nixon

Transcripts:

1841 Census, Chester le Street District
Family Number: 12259.4
Plawsworth, Plawsworth Village
Thomas Nixon, 60, Agricultural Labourer
Mary Nixon, 45
Ruth Nixon, 20
Martha Nixon, 11
Ellen Nixon, 9

July 24, 1848 Parish Record of Marriage – Eleanor Nixon and Thomas Charlton

He, Thomas Charlton, is listed as a 36 year old Bachelor, a coal miner from Waldridge, father John was a farmer. She, Eleanor Nixon, is listed as a 23 year old Spinster from Plawsworth, father Thomas was also a farmer. Eleanor was actually 26 at the time. The error is understandable given everything that was going on that day. They were married on a Thursday in the presence of the Parish clerk and perhaps a relative of the clerk. She was very, very pregnant. In fact, she gave birth that day to twin girls, Mary and Dorothy. These however were not her first children. She already had two boys, Thomas (when she was 16) and my great grandfather William when she was 23). If the boys had been present at the marriage, and with her going into labour, this would have no doubt been a hectic day at the chapel.
Source: Parish Record, St. Mary’s & St. Cuthbert’s Parish, Chester le Street, Durham County, UK.

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The Cursing Stone, originally uploaded by SXV74.

Designed by Andy Altman of Why Not Associates the ‘Cursing Stone’ is a collaboration with sculptor Gordon Young and it’s a 7.5 ton granite boulder situated in Carlisle, England inscribed with a curse which was issued by the Archbishop of Glasgow Gavin Dubar in 1525. The pavement features the names of the families on whom the curse was directed. The curse is quite disturbing to read, here’s an excerpt from it:

“I curse their head and all the hairs of their head; I curse their face, their brain (innermost thoughts), their mouth, their nose, their tongue, their teeth, their forehead, their shoulders, their breast, their heart, their stomach, their back, their womb, their arms, their leggs, their hands, their feet, and every part of their body, from the top of their head to the soles of their feet, before and behind, within and without.”

the curse, originally uploaded by GWcumbria.

The curse of 1525 was aimed at Reiver families known for terrorising the region. The curse was read out by priests in every parish, in an attempt to curb the illegal activities. Dunbar’s curse was a sort of mass produced excommunication designed to frighten the lawless people of the Anglo-Scottish borders generally. It makes no specific reference to Carlisle; the only place name references being to various ‘dales’ of the Scottish side of the border. It was made nearly 500 years ago, for general proclamation from churches. It excommunicates the ‘common traitors, Reivers and thieves’ dwelling in ‘Teviotdale, Eskdale, Liddisdale, Ewesdale, Nithsdale and Annandale’ that is the Scottish Middle and West Marches of the Anglo-Scottish Border. The curse was to apply until such times as they ‘forbear their sins and make satisfaction and penance’. It is written in a southern Scottish dialect. The curse is one of the longest on record and runs to over 1500 words. The text used on the stone is 383 words long – The ‘Archbishop’s stone’

Here is what the 14 ton stone says:

to be hang syne revin and ruggit with doggis, swyne, and utheris wyld beists, abhominable to all the warld. I denounce, proclamis, and declaris all and sindry the committaris of the said saikles murthris, slauchteris, brinying, heirchippes, reiffis, thiftis and spulezeis, oppinly apon day licht and under silence of nicht, alswele within temporale landis as kirklandis; togither with thair part takaris assistaris, supplearis, wittandlie resettaris of thair personis, the gudes reft and stollen be thaim, art or part thereof, and their counsalouris and defendouris, of thair evil dedis generalie CURSIT, waryit, aggregeite, and reaggregeite, with the GREIT CURSING. I curse their heid and all the haris of thair heid; I curse thair face, thair ene, thair mouth, thair neise, thairg toung, thair teith, thair crag, thair schulderis, thair breist, thair hert, thair stomok, thair bak, thair wame, their armes, thair leggis, thair handis, thair feit, and everilk part of thair body, frae the top of their heid to the soill of thair feit, befoir and behind, within and without. I curse thaim gangand and I curse thaim rydand; I curse thaim standand, and I curse thaim sittand; I curse thaim etand, I curse thaim drinkand; I curse thaim walkand, I curse thaim sleepand ; I curse thaim rysand, I curse thaim lyand; I curse thaim at hame, I curse thaim fra hame; I curse thaim within the house, I curse thaim without the house; I curse thair wiffis, thair barnis, and thair servandis participand with thaim in their deides. I wary thair cornys, thair catales, thair woll, thair scheip, thair horse, thair swyne, thair geise, thair hennys, and all thair quyk gude. I wary their hallis, thair chalmeris, thair kechingis, thair stanillis, thair barnys, thair biris, thair bernyardis, thair cailyardis, thair plewis, thair harrowis, and the gudis and housis that is necessair for thair sustentatioun and weilfair. All the malesouns and waresouns that ever gat warldlie creatur sen the begynnyng of the warlde to this hour mot licht apon thaim. The maledictioun of God, that lichtit apon Lucifer and all his fallowis, that strak thaim frae the hie hevin to the deip hell, mot licht apon thaim. The fire and the swerd that stoppit Adam far the yettis of Paradise, mot stop thaim frae the gloir of Hevin, quhill thai bere and mak.

