22 Neasham Abbey. 



ically and sportingly. At one time a Benedictine Abbey or 

 nunnery, dedicated to the Ever Blessed Virgin, did stand here, 

 and from time to time there have been interesting discoveries 

 connecting the present with the monastic past. 



During the construction of the cellar years ago, several 

 skeletons and skulls were brought to light and, being decidedly 

 more material and practical than sentimental, the workmen 

 reported the bringing to light of each successive skull thus : 

 " Wa've fun anuther 'eead " (i.e. head). 



Some years later, when the Abbey drains were being 

 altered, several skeletons were unearthed, one of which was 

 thought to be the remains of a personage of some importance 

 — possibly those of Dame Johanna Lawson herself. The said 

 Joan, or Johanna, according to tradition, was something of a 

 farmer and squire as well as an Abbess, and, for all one knows, 

 she cast a line occasionally in the waters of the Tees hard by. 

 If she was the robust type of Christian one is led to believe, I 

 am inclined to think that she would be provoked to a spirit 

 smile at the treatment of her remains — supposing they were hers. 



The late Mr. Wilkinson, with a very proper reverence for 

 the departed, gave instructions for another grave to be dug, 

 and the bones reverently laid to rest again. On going to see 

 how the untutored gravediggers were progressing with their 

 work, he found that they had dug deep enough, but not a long 

 enough tomb to take the skeleton. On pointing this out, he 

 was horrified to see one of the men immediately chop the 

 skeleton in two with his spade, saying as he did so, 

 ** We'll seean mak him gan in." One would not have been 

 surprised to hear after this that the ghost of some prioress 

 or nun walked the corridors of Neasham Abbey, or amongst 

 the gardens, but I am told that there are no local legends of 

 the supernatural. 



