising the Thames Water to York Building. (P.R.O.: Papers of Forfeited Estates Commission, W33/1).
6 For a detailed description and valuation of the estates see CK/11/37–41; CN/11/8, 195; CP/1/35; M. Lewis, Early Wooden Railways (1970). map 31.
7 CK/11/21.
8 Ellis, J., A Study of the Business Fortunes of William Cotesworth. c. 1688–1726 (1975), passim; Lenman op.cit. p. 116;Google Scholar Hughes, E., North Country Life in the Eighteenth Century: The North East, 1700–1750 (1952) pp. 6–11;Google Scholar Cromar, P., ‘The Coal Industry on Tyneside, 1715–1750’, Northern History, 14 (1978) pp. 195f.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9 P.R.O., E 377/68 (Recusant Roll, 32 & 36 Chas. II); A.A.W., 35, no. 15; Lenders, J., Minsteracres (1932) p. 15;Google Scholar Surtees Society, 47, p. 239.
10 CN/11/2, 157; ZCO viii/1; Anon., History of Blaydon (1975) pp. 23f.
11 CP/1/35.
12 CN/11/122.
13 CN/11/195.
14 ibid.
15 CN/11/196.
16 CN/11/10, 11, 119.
17 CK/11/21; CN/11/9, 19, 192.
18 CK/11/13. Dunn's role in the rebellion is not specified.
19 CN/11/17, 105.
20 CN/11/20.
21 CK/11/17; CN/11/27.
22 22 CN/11/34.
23 ibid.
24 CK/11/17; CN/11/34, 199. Silvertop told the tenants that Carlisle would protect them.
25 CK/11/29.
26 CK/11/28.
27 ibid.
28 CK/11/37–41, 48.
29 CK/11/37–41.
30 ibid; CK/11/28.
31 CK/11/25, 26, 37–41.
32 CK/11/1, 5, 6.
33 CN/11/195.
34 ZCO viii/1.
35 CN/11/188.
36 CK/11/7, 8; ZCO viii/1/32.
37 CN/11/112.
38 CN/11/199.
39 CN/11/196.
40 CN/11/194.
41 CN/11/27, 119.
42 CK/11/18.
43 CN/11/199.
44 CN/11/196.
45 CN/11/164.
46 CP/1/83.
47 CK/11/28; CN/11/40.
48 CN/11/103. 106: CK/11/28.
49 CK/11/28.
50 CP/4/98.
51 CN/11/233.
52 CN/11/42.
53 CP/5/42.
54 Rounding, op. cit, p. 29; Catholic Magazine, 1, no. 12, pp. 781–2; coal-rents were paid to Widdrington in 1738/9 (cf. Londonderry Papers, Durham County Record Office, D/Lo/F 762).
55 ZCE 10/4; Ellis op. cit, p. 212; Hughes op. cit p. 268; Lenman, op. cit., p. 119.
56 Ellis, p. 214
57 CN/11/103, 6 March 1718. Cotesworth and other local Whigs were fearful of a further Jacobite rebellion.
58 CN/11/156.
59 CN/11/196. Blackett was the trustee referred-to in CN/11/34 (note 22, above).
60 CP/2/132, 140; Sweezy, P., Monopoly and Competition in the English Coal Trade, 1550–1850 (1938) p. 24.Google Scholar
61 This article has been drawn from my M.A. thesis, ‘The Durham Catholics and Industrial Development, 1560–1850’ (University of York, 1984).
