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A History of Northumberland
Vol IV
Hexhamshire Part II
(Hexham, Whitley Chapel, Allendale and St John Lee)
and
The Parish of Chollerton
The Chapelry of Kirkheaton
The Parish of Throckington
by
John Crawford Hodgson

Published by Andrew Reid and Company
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne   1897

(Pages 55 to 58 viewed at Durham University Library)

The Pedigree of the Ords of Ardley and Barker-house

The Barker-house stands on a bank overhanging Ardley dene and the Ham burn, with three or four fine ash trees near the old grey-slated house. It was held in 1547 by John Swinburn, at a rent of 8s., and, with Litterage, Lillswood and other places, belonged in the seventeenth century to the family of that Richard Ord, a person of marked and interesting character, who was the leading member in the Baptist^a congregation at Hexham when Mr Tilham was the pastor. Richard Ord was a son of John Ord¹ of Brokenheugh, in the Chapelry of Haydon Bridge, and Litterage descended to him from a long line of ancestors. He made his will in 1676, when his life must have been in peril, commending his soul in the following pathetic terms to 'Almighty God my Maker, and to Jesus Christ my Redeemer, upon whose meritorious passion and mercy I do onely relye for a healing medecine for all my sores, leaving my motherlesse (and soon to be fatherlesse) children unto the keeping of the Lord.' He confirms a deed of gift, which he had made in 1662, to his father, John Orde, and other trustees, of all his personal estate to provide for his six children, Thomas, Richard, Margaret, Barbara, Phoebe and Dorcas, of whom Thomas and Margaret were, at the time when his will was made, dead. He mentions his second wife Susannah, to whom he leaves an annuity of £8, making her and his daughter Barbara his executors, and his brother, John Ord, and his trusty friend John Swinburne, the oversers of his will.

The testator did not die then, as he expected. On the 28th of December, 1696, when he was lying apparently in extremis, the bystanders urged him to make his will. The sick man replied: 'I have made my will severall years agoe, and it's lying in my parchment coloured book, signed and sealed.' The document was brought to the dying man, who said, when he saw it, 'This is it; and this is all the will I will make.'

Under the will of Richard Ord's great nephew, Thomas Ord, a surgeon in Hexham, Barker-house was given to his wife for life with remainder to John Ord of Hamburn Hall, son of John Ord, in fee. John Ord in 1817 sold it to his father-in-law, James Pigg of Langhope, who, by will dated 4th September, 1839, gave it and all his real estate to his son, Matthew Pigg, for life with remainder to his (the testator's) grandson, James Ord. The latter, who suceeded in 1850, and resided on his leasehold estate at Chester-wood, near Haydon Bridge, in October, 1859, contracted to sell Barker-house, and about the same time to purchase a leasehold estate adjoining Chester-wood. On the 12th May, 1860, he conveyed Barker-house and received the purchase money, and the 15th was fixed for the completion of his purchase at Chester-wood. On the evening of the 14th he was seized with an apoplectic fit, and without recovering consciousness died on the following day. He had made his will in March, 1850, in effect giving his Chester-wood property to his only son, and leaving Barker-house as a provision for his three daughters. The sale and purchase mentioned above threw these provisions into confusion, and his sudden death left them so. Litigation followed, in which it was sought unsuccessfully to secure the property purchased at Chester-wood with the Barker-house proceeds for the testator's daughters.²  The Barker-house now belongs to Mr. John Potts. The Ord pedigree is attempted in the following table:

(click on image for readable image 269kb)

