A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



Gocelin Surtees in 1367 held land in Neasliam of 

 John de Aislaby, which had been mortgaged to him 

 by Thomas son of Adam de Neasham.**" The 

 Overlordship of this land belonged to the Surtees 

 family of Low Dinsdale (q.v.)/"* Henry Tailbois 

 of Hurworth (d. 1444) held his land here of 

 Thomas Surtees." Thomas Coundon of Neasham 

 (d. 1498) held his lands, jointly with Margaret his wife, 

 of Thomas Surtees.**- His son Thomas, then thirty 

 years old, who died in 1526, held similarly,"^^ and his 

 son, anotherThomas Coundon, succeeded. In I 545 he 

 died, leaving a son Thomas, aged seven in i 548."^ His 

 son, also Thomas, recorded a pedigree in 161 2, when 

 his son Thomas was eight years old.*** William Saycr 

 (d. I 53 l) held lands in Neasham of the prioress.**'' John 

 Sayer (d. 1635) left as heir his niece Dorothy Bulmer.**' 

 Lawrence Bayer's sequestered lands in Neasham were 

 rented at £20 in 1645.'*'* Mention of Lawrence Sayer 

 and Gilbert Crouch's land occurs in 1670.**' According 

 to a plea of 1604 George Browne was in possession of 

 a capital messuage and land here which he leased 

 before 1593 to William Greenwell.*'''' William may 

 have subsequently bought the property, for he 

 certainly held lands in Neasham partly of the Crown 

 and partly of the heirs of Thomas Surtees ; his widow 

 married Marmaduke Wyvill before 1604, and by 

 1619 his daughters Eleanor and Jane had married 

 John Taylor and Ralph Hedworth respectively.'" 



The freeholders in 1684 were Sir JohnLawson.bart., 

 Robert Burnett, Miles Garry, the heirs of Thomas 

 Lumley, Thomas Mowrey, Noah Pilkington, the heirs 

 of George Sayer, and John Waite.^' 



The church of JLL SJINTS stands 

 CHURCH near the east end of the village on the 

 south side of the main street close to the 

 bank of the Tees, and when seen from the opposite 

 side of the river, grouping picturesquely with the 

 irregular roofs of the houses on and along its steep 

 bank. The site is an ancient one, and a fragment of 

 a pre-Conquest cross was found in 1871,^- but the 

 building is almost entirely modern and of little or no 

 antiquarian interest. The whole body of the church 

 w.is rebuilt in 183 1-2, hardly any ancient features 

 being left s.ive the piers of the arcades and some 

 portions of the outer walls of the nave. In 1871 

 the church was again almost entirely rebuilt, the old 

 piers being still retained together with some portions 

 of the 1 8 3 1 building. The fabric, however, is practi- 

 cally of 1 8 7 1 date, and consists of a chancel with short 

 north and south aisles, north and south transepts, 

 nave with north and south aisles, south porch, and 

 west tower."' There is also a small chapel at the 

 east end of the north aisle. The building is in the 

 late Gothic style, and is faced with ashlar, the roofs 



being covered with blue slates. The tower has an 

 embattled parapet with angle pinnacles and a vice in 

 the north-east corner. 



Surtees, writing before 1831, describes the old 

 building as consisting of chancel, nave, north porch, 

 and low west tower, the nave having regular aisles 

 each with three pillars supporting round arches. Two 

 of the pillars of the south aisle were plain cylinders 

 and the rest octagonal."^ The east window was 

 square-headed and of four lights divided by a transom. 

 The other windows were modernized and irregular. 

 The chancel arch was pointed, and on the west front 

 of the tower were three shields with the arms of 

 Nevill, Tailbois and Dacre.'-'* Hutchinson, at an 

 earlier date, describes the building in much the same 

 terms,"'' from which it would appear that part of the 

 nave, at any rate, belonged to a 12th-century church, 

 which had been considerably altered, perhaps at the 

 end of the 15th century. The two cylindrical piers, 

 which have moulded capitals, now stand one on either 

 side of the nave at the west end, and the semicircular 

 arches have given place to pointed. The three 

 shields are built into the west wall of the new tower 

 outside. 



