Person:Adam de Swinburne (1)

Adam allied himself with the Scots and in 1296 led the hordes of Athol and Mentieth in the destruction of Hexham. The subsidy roll of 1296 shows that his father's village of East Swinburn was flourishing. Soon, through his efforts, it was to be reduced, along with most of Northumberland, to the state of a blackened desert. For his treason, Sir Adam was imprisoned in Berwick Castle until May 1297 when Edward I allowed his release. He was sheriff of Northumberland in 1315 and died in 1318.