Sockburn Hall, Darlington: an archaeological ... - English Heritage

Figure 10. Extract from
the 1840 tithe map
(DDR/EA/TTH/1/215)
showing an angular
enclosure around the
church
Figure 11. ‘Sockburn’, an
engraving by E. Goodhall
from a painting by
Thomas Surtees Raine,
dated 1830; included
in a later impression of
Robert Surtees’ (1823)
county history of Durham
Figure 12. Detail of the
church taken from the
1830 engraving (see
Figure 11)
churchyard wall.
the record of two small bells which were later
transferred to the church at Girsby, one of which
was inscribed with the date 1770 (VCH 1914,
454). The depiction of an angular churchyard wall,
otherwise known only from the 1840 tithe map
(Figure 10),also lends a measure of support to the
authenticity of this image. It is also interesting to
note that a large 11th-century ring-cross head,now
stored within the chapel (see Appendix 1), bears
a close similarity to the cross depicted within the
A more distant view of the church from the north, the only other depiction prior
to its selective demolition, is provided by an engraving dated 1830 (Figures 11 and
12). This shows the chancel dwarfed by the
earlier nave, and with a roofline similar to that
of the Conyers Chapel. The north chancel wall
appears windowless, but there is a suggestion of a
single window towards the east end of the north
chapel wall. The bell cote shown in the ‘1814’
watercolour is also visible here. The first recorded
parson was one Geoffrey de Conyers, incumbent
in 1168. It appears that the endowment resided
with the lords of the manor until about 1181 when it was granted to the hospital
of Sherburn (this Section, above). The master and brethren of the hospital retained
ENGLISH HERITAGE Sockburn