entirely from the thirteenth century, but stands on the site of a much
earlier erection, of which a portion still remains in the north wall of
the chancel, containing a square-headed doorway and round-headed window.
The church, as now existing, consists of a chancel with north and south
transepts, nave with north and south aisles, south porch, and central
tower. In the north wall of the chancel is an arcade of eight lancets,
much restored, and opening from the south side is an unusual
two-storeyed erection, which, it is presumed, had some connection with
the ancient Gild of Holy Trinity and St. Mary, established in the church
in 1476.
The windows in the gables of the transepts are modern. In the east wall
of the south transept are three tall lancets and two in the
corresponding wall of the north transept. In a recess in the south wall
of the former is a roughly carved and much-weathered effigy of a man in
armour, dating from the thirteenth century, and a similar effigy of
later date and superior workmanship lies in the same transept, together
with the altar-tomb of Bernard Gilpin, "the apostle of the North," and a
brass to the memory of Margery, wife of Richard Bellasis of Henknoll,
dated 1587. Both the transepts contained chantry chapels before the
Reformation, and in both are piscinas in the usual position.
The arcading of the nave is very fine, and supported on clustered piers.
The east and west windows are Decorated insertions and contain good
tracery. The lower stage of the tower and its supporting arches are
contemporary with the main body of the church, the upper stage is modern
and with the present spire replaced the ancient spire of wood.
At Dalton, the Church of St. Andrew, is a very simple structure, but
contains an unusual sundial, consisting of carved stone figures on the
inside of the north wall of the nave, upon which the time is marked by a
sunbeam passing through a window.
St. Mary’s, Easington, has suffered much at the hands of restorers, but
still remains a most interesting church. The whole of the present
edifice, with the exception of the tower, which is of Norman work, dates
from the thirteenth century. The nave is separated from its aisle by
four pointed arches on either side resting on piers, alternately
octagonal and cylindrical. The clerestory is good and has four lancet
windows on each side. With the exception of the original round-headed
windows in the tower, all the windows are restorations. The present
entrance is at the south of the tower, the original entrance to the nave
having been built up. The woodwork of the chancel is interesting. There
are two fine male and female effigies of the Fitz-Marmaduke family in
the chancel, but their identity is uncertain. They date from the latter
part of the thirteenth century.
In the north-eastern quarter of the county there are the churches of
Jarrow and Monkwearmouth already referred to, and several other edifices
of ancient foundation, but so much restored and modernized as to retain
few of their original features.
[Illustration: BOLDON SPIRE.]
This may be said of the church at Whitburn, which contains a peculiar
seventeenth-century monumental effigy in wood. The Church of St.
Nicholas at West Boldon occupies a lofty site on the side of a hill, and
is visible for many miles over Jarrow and the low land round Hedworth.
The oldest portions date from the beginning of the thirteenth century.
In January, 1906, the nave and chancel roofs were destroyed by fire, and
several of the monumental inscriptions badly scorched. The Church of St.
Hilda, at South Shields, occupies a site of great antiquity, but was
entirely rebuilt in 1810.
The Church of St. Mary, Gateshead, is of more general interest, but has
been greatly restored. The tower was rebuilt in 1740. The roof of the
nave is good, and of Perpendicular date. Several pre-Reformation
grave-covers are built into the walls, two of special interest being in
the porch. A number of quaint extracts from the parish books are given
by Surtees:
1632. Paid for whipping black Barborie 6d.
1649. Paid at Mris Watsons, when the Justices sate to examin the
witches ¾; for a grave for a witch 6d; for trying the witches £1.
5. 0.
1671. Paid for powder and match when the Keelemen mutinyed 2/-.
1684. For carrying 26 Quakers to Durham £2. 17s.
In the north-west of the county, Ryton Church (Holy Cross), dates from
the thirteenth century, and is all of one period. It consists of a
chancel, nave with north and south aisles, western tower with spire, and
south porch. In the chancel is a square-headed piscina in the usual
position, a priest’s doorway, and a low side-window, now built up. In
the north wall is an ambry. The arcades of the nave are of three arches
each, the easternmost pillars on each side being octagonal, the others
cylindrical. The corbel-table of the tower is of interest, several of
the corbels being carved in foliage designs. The wooden, lead-covered
spire is contemporary with the tower. Within the altar-rails is a fine
sepulchral effigy in marble of a deacon.
