and all is quite level. There was a Chapel there, in which were married William Yarker and Penetent Johnson, and there [sic] son John Yarker has many times related the occurance to his Grandson, the Writer of this. The above coupel were the last married there, for the Chapel soon after fell down. Francis Wycliffe of Barnard Castle, the last of the Wycliffes in the Neighbourhood, said John the Reformer was born at the above Village.—John Chapman, Headlam, June 2ist, 1839."
3. Mr. Erskine says:
"The tradition of Wycliffe having been born in this parish [Wycliffe-on-Tees] has existed for over two hundred years, while there is no trace of him or tradition at Hipswell . . . Might not Spreswell be a corruption of Thorpeswell? There is a manor house in the township of Thorpe, and there are ruins of a village close to it. I have also in my possession part of the mullion of a church window, and a piscina, which were found in the pulling down of an old wall on the property. The former might have been carried away from the east window of our church, but the latter could not, as it is in perfect preservation, while two in the church are broken close off by the wall. The property of Thorpe belonged to the Wilkinsons of Richmond, who purchased it from the Wycliffes . . . The man who gave me the piscina said that his great-grandfather spoke of the chapel at Thorpe, and that after the marriage of the two persons named in Mr. Chapman's letter the roof fell in . . . There was a village close to Thorpe Hall, as there are traces of
