STOCKTON WARD 



BISHOP MIDDLEHAM 



are apparently modern restorations of comparatively 

 late work, a clearstory being in all probability no part 

 of the 13th-century building. Above the windows 

 outside is a hollowed string-course the full length of 

 the nave. 



The north and south doorways are in the 

 second bay from the west, the porch being on the 

 north side owing to the position of the church in 

 relation to the village. The porch, though restored, 

 is interesting as retaining nearly all its 13th-century 

 detail, although the side walh have been heightened 

 about 3 ft. 6 in. and the original pitch of the gable 

 has thus been reduced. The roof is covered with 

 modern slates. The outer arch is of two orders, the 

 chamfer of the inner being continued down the 

 jambs. The outer order is moulded and springs from 

 angle shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The 

 arch itself is a restoration, together with the capital of 

 the west shaft in which the nail-head ornament occurs ; 

 the hood mould terminates in two original heads, 

 one of which is mitred. There is a windovv on each 

 side of the porch, moulded round the head, jambs, and 

 sill, and fragments of several mediaeval grave slabs are 

 built into the walls and gable or are preserved inside 

 the porch. The inner doorway is quite plain, with a 

 chamfered pointed arch. The south doorway is similar 

 in character to that of the porch, but is smaller and 

 less restored. The shafts are very much worn away 

 in the lower part and the bases are gone or are covered 

 up. The nail-head ornament occurs in the capital of 

 the east shaft and the mitred head is on the opposite 

 side to that in the porch doorway. In the wall above 

 is a stone sundial with the motto ' Memento mori ' 

 and the date 1 7-1-1. The bell-turret has been rebuilt, 

 but with the old stones. It has a pointed gable and 

 stands on a rectangular base. 



At the west end of the nave are two fiat buttresses 

 of three stages at the ends of the arcadewallsandadwarf 

 buttress below the window, and the wall is set back 

 slightly at a height of 10 ft. above the ground. Built 

 into the wall above the window is a circular moulded 

 stone carved with a cross moline.'*" The south 

 wall is divided externally into four bays by flat 

 buttresses, three of which have been rebuilt. Internally 

 all the walls are plastered and the nave has a modern 

 boarded roof of eight bays, the aisles being under 

 lean-to plastered roofs. At the east end of the south 

 aisle in the usual position is a piscina with pointed 

 head and a square aumbry. 



The font consists of a circular bowl of Frosterley 

 m.irble 29 in. in diameter on a circular shaft and is 

 probably of the same date as the building. The bowl 

 of a smaller font lies on the floor at the west end of the 

 north aisle. 



The pulpit' and seating are modern, and a choir 

 vestry, inclosed by a modern wooden screen, has been 



formed at the west end of the south aisle. The 

 organ, which formerly stood within the chancel, 

 blocking the view of the altar, is now at the east end 

 of the north aisle. There are memorials in the 

 chancel to Robert Surtees, the historian of the county, 

 who died in 183-f,'" his wife Anne (d. 1868), Colonel 

 Charles Freville Surtees (d. 1906), and others.- 



Over the north doorway is a hatchment with 

 the arms of Thomas Bedford, vicar (d. 1660), and a 

 long inscription recording his death and that of his 

 wife in 1686 ; 'She was mother, grandmother, and 

 great-grandmother to 74 children.' Over the south 

 doorway is the hatchment of ' Ralph Hutton of 

 Mensforth Batch'' of Lawes Advocate of Durham.' 



In 1553 there were two bells in the steeple,^ one 

 of which probably remains. It bears the inscription 

 'Ave Maria gra Plena Dns tecv H.F.' and may be of 

 14th-century date. The second bell is by Samuel 

 Smith of York and is inscribed ' Voco veni precare 

 1723.'^ 



The plate consists of a chalice, two patens, and a 

 flagon, all made by Butler & Whitwell of York in 

 1818-19.* 



The registers begin in 1559. They have been 

 printed down to 1812.^ 



The church of the HOW TRIMTi', CORN- 

 FORTH, was built in 1868 from the designs of 

 J. P. Pritchett. It is a building in the Gothic style, 

 consisting of chancel, nave, south porch, and belfry at 

 the east end of the nave. The district was formed 

 in 1865 from Cornforth and Thrislington." The 

 living is a vicarage in the gift of the Crown and the 

 Bishop of Durham alternately. 



The church of Middleham was 

 ADFOH'SON given to the priory of Durham in 

 1 146 by Osbert the sheriff, then in 

 possession of the manor by gift of Ranulf Flambard." 

 Bishop William de Ste. B.irbe consented to the gift 

 and confirmed it by his own charter, and Ralph son 

 of Ranulf Flambard, then parson, surrendered his 

 rectorial rights.' The church is mentioned in the 

 confirmatory charters to the priory of Henry II, 

 Richard I, and John.'* In spite of the grants of the 

 bishop and rector about 1 146, no formal appro- 

 priation seems to have been made, and the priors 

 continued to present rectors to the church for more 

 than a century. At the end of the i 2th and beginning 

 of the 13th century its custody during a vacancy 

 was the subject of dispute between the Bishop of 

 Durham and the prior. Both sent representatives to 

 take possession, and two monks of Durham and two 

 of the bishop's men occupied the church for a week. 

 The struggle ended with tlie presentation of Philip 

 de Balliol to the living by the prior and convent." 

 In 1278 Bishop Robert of Holy Island appropriated 

 the church to Finchale Priory, a cell of Durham, for 



'* This may represent the arms of 

 Bishop Bek. Surtees says that ' popular 

 tradition attributes the building to Anthony 

 Bek' (op. cit. iii, ;). Whetlier this stone 

 is the cause of the * tradition,' or its con- 

 sequence, cannot be stated. The evidence 

 of the architecture is, however, decisive, 

 and proves the building older than Bek's 

 time. 



* The pulpit was presented by Col. C. 

 Frevillo Surtees in 1906 and the quire 

 benches were placed in 1910, those on the 



south side being the gift of Brig. Gen. 

 Conyers Surtees. 



'a He is buried in the south-west of 

 the churchyard. 



* The inscriptions on the older monu- 

 ments are given in Surtees, op. cit. iii, 



^ Bf>. Barnti ln]unc, (Surt. Soc), p. Ivi. 



* Pror. Soc. .^nrij, Neivcastlf, iii, 

 414. 



* Ibid. In I ^53 there was 'one chalice 

 with a paten weighing 1 ;( oz.' 



21 I 



* Dur. atiJ Xorthumh. Far. Reg. Soc, xiii. 

 Transcribed and edited by Reginald Pea- 

 cock (1906}, 



' LtnJ. Gjz. 4 Apr. 1S6;, p. 1861. 



" Charter printed in Surtees, op. cit. iii, 

 38 V See above. ' Surtees, loc. cit. 



'" FtoJ. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 

 p. Ixxxiii ; Cj/. Chart. R. 1527-41, 

 p. 525; CaL Rot. Chart. 1199-1216 

 (Rec. Com.\ n8. 



" FrJ. Prior. Duntlm. (Surt. Soc), 

 2?o, 268, 501. 