EVIDENCES TO ORD PEDIGREE

    Will, dated 24th August, 1676, of Richard Ord of Nether Ardley, in the liberty of Hexham: 'Leaving my motherlesse (and about to be fatherlesse) children into ye keeping of ye Lord, and for my worldly estate that He hath intrusted me with here, I do hereby ratifie and confirme that deed of guift made in ye year of God (as I remember) 1662, to my father John Ord, and my trusty friends William Weldon ye elder of Adon Sheels, Alexander Foster, then of Over Eshells, and Richard Walton of Peacock-house, and now in ye custody and possession of ye said William Weldon, of all my personal estate for ye raising and providing of portions to my six children, Thomas, Richard, Margaret, Barbary, Phœbe, and Dorcas.' My son Thomas now being dead, his share to be divided amongst ye rest; my daughter Margaret being dead, her share shall be given to her son Anthony Hedley; my son Richard Ord shall pay out of my real estate unto my dear wife Susanna, £8 a year for life. Wife and daughter Barbary, executors; friends John Swinburn and brother John Ord, supervisors.³
    A memorandum, dated 19th January, 1696, is endorsed on the will, by which Christopher Dodd of Mill hill, yeoman; Titus Angus of Juniper-house, and others, testify that on 28th December before, Mr. Richard Ord had, in their presence, confirmed his will, saying, 'This is it; and this is all the will I will make.' Proved 4th February, 1696/7.³

    Will, dated 5th August, 1738, of Richard Ord of Hexham, gent.: My daughter Elizabeth, wife of William Armstrong, executor and residuary legatee; my daughter-in-law Frances Ord of Hexham, widow, £10 per annum; my daughter Barbara, wife of Patrick Kelley of Corbridge, £12 per annum.³

    Will, dated 10th October, 1730, of Richard Ord of Hexham, gent.: My wife Frances, my dwelling house in Hexham for life; the to my sister Teasdale, my sister Elizabeth Ord, my nephew Joseph Lazonby, and my nephew Richard Spain. To my brother Hope, a mourning ring, that I bought in memory of his mother-in-law, my aunt Davidson. My father Ord. Residue to wife, she executrix. Proved 22 September, 1733.³

    Will, date 3rd April, 1770, of Elizabeth Armstrong of Hexham, widow: My lands at Ardley, Ardley Stobs, the Holmes, etc., and the house at Hexham, to Benjamin Peile of Newcastle, gent., and John Bell of Hexham, gent., in trust to pay to John Scott of Stannerton, surgeon and aothecary, an annuity of £12. The persons who shall be entitled to the said lands to take the name of Ord, and my trustees to pay for the Act of Parliament to enable them to do so; settlement upon Thomas Scott, son of the said John Scott, and his sons; then William Scott, second son of John Scott; then Philip, the third son, etc. To Robert Errington of Upper Ardley, £100; the children of Richard Errington, deceased, his brother, £100; John Errington, son of John Errington of Crooks-house, deceased, £50, etc. Proved July, 1779.³

    William Ord of Nether Ardley, and son of John Scott, late of Stamfordham, surgeon, was seised of Nether Ardley and Ardley Stobs in 1792 and 1801.⁴

    Will, dated 24th December, 1824, of William Ord (formerly Scott) of North Shields, in which he gave his copyhold lands in the manor of Hexham to his wife Elizabeth for life, with remainder to his two nieces Barbara Poole and Elizabeth Poole. The testator outlived his wife, and died 5th November, 1832.

    Barbara and Elizabeth Poole, at a Manor Court held 20th June, 1835, sought to be admitted, but their right was opposed by Richard Errington who claimed that the devise by Ord to his nieces could not operate, and that he was the right heir of Elizabeth Armstrong. ⁵

    1824. To be sold, the reversion (expectant on the death of a gentleman aged 80) of the copyhold estates of Nether Ardley, Ardley Stob, Walley Thorn, and the Holmes.⁶

    1845. To be sold, the desirable country mansion-house of Nether Ardley, late the residence of William Ord, esq., with 54 acres of land; the farm called the Holmes, of 88 acres; the farm of Walley Thorn, 98 acres; the farm of Aldley Stob, 140 acres.⁷

¹    Barker-house was purchased 16th March, 1639, from Thomas Waide of Upper Ardley by John Ord of 'Swingshiels', and by him 1st January, 1650, was given to his second son, John Ord. ex. inf. Mr L.C. Lockhart.

²     Ex. inf. Mr L.C. Lockhart; cf. Law Reports 12 ch. div. 22, re Ord, Dickinson v. Dickinson

³    Raine, Test. Ebor.

⁴    Hexham Manor Rolls

⁵    Law Reports, 1836, Adolphus and Ellis, p. 559

⁶    Necastle Courant, 18th August, 1824

⁷    Newcastle papers, 15th April, 1845

^a    The Baptist movement was founded in Amsterdam in 1609. The first church in England was founded in 1612. (AJS)