Returning again to the central districts, the Church of St. Mary and St.
Cuthbert at Chester-le-Street is the successor of an early wooden
edifice, which sheltered for the greater part of two centuries the
remains of the latter saint, before the Danish invasion of 995 caused
his guardians--for better security--to remove their charge to Ripon.
Egelric, fourth Bishop of Durham, decided to rebuild the church of
stone, but it is doubtful if any remains of his church are incorporated
in the present building. The date of the erection of the latter is
uncertain.
The oldest portions of the present church are the north and south walls
of the chancel, and in the south wall are inserted three windows, dating
from the thirteenth century, and evidently contemporary with the three
eastern bays of the arcade of the nave. The remaining bays of the nave
and the tower are later additions, and the graceful spire still later,
dating from the Early Decorated period.
At the time of the Reformation there were two chantries in the church,
one being in the south aisle, at the east end of which there is a
trefoil-headed piscina and square ambry. At the west end of the north
aisle, partly within and partly without the church, is an interesting
two-storied erection, containing four chambers, which must have, at one
time, been an anchorage. The church is chiefly remarkable for the series
of fourteen monumental effigies of presumed members of the Lumley
family. Eleven, however, were the work of sculptors employed by John,
Lord Lumley, at the end of the sixteenth century, and two were removed
by him from the graveyard of Durham Abbey, under the mistaken impression
that they represented two of his ancestors.
"The first effigy, evidently imaginary, represents Liulph in a coat
of mail.... Above this venerable personage is a long inscription
commemorating the whole family descent.
"Next to Liulph lies Uchtred, in a suit of chain armour....
"The third effigy, William, son of Uchtred, who first assumed the
Lumley name, is probably genuine. He appears in a full suit of
chain armour, over which is a surcoat, with the drapery hanging in
easy folds below the girdle. The legs are crossed, and rest on a
lion. A shield on the left arm. The head rests on a cushion.
"The second William de Lumley appears in plate of a much less
genuine description....
"And the third William is like unto him, save that his legs be
straight and his hair wantonly crisped.
"And Roger is like William, but sore mutilated.
"Robert de Lumley, extremely like Roger....
"Sir Marmaduke Lumley, in mail....
"Ralph, first Baron Lumley ... one of those removed from the
cemetery of the Cathedral Church of Durham, a close coat of mail,
the visor ribbed down the front with two transverse slits for the
sight, the breast covered with the shield, the sword unsheathed and
upright, the point resting against the visor, the legs straight,
resting on a couchant hound.
"Sir John Lumley, almost minutely resembling the last.
"George Lord Lumley. An effigy, recumbent like his predecessors....
The dress is probably intended for the robes of the baron.
" ... Sir Thomas Lumley, Knight. The figure is in mail....
"Richard, Lord Lumley....
"The last effigy, John, Lord Lumley, in robes...."--SURTEES.
In the church is also a thirteenth-century effigy of a bishop,
representing St. Cuthbert.
St. Mary the Virgin, Lanchester, is a very interesting church, and has
portions of Norman date. It consists of a chancel, nave with north and
south aisles, and south porch, western tower, and a vestry. The chancel
dates from the thirteenth century, and there is a very fine piscina in
its south wall. The chancel arch dates from the middle of the twelfth
century. The vestry opens from the chancel by a very fine doorway, with
a cinquefoil arch. The arcades of the nave have four bays on either
side, with cylindrical pillars and pointed arches. The south aisle and
porch date from the beginning, and the north aisle from the end, of the
fourteenth century.
There is a brass in the chancel to the memory of John Rudd, and an
effigy of a priest lies in a recess in the south aisle. During the
episcopacy of Bishop Bek the church was made collegiate with a Dean and
seven Prebendaries, and portions of the woodwork of their stalls are
still preserved.
The church at Brancepeth (St. Brandon) has parts dating from the
thirteenth century, and is an interesting edifice. The panelling and
general internal fittings of the church are of a most elaborate nature.
