cond, 1154, when Peter de Bermingham, then lord of the fee, had a
castle here, and lived in splendour. All the succeeding lords resided
upon the same island till their cruel expulsion by John, Duke of
Northumberland, in 1537. The old castle followed its lords, and is
buried in the ruins of time. Upon the spot, about fifty years ago
[1730], rose a house in the modern style, occupied by a manufacturer
(Thomas Francis); in one of the outbuildings is shown the apartment
where the ancient lords kept their court leet. The trench being filled
with water has nearly the same appearance now as perhaps a thousand
years ago; but not altogether the same use. It then served to protect
its master, but now to turn a thread mill." Moat Lane and Mill Lane are
the only names by which the memory of the old house is now retained. The
thread mill spoken of by Hutton gave place to a brass or iron foundry,
and the property being purchased by the Commissioners, the whole was
cleared off the ground in 1815 or 1816, the sale of the building
materials, &c., taking place July 5, 1815. Among the "lots" sold, the
Moat House and offices adjoining realised L290; the large gates at the
entrance with the brick pillars, L16; the bridge, L11; the timber trees,
L25; a fire engine with carriage, &c., L6 15s. (possibly some sort of
steam engine, then called fire engines); the total produce, including
counting-house, warehouse, casting, tinning, burnishing, blacking, and
blacksmiths' shops, a horse mill, scouring mill, and a quantity of wood
sheds and palisading, amounted to nearly L1,150. The prosaic minds of
the Commissioners evidently did not lead them to value "the apartments
where the ancient lords kept their court," or it had been turned into a
scouring or tinning shop, for no mention was made of it in the catalogue
of sale, and as the old Castle disappeared, so did the Manor House,
leaving not a stone behind. Mr. William Hamper took a sketch of the old
house, in May, 1814, and he then wrote of the oldest part of the
building, that it was "half-timbered," and seemingly of about Henry
VIII.'s time, or perhaps a little later, but some of the timbers had
evidently been used in a former building (probably the old Manorial
residence) as the old mortices were to be seen in several of the beams
and uprights. The house itself was cleared away in May, 1816, and the
last of the outbuildings in the following month. So perfect was the
clearance, that not even any of t