Great Tosson : Tenurial History

Great Tosson and Ryehill formed part of the Chartenay portion of Hepple barony, held by the Ogles in the late medieval period (NCH XV (1940), 396). In the early 17th century this portion passed to the Earl later Duke and Marquis of Newcastle, following the death Cuthbert, lord Ogle without a male heir in 1598.

The extent of the Earl of Newcastle’s Barony of Hepple in 1632 is shown by the two plans contained in the Wellbeck Atlas (ff.116-119; NRO 782/11-12).  In 1663 Great Tosson and Tosson Mill were listed as the property of the Marquis of Newcastle, whilst Henry Richardson and William Urwen were the owners of Little Tosson and the Spittle’, i.e. Ryehill (Hodgson 1820, 274). The barony - and with it Great Tosson - in turn passed by marriage to the Earl of Oxford in 1713, and then to the second Duke of Portland in 1734 (NCH XV (1940), 385).

In 1803 Great Tosson was sold by the Duke of Portland, with the rest of the estate, to Sir John Buchanan-Riddell. Great Tosson was sold again shortly afterward to William Orde of Nunnykirk. His descendents held it until 1883, when two of the three farms were acquired by Sir William Armstrong. The third farm had been purchased in the early part of the century by the ecclesiastical commissioners to augment the living of the chapelry of Ancroft, in north Northumberland. A fourth farm was held by Adam Atkinson in the early 19th century (Parson & White 1827). On his death this was sold at auction in 1844.

Boundary stones set up in the period before 1803 can be seen on Simonside hills, having the letter N cut on the east side, that being the Duke of Northumberland’s property, and P for Portland on the west side of the stones (Dixon 1903, 324; Hedley & Quartermaine 2004, 343).