Over the chancel arch is some remarkable screen work, carved in oak and
painted white. The chancel screen and stalls date from the time of John
Cosin, who was rector of Brancepeth before being raised to the Bishopric
in 1661, but have the appearance, in common with much of his work at
Durham Castle, of belonging to a much earlier period.
There are several sepulchral effigies to members of the Neville family
in the church.
St. Michael’s, Bishop Middleham, is a thirteenth-century church and all
of one period. Whitworth church was entirely rebuilt in 1850, and is
only interesting for the remarkable male and female sepulchral effigies
in the churchyard.
At Bishop Auckland, St. Helen’s has a chancel arch and two bays of the
arcades of the nave of Late Transitional work, a very short period
separating them from the western bays of the nave. The chancel is of
thirteenth-century date, and the aisles are prolonged to engage the
greater part of it, forming chantry chapels. The clerestory has three
two-light, Late Perpendicular windows on each side, and at the west end
is a round-headed window of earlier date, but evidently an insertion in
its present position. The east window consists of three lancets under
one arch, the spandrel spaces being pierced. The south doorway is of
Perpendicular date, and the porch, a later addition, has in common with
St. Andrew’s, Auckland, a chamber above. There is a brass of
fifteenth-century date in the church.
The Church of St. Andrew’s, Auckland, is a fitting edifice to close this
brief account of the parish churches of Durham. Its site has from the
earliest times of Christianity in the North been occupied by a church,
and there is strong evidence that it was the home of a collegiate body
formed of monks removed from Durham by Bishop William de St. Carileph.
This establishment was reorganized by Bishop Bek in 1292, and great
alterations were made in the fabric of the church at the same time.
The church consists of a chancel, north and south transepts, nave with
north and south aisles, and western tower. It dates from the thirteenth
century, and there is evidence that it succeeded a building of Norman
date, which was itself either an enlargement of, or a successor to, the
first building.
The church has many points of great interest, and perhaps the most
striking features of the interior are the arcades of the nave. These are
of five bays each, with richly moulded arches, resting on alternate
octagonal and clustered piers. The north transept was almost entirely
rebuilt during restoration, but the new work is a copy of the old,
which, however, did not date from the original church, but was one of
the alterations of Bishop Bek, before referred to. The east wall of the
chancel is also his work. In 1417 a higher stage was added to the tower,
and the clerestory of the nave is of still later date.
The chancel stalls are the work of Cardinal Langley and very effective.
There are two monumental effigies in the church, one of a Knight in
armour, the other of a lady; both apparently date from the end of the
fourteenth century. There are also three brasses.
MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS OF THE COUNTY OF DURHAM
BY EDWIN DODDS
The earliest-known burial-place in the county of Durham has no
monumental inscriptions in it. It is a barrow opened at Copt Hill, near
Houghton-le-Spring, which contained Neolithic remains, and it is
interesting inasmuch as it has also vestiges of burials made again after
the lapse of many years, when the Bronze Age had superseded the period
in which men warred and worked with weapons of stone only. There is no
memento known of the Paleolithic Age in the county, and only thirteen
places of burial used by Neolithic man have been investigated. Of the
Bronze Age about a dozen burial-places have been examined, many of them
containing those small rudely fashioned earthenware vessels, from three
to six inches high, roughly ornamented with simple lines and dots, which
are known as "food-vessels" and "incense-cups."
Of the monumental inscriptions left by the Romans, two of the most
interesting were found near the Roman station in South Shields. One of
them is an elaborately carved slab, four feet long, which bears the
figure of a woman seated, with a work-basket at her left hand and a
jewel-case at her right; she seems to be occupied in needlework. Below
is the Latin inscription: "To the Divine Shades of Regina, of the
Catuallaunian Tribe, a freed woman, and the wife of Barates the
Palmyrene. She lived thirty years." Below this is a line in Syriac:
"Regina, the freed woman of Barate. Alas!" The district of Catuallauna
is said to have extended from Gloucestershire to Lincolnshire. It is
strange that affinity of souls should have brought together as man and
wife a merchant from Syria and a slave from the centre of England.
