Rural society in Durham was much changed by the early seventeenth century, as the lay subsidy of 1624 reveals. The Nevilles had, of course, long since disappeared from the Durham countryside, whilst the Bowes were represented by Sir George Bowes of Houghton parish who was appraised at ￡6 and the Lumleys did not appear at all. The traditional ruling elite were still represented by Henry Hilton of Hylton castle in Monk Wearmouth parish who was appraised at ￡15, the highest amount in the subsidy, whilst Ralph Conyers of Sockburn was appraised at ￡8, but precious few of the families who had dominated Durham landed society in the early sixteenth century had survived. Many of these families had gradually been replaced by the lesser gentry, families who often had claims to similarly long and impressive lineages but whose holdings until the late sixteenth century had often been relatively modest. Ralph Featherstonhaugh of Stanhope and William Bellasis of Houghton parish were both included in the group of individuals appraised at ￡10, whilst William Lambton and William Blakiston both feature prominently at ￡8 and ￡7 respectively. These families, ‘less wealthy and less connected than the Eures and their kind’ at the start of the sixteenth century, had taken full advantage of the economic, social and political opportunities of the period to emerge as some of the most important members of Durham society.

The Newcastle coal merchants were also a significant group of newcomers who were appraised at ￡10 or higher, being represented in the lay subsidy by the likes of Henry Anderson, Thomas Liddell, Thomas Riddell and Robert Brandling. This was not a simple story of the gentrification of merchant wealth, but a complicated interaction between an affluent, socially elitist and politically astute group of Newcastle coal merchants and the surrounding countryside. This group did not flood into landed society in search of social validation and political power, but rather they sought to secure the subterranean wealth of the Durham countryside. It is not surprising, therefore, that it is in the Durham coalfield where we find the Liddells, Riddells, Brandlings, Hodgesons, Dudleys, Tempests and Coles in the 1624 subsidy, nor is it surprising that Chester ward now accounted for twenty out of the forty-six individuals appraised at ￡5 or over in the lay subsidy.