STOCKTON WARD 



HART 



reconstruction of the arcade, thus giving a slightly 

 increased width to the nave, and the detail is all poor 

 and thin. The position of the original wall, 3 ft. 

 thick, is visible at the west end, where it h.is been 

 cut away. 



A series of nine stone corbels carved with heads, of 

 12th-century date, runs along the wall of the north 

 arcade facing the aisle, but the old roof has gone and 

 the aisle walls probably retain little of the original 

 masonry except perhaps at the west end, where a 

 small square-headed window remains high up in the 

 wall. The two north windows are of the same date 

 as the chancel, but at the east end is a three-light 

 square-headed 15th-century opening. The east end 

 of the aisle is now used as a vestry. Above the south 

 arcade facing the aisle is another series of plain corbels 

 below the present roof, perhaps of 13th-century date, 

 and in the south wall, in the usual position, is an 

 early piscina with pointed recess, the bowl being in 

 the thickness of the wall. The west window is a 

 I 3th-century lancet with head in two stones. The 

 hood mould has a large nail-head ornament and 

 flower terminations, and the sill is 8 ft. above the 

 floor inside. Below the window are portions of two 

 mediaeval grave slabs built into the wall, and, higher 

 up, a stone found in 1884-5, bearing a poition of an 

 inscription in incised Lombardic letters : ' Hie jacet 

 . . . jacet in tu . . . fai . . . . ' 



The porch is built of rubble masonry, but is 

 almost entirely covered with ivy. There is a descent 

 of three steps to the nave, and the outer archway is a 

 segmental one of two hollow-chamfered orders con- 

 tinued to the ground. The inner doorway is of 

 similar section, but the arch is pointed. There is a 

 stone seat on each side, and built into the walls are 

 six early corbels with carved heads, three on each 

 side. 



The tower is externally of two stages marked by a 

 chamfered set-back, and terminates in a straight 

 moulded parapet, probably of 18th or early 19th- 

 century date, with nondescript corner ornaments. 

 The lower stage is lighted on the south and west by 

 two narrow lancet openings, the jambs and heads 

 chamfered externally. The north side is blank, and 

 on the east the tower is open to the nave by a semi- 

 circular arch of a single order with a roll moulding 

 on each angle and flat soffit. The arch springs at a 

 height of 10 ft. from chamfered imposts and angle 

 shafts with cushion capitals and moulded bases. The 

 opening is an insertion in the west wall of the ancient 

 nave. The lofty upper stage has a lancet on the 

 south side in the lower part, the belfry window above 

 being a small square-headed opening not centrally 

 placed, and the whole of the north side is blank. The 

 west belfry window is a tall narrow square-heaJed 

 opening, and that on the east a lancet. The tower 

 is without buttresses or vice, and the floor is 18 in. 

 above that of the nave. 



There are two fonts ; the older one, which is no 

 longer used and stands at the west end of the south 

 aisle, is of 1 2th-century date, cut from a single block 



of stone, with a shaft at each angle with cushion 

 capital. The four sides are quite plain. This font 

 stood in the churchyard till a comparatively recent 

 date. The other is a very beautiful example of 

 15th-century work, and consists of an octagonal bowl 

 2 ft. 6 in. in diameter standing on a shaft and pedestal 

 of the same form, all elaborately carved. The carving 

 on the eight sides of the bowl is as follows : east 

 side, two figures, one holding a book in his right 

 hand and a club in his left, and the other a book 

 and three loaves or stones (? SS. Philip and James) ; 

 south, two figures, one, much mutilated, holding a 

 staff (?) in his right hand and a book in his left, and 

 the other a book in the right hand and in the left 

 a boat(?) ; west, the Resurrection, with the emblems 

 of the Passion on either side ; north, two figures, one 

 with a spear and a book, and the other a book and a 

 saw (.'SS. Simon and Jude). The other sides bear the 

 emblems of the four Evangelists. The carvings on 

 the shaft are : east, a crowned queen holding a book 

 and palm branch in her hands, and through the 

 breast, from right to left, a sword (?St. Euphemia) ; 

 south-east, a pope with the triple crown and double 

 patriarchal cross in his left hand (St. Gregory the 

 Great) ; south, a crowned queen holding a book and 

 a pair of pincers (St. Lucy) ; south-west, an abbot 

 with pastoral staff and book, and over his arm a 

 maniple ; west, an abbess in coif and wimple, holding 

 crozier and book standing upon a dragon (St. 

 Elizabeth) ; north-west, a bishop in pontificals with 

 crozier and chain and fetter-lock (St. Leonard) ; 

 north, a crowned queen, sitting, with a book in her 

 left hand and the model of a church in her right 

 (St. Barbara) ; and, north-east, an abbess, holding book 

 and key (St. Petronilla). Round the bottom of the 

 bowl are eight demi-angels holding shields, and round 

 the base of the shaft, at the angles, four tonsured and 

 four untonsured heads, between which are four-leaved 

 flowers of various patterns." 



The pulpit dates from 1889, and all the fittings 

 are modern. 



A stained-glass windoiv and oak t.iblet form a 

 memorial to the twenty-one men from this parish 

 who fell in the Great War. 



There is a ring of three bells, inscribed ' R. Watson, 

 plumber, Newcastle, 1826.' 



The plate consists of a chalice of I 571 with the 

 maker's mark HW between a pellet and star ; a paten, 

 without date letter, but with the Newcastle mark and 

 initials DL, inscribed ' Hart Church 29 Nov"^ l S I 3 ' ; 

 a paten of 1784-5, made by John Huitson, London, 

 inscribed ' Presented to Hart Church by the Rev* 

 Edward Moises, A.M. Vicar. Easter 1844' ; and a 

 chalice of 1842-3 with the same inscription. There 

 is also a plated flagon.'- 



The registers begin in 1577. 



In the foundation charters of Guis- 

 ADFOlfSON borough Priory, granted by Robert 

 de Brus, the earliest probably be- 

 longing to the year 11 19, the church of Hart is 

 mentioned among other endowments." In the later 



** Both fonts are illustrated and de- 

 scribed at length in Trans. Arch, Soc. Dur. 

 and Norihumb. y\, 206-8. For the 15th- 

 century font sec also ibid, iii, 111-12; 

 Sharp, Hist, oj Hartlcpaol (1851), 207. 



^' Ftoc, Soc, yinfip NcwcastUf iii, 221. 



*' Guisbro^ Ckartul. (Surt. Soc), i, 3, 5, 



6, 12, 14, 16, 114. In one of the two 

 confirmations of Henry I and in one of 

 the two of Henry II (cf. ibid. 1, 13, 14, 

 IS, 16), the 'churches of Hartncss * arc 

 given instead of the * church of Hart.' 

 In these charters the church of Stranton 

 is not mentioned (as in other charters). 



261 



A ch.irtcr of Peter de Brus, the overlord, 

 in 1256, confirmed the * churches of* 

 Hartness given by Robert de Brus, the 

 founder, with the consent of the Bishop 

 of Durham (ibid, ii, 326). Bishop Richard 

 Kellaw also confirmed by inspeximus in 

 1311a charter of Bishop Walter of 1259 