Another Roman gravestone from South Shields, found in 1885, reads: "To
the Divine Shades of Victor. He was by nation a Moor: he lived twenty
years: and was the freed man of Numerianus, a horseman of the first ala
of Asturians, who most affectionately followed [his former servant to
the grave]." This stone probably dates from about A.D. 275; it bears the
half-recumbent figure of a man on a couch, with a canopy above and the
inscription below. At Binchester, near Bishop Auckland--the Vinovia of
the Romans--a plain slab with ansated ends was found inscribed: "Sacred
to the Divine Shades. Nemesius Montanus the Decurion lived forty years.
Nemesius Sanctus, his brother, and his coheirs, erected this in
accordance with the provisions of his will." This slab was also probably
carved and set up in the third century. In Roman epitaphs no mention of
death is ever made; it is stated that the person commemorated had lived
so many years, but the fact that he died and the date of his death is
not recorded.
Of Anglo-Saxon memorial crosses there are a large number in the county
of Durham, all of them of great interest, and some of beautiful
workmanship. The most notable are those at Aycliffe, Billingham,
Chester-le-Street, Coniscliffe, Darlington, Dinsdale, Durham (where, in
the Dean and Chapter Library, there is a fine collection both of
original stones from several places and of facsimile copies), Elwick,
Escomb, Gainford, Great Stainton, Haughton-le-Skerne, Hurworth, Kelloe,
Norton, Sockburn, and Winston-on-the-Tees. None of them are perfect;
most of them are fragments of monuments which have at some time been
broken up and used as building stones.
[Illustration: ANGLO-SAXON STONE AT CHESTER-LE-STREET.]
The cross at Kelloe is made up of pieces now carefully joined together;
it is a very fine example. Most of these crosses have the characteristic
knot-work ornament, and many of them have human figures, crucifixions,
monsters, warriors, animals, and birds, carved upon them, the sculpture
and design being of the Anglian school. Very few of them have any
lettering. One at Chester-le-Street has EADMUND in mixed Runic and Roman
letters, but this may be an addition by a later hand. The hog-backed
stones of this period, of which some very fine specimens were discovered
at Sockburn in 1900, bear similar knot-work ornaments. In 1833 a
burial-place at Hartlepool, and in 1834 one at Monkwearmouth, were
discovered; they both yielded memorial stones, small in size, but of
great interest. A stone from the latter place, now in the British
Museum, bears the name TIDFIRTH in Runic characters. Tidfirth was the
last Bishop of Hexham, and was deposed about the year 821. The stones
found at Hartlepool are known as pillow-stones; they are almost square,
and only from 9 to 12 inches across by about 2 inches thick. Only seven
of them have been saved. They all bear a cross, sunk in some stones and
raised on others, and several of them have short inscriptions in Saxon
minuscules. One reads: "ORATE PRO EDILUINI ORATE PRO UERMUND ET
TORTHSUID."
Those effigies, or early statues, generally recumbent, and made
sometimes of wood, but more often of stone, which were placed in
churches from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, are to be found in
many places in the county, sometimes decently and carefully preserved in
the church, sometimes left to weather and decay in the churchyard, or in
the rectory garden. Among the more noticeable of them are the following:
At the west end of Staindrop Church is the "altar-tomb of alabaster,"
with an effigy of Ralph Neville, first Earl of Westmorland, in plate
armour, and with figures of his two wives, one on either hand. Surtees,
in his _History of Durham_, describes it as "this noble tomb, which is
in the purest style of the best age of sepulchral monuments." Its date
is probably about 1425. There is in the same church another tomb with
effigies, in wood, of the fifth Earl of Westmorland and his two wives;
it is dated 1560.
Barnard Castle Church has an effigy of a priest attired in chasuble,
stole, dalmatic, alb, and amice. The inscription is in Lombardic
lettering, and reads: "ORATE PRO AIA ROBERTI DE MORTHAM QNDM VICARII DE
GAYNFORD." This Robert de Mortham founded a chantry at Barnard Castle in
1339.
At Bishopwearmouth there was formerly the effigy of Thomas Middleton of
Chillingham, the founder of the family of Silksworth. It represented
Middleton in complete armour, with his hands raised. It bore the
inscription: "Hic jacet Thom’ Middylton Armiger -- -- -- MCCC." At one time
this statue lay on an altar-tomb in the north aisle of the church; later
it was placed upright against the wall of the aisle; later, again, it is
recorded that it lay, broken into two pieces, in the porch; to-day it
cannot be found.