In Genealogy, one often wonders, where is this all headed? Where will my journey through the past lead me?

When researching the Charltons of Northeast England it seems that the answer is clear. To the border lands of Scotland and England.

This is the land of my ancestors. Here lay my Charlton Family roots. It was a lawless land where people lived by their wits and the sword, constantly prepared to do battle.

When King James ascended the united thrones of England and Scotland in 1603 he metered out swift and uncompromising “justice” to the border lands.

Exercising a short but brutal campaign against the reivers described by some as “ethnic cleansing,” James wiped the debatable lands clean of the lawlessness and corruption that had existed there between the two realms for some 300 years. Entire families were decimated or scattered. Some that survived, like my ancestors, fled south.

This is the story of my ancestors, the Border Reivers.

The excerpt that follows is from BorderReivers.co.uk

The almost constant warring between England and Scotland changed the lives of the families living immediately north and south of the Border. Owing to their geographical position they were frequently harassed by passing armies who, at the very least, would require provisioning, often without payment, but were usually hell bent on destroying everything before them and causing as much damage and misery as they could.

Crops were destroyed, homesteads burnt and the people murdered or dispersed.

Those living in places known as Liddesdale, Redesdale and Tynedale were the most affected as, for reasons of geography, the invaders regularly used these routes. It is no coincidence that these people, having their crops regularly destroyed and their livestock stolen, looked for other means of sustaining themselves and their families. They took to reiving.

Reiving, raiding for cattle and sheep, and whatever else which could be transported, was the only way to survive and it became an established way of life, a profession, which was regarded with no discredit amongst the Borderers.

The practice spread and was passed down through the generations.

Reiving was not confined to cross boundary targets. Indeed the borderers had a much closer allegiance to their family than to their country. Raids were made, not in the name of Scotland or England, but in the name of their family or clan.

Not only did the Scots raid the English and the English raid the Scots but they took to raiding each other, especially when some act, real or imagined, sparked off conflict between families which often resulted in feuds lasting for generations.

Reiving was not limited to the poorest people, and many a nobleman condoned and even participated in the activities. Officials such as the Wardens of the Marches, who were there to uphold the law, were not above indulging in reiving if they had the opportunity.

The excerpt that follows is from Reivers.com

For over 350 years up to the end of the 16th century what are now Northumberland, Cumbria, The Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway rang to the clash of steel and the thunder of hooves. Robbery and blackmail were everyday professions, raiding, arson, kidnapping, murder and extortion an accepted part of the social system.

While the monarchs of England and Scotland ruled the comparatively secure hearts of their kingdoms, the narrow hill land between was dominated by the lance and the sword. The tribal leaders from their towers, the broken men and outlaws of the mosses, the ordinary peasants of the valleys, in their own phrase, ‘shook loose the Border’.

They continued to shake it as long as it was political reality, practising systematic robbery and destruction on each other. History has christened them the Border Reivers. They gave blackmail and bereaved to the English language.

The stamp of the Reivers is still to be seen on the Border Lands – in it’s architecture, culture and people. From the secretive fortified towns and farms to names that once struck fear into men’s hearts – Armstrongs, Grahams, Kerrs, Nixons, Robsons – the legacy of the Reivers remains.

About the Charltons

The excerpt that follows is from The Northeast England History Pages

Visitors to the National Trust’s Wallington Hall near Morpeth can see a huge fresco entitled The Spur On The Dish by Sir William Bell Scott depicting the Charlton family assembled for lunch at Hesleyside.

The Lady of the house has brought in a salver and dish for her hungry family but the salver has been lifted to reveal an empty dish, empty that is except for a riding spur. It was a great tradition of the Charlton family that when the larder was empty the spur would be presented in this way as a hint that it if the family wanted food they would have to go raiding. The Charltons don’t seem all that disappointed at the prospect of raiding enemy territory for mutton or beef. In the violent past famous Border raiding Charltons included John of the Bower and Thomas of Hawcop but Charltons can still be found throughout the Borders today and are a well known family name in the North East.