The Barony Of Wark And Manor Of Kilham

Kilham formed one of the constituent manors of the barony of Wark-on-Tweed which was held by the Ros (or Roos) lineage in the 13th century (Liber Feodorum II, 1120, see Selected Sources and Surveys no. 1). The lordship was established by Henry I (1100-35), who was responsible for setting up the great majority of Anglo-Norman baronies in Northumberland, and granted to Walter l'Espec, one of his principal agents of government in the North (Kapelle 1979, 198-9, 207, 287).

In 1242, much of the barony was held by Robert de Ros, brother of William de Ros, the baron of Wark. The manor of 'Killum' was in turn subinfeudated to a local family, the lord of the manor being one Michael of Kilham in the mid-late 13th Century. However even at its zenith this family did not possess the entire township. A number of other landholders, both lay and ecclesiastical, as well as free tenants, are documented legal documents and monastic cartularies, Kirkham Priory being a particularly substantial landholder from the 13th century onwards.

The manorial lordship passed through various hands eventually coming into the possession of the Greys of Chillingham by the 15th century. In 1541 there were twenty-six husbandlands "well plenyshed", but no tower or barmkin, a deficiency which the border commissioners, Sir Robert Bowes and Sir Ralph Ellerker, urged strongly should be remedied (Bates 1891, 31; see Selected Sources and Surveys no. 3). The Grays eventually consolidated ownership of the entire township through additional purchases, acquiring the former Kirkham Priory holdings from John Strother in the early 17th century, for example.