In the Church of St. Giles, in the city of Durham, there is a wooden
effigy in complete armour, which is supposed to represent the first
John Heath, of Kepier, who was buried in the chancel of that church in
1590.
The Lumley monuments are a collection of fourteen effigies which lie in
the north aisle of Chester-le-Street Church. They were placed there by a
Lord Lumley about 1594. They represent the Lords of Lumley from Liulph,
who lived in the days of William the Conqueror, down to the John, Lord
Lumley, who fought at Flodden Field in 1513. Probably only three of the
fourteen monuments are genuine; the others were either manufactured or,
more probably, collected from other places.
The old chapel at Greatham was pulled down in 1788. In a recess in the
south wall of the transept there was a wooden effigy of an ecclesiastic.
During the rebuilding of the chapel a stone coffin containing his bones
and a chalice of pewter was found near the foot of the wall.
In the Pespoole seats in the south aisle of Easington Church there is an
elegant recumbent figure of a woman, carved in Stanhope marble. On it
are carved the three popinjays which were carried on the coat of arms of
the ancient owners of Horden. At Heighington Church there are two female
effigies, one of which has been very fine, but they are both much
weathered and decayed; they are probably of fourteenth-century date. In
the same church there is a medieval pulpit, the only one remaining in
the county. It is of oak, and on it there is inscribed in black letter:
"<f>orate p’ aiabz Alexandri flessehar et agnetis uxoris sue</f>." To
commemorate oneself by giving a pulpit to the church seems a practical
and useful form of memorial. As this is the only medieval pulpit the
county has left, it seems likely that its preservation is due to the
inscription it bears.
When Neasham Abbey, in the north of Yorkshire, fell into ruin, two of
its effigies were moved over the Tees to the church at Hurworth. One of
them was a remarkably fine figure of a knight in armour, his head
covered with a coat of mail, his body clad in a shirt of mail, over
which there is a surcoat. His shield has "barry of eight, three
chaplets of roses." The armour is of the style in use in the early part
of the fourteenth century, and the effigy probably represents the Robert
FitzWilliam who was Warden of the Marches in the time of the just King
Edward I., and who died in 1316.
In Lanchester Church, under an arch in the wall of the south aisle, lies
a recumbent effigy of a canon secular, his raised hands clasping a
chalice. This is believed to represent Stephen Austell, Dean of
Lanchester, who died in 1464. In Monkwearmouth Church, under a canopy
which bears the shields of the Hiltons and Viponds, there is a very
interesting effigy of a knight in plate armour of the early part of the
fifteenth century. This is probably the Baron William Hilton, who built
Hilton Castle on the Wear, with its wonderful armorial front. He died in
1435. At Norton, near Stockton, there is a magnificent effigy of a
knight in chain armour; over the head there is a rich canopy of
tabernacle-work; the hands are raised and the legs are crossed, the feet
resting on a lion. It is sometimes assumed that this representation of a
knight with his legs crossed one over the other indicates that the
person portrayed was a Crusader, but there are many cases where the
attitude is used in which it is known that the effigy was that of one
who could not have taken any part in those Holy Wars. This monument is
further noticeable as it is one of the very few which give us even a
slight hint as to the personality of the sculptor; it bears what is
believed to be his mark in the shape of a small squiggle, which looks
like a short length of chain, in front of which is the letter "I," and
it is supposed that this punning rebus means that the effigy is the
handiwork of one John Cheyne. It would be very interesting to know who
commissioned Cheyne to carve this monument, for another curious feature
in it is that the shield of the knight bears six coats of
arms--Blakeston, Surtees, Bowes, Dalden, Conyers, and Conyers--which
mean that the knight was a Blakeston of Blakeston. But the Blakestons
bore these arms in the sixteenth century, probably not later than the
year 1587, whereas the armour of the effigy is of the time of Edward I.,
1272-1307. Boyle suggests that probably the monument is to one of the De
Parks, and that a Blakeston took it, scraped off the De Park arms, and
put on his own coat. Whatever its vicissitudes may have been, it remains
a noble piece of work.