Great Lumley - The Lumley Family, East and West Halls

The Lumley Family, East and West Halls

The village of Great Lumley was formerly part of the Lumley family estate.

The Lumley family are descended from Ligulf of Lumley, an Anglo-Saxon noble who fled from the Normans in the South of England and found shelter in the dominions of St. Cuthbert. He married Algitha, granddaughter of Uhtred the Bold, Earl of Northumbria. Uhtred's wife was Ælfgifu, the youngest daughter of King Æthelred the Unready.

The long-ruined East Hall was the seat of the Lumley family before Lumley Castle was built, and is the supposed location of the murder of Ligulf by Bishop Walcher's officers after Ligulf complained to the Bishop of their cruelty. The Northumbrians, maddened by the loss of their protector soon murdered Bishop Walcher at Gateshead.

In the reign of Henry III, the estate passed to the descendants of three daughters. Margaret Lumley (wife of Christopher Moresby) died leaving her lands (East and West Hall ruins plus 100 acres (0.40 km2) of tillage land, 30 acres (120,000 m2) of wood, 30 acres (120,000 m2) of moor, fishery at the Wear) to her infant son Christopher Moresby. However, it is probable that the land reverted back to the Lumley family following Christopher's death. In later generations, Thomas Lumley's daughter, Elizabeth, married William Tyllyoll and after William's death, the lands passed to Phillis Musgrave and Margaret Tyllyoll. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, Thomas Knevitt and the Musgraves parceled out the land to their tenants as freehold estates.