The church contains two interesting effigies, now 

 in modern recesses at the west end of the nave aisles. 

 One of these has the head encased in a cylindrical 

 helmet and the sword is unsheathed and held erect. 

 The feet are broken, and on the left arm is a shield 

 charged with three water bougets on a fcsse. The 

 figure, which is of Frosterlcy marble, was discovered 

 in excavating the foundations of a house near the site 

 of Neasham Abbey.-" The second effigy is that of 

 Robert Fitz William, who assumed the arms of Grey- 

 stock and died in 1316. The figure is in complete 

 mail, with sleeveless surcoat, and the head rests on 

 two cushions. The hands are folded in prayer and 

 the feet rest upon two lions in combat. The shield 

 bears the arms of Greystock, and is supported by a 

 jewelled belt passing over the left shoulder. Along 

 the sides of the monument is carved foliage, and 

 below the legs are two or three heads, apparently of 

 dogs. The effigy w.is originally in Neasham Abbey, 

 whence it was brought to Hurworth, and it is prob- 

 able that the other figure was originally in the abbey 

 also. 



Transepts were first built in 183 1-2, each con- 

 taining a gallery, and there was a gallery also at the 

 west end across the first bay. The chancel as then 

 built was considerably less in length than at present."* 



The font and all the fittings are modern. The 

 quire stalls are of oak taken from an old tithe barn 

 pulled down about 1879."" 



There is a monument with Latin inscription to 



^ Dur. Rec. d. 3, no. 2, fol. 76 a. 

 '"^ Dtp. Kteper's Rep. xliv, 353, 357, 



359> 5H- 



" Dur. Rec. cl. 3, ptf. 164, no. 

 70. 



''- Ibid. ptf. 169, no. 22. 



^ Ibid. ptf. 174, no. 8 ; Dtp. Keeper's 

 Rep. xxxvi, 148. 



'* Ibid, xxxvii, 9 ; xliv, 359. 



w Foster, yisit. of Yorh. 1584, &c., 



p. 507- 



^ Dtp. Keeper's Rep. xliv, 505. 



"Ibid. 511. 



** Royal Comp. in Dur. (Surt. See), 

 30. 



»' Feet of F. Dur. Trin. 22 Chas. II. 



"a Chan. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 263, 

 no. 52. 



■'" Dep. Keeper's Rep. xliv, 406. See 

 Ch.in. Proc. (Ser. 2), bdle. 263, no. 52. 



" Surtees, op. cit. iii, 262. 



^ y.C.H. Dur. i, 233. It is now in 

 the Cathedral Library at Durham. 



^^ The internal dimensions are as 

 follows: chancel 36 ft. by 1 8 ft., tran- 

 septs 23 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 6 in., nave 

 68 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft. 9 in., north aisle 5 ft. 

 wide, south aisle ; ft. 10 in. wide, tower 

 8 ft. 6 in. by 12 ft. The total width 

 across nave and aisles is 32 ft. loin. The 

 chapel is 1 5 ft. 6 in. by 1 5 ft. and the 

 porch 7 ft. by 7 ft. 10 in. The architect 



292 



in 1 87 1 was Mr. J. B. Pritchett of 

 Darlington. 



^* Surtees, op. cit. iii, 255. 



»^ Ibid. 



*'' Hutchinson, op. cit. iii, 185. 



'' Proc. Soc. Aniiq. Newcastle, ix, 53 ; 

 see ibid. (Ser. 3), iv, 232. 



''^ It measured 17 ft. 6 in. square in- 

 ternally. A plan of the church dated 

 1832, as then recently enlarged, hangs 

 in the vestry. The architect was Mr. 

 T. Tibbatts. There is also a gallery 

 plan. 



^' Proc. Soc. Antiij. Neiucaslle, ix, 55. 

 The barn was built on crucks. It is 

 illustrated ibid. 56. 



