At the end of the Middle Ages, Whitworth, Old Park and Tudhoe were part of the Neville estates. The Nevilles were earls of Westmoreland and lords of Brancepeth and Raby but their estates were confiscated following the so-called Rising of the Northern Earls in 1569. This rebellion aimed to reinstate the Roman Catholic religion and overthrow the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I. Confiscation resulted in the Whitworth and Old Park estates being sold on to supporters of the Crown. Eventually, in the seventeenth century, Old Park was acquired by the Wharton family and Whitworth by the Shafto family. Both these families were Protestant and worshipped at Whitworth parish church. The situation in Tudhoe was, however, different. The Neville lands there seem to have been sold piecemeal. During the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the Catholic Salvin family of Croxdale Hall acquired farms and other property in Tudhoe. The village was part of Brancepeth parish but was separated from the church by the River Wear, although the two settlements were connected by a ford. Perhaps helped by this isolation, and the Salvin influence, Tudhoe remained staunchly Catholic - “papist” or “recusant” as defined by the authorities seeking to suppress the religion. This state interference with religion provides useful information about the people living in Tudhoe in the period before the Census. In 1668, a list for Brancepeth parish shows 64 “Papists”, 10 Quakers, seven Anabaptists and two Puritans. The Roman Catholics named were: William Swinburne, gent; Matthew Swinburne, gent; Tho Salvin, gent; Will Colson, gent; Tho Conyers, gent; Lady Hodgson; Mrs Bridgett Foster; Robert Pattinson, husbandman, & his wife; Katharine wife of Charles Harkworth; Jo Young, weaver, & his wife; Triphona wife of Jo Hinde; Katharine Hinde, spinster; Tho Pickering, jun, yeoman; George Hawick, glover & his wife; George Mason, smith & his wife; Jo Vincent, thatcher, & his wife; Charles Vincent, labourer, & his wife; Mary Vincent, spinster; Eliz Gaire and Ellioner Gaire, spinsters; Will Bierley, sen, and Will Bierley, jun, yeomen; Jo Briggs, labourer; Emmery Richardson, husbandman, & his wife; Alice Horman; Jo Sidgwick, labourer; Anna Sidgwick; Rich Smith, labourer; Matthew Harper, labourer, & his wife; Antho Harper, labourer, & his wife; Jo Fletcher, labourer, & his wife; Will Wheatley, weaver, & his wife; Jane Linley; Tho Dawson, labourer, & his wife; Jane Richardson; Geo Iley, labourer; Will Marley, mason, & his wife; Jo Friend, husbandman, Geo Young, weaver, & his wife; Timothy Arcle, smith, and wife; Lancelot Fawson; Rich Hedley, labourer, & his wife; Marg Grenwell; Petronella Tayler; Anth Mills, husbandman; Michael Hedley & his wife; Hen Richardson, husbandman, & his wife; Marg Dunn; Ralph Salvin, gent; Marg Byers.