A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



tympanum, which is 7 in. thick, is carried by shaped 

 corbels set behind the imposts, the hitter being cham- 

 fered on the underside with horizontal sinkings in the 

 top member. The inner doorway of the porch has a 

 flat four-centred arch with hollow-chamfered jambs 

 and head. 



The tower is internally of three stages. The lowest 

 has a chamfered set-back outside, above which the 

 walls go straight up to the string below the parapet. 

 The lowest st.ige is blank on the north and south, 

 but on the west side a modern two-light window has 

 been inserted, and on the east the tower is open to the 

 nave by a semicircular arch of a single square order 

 consisting of twenty-six voussoirs springing from 

 chamfered imposts. The soffit is flat like that of the 

 chancel arch, and none of the arch stones go through 

 the wall. Two large jamb stones, one on either side, 

 still preserve traces of colouring and of black-letter 

 inscriptions towards the nave. The middle stnge has 

 a small square opening on three sides, and the belfry 

 windows are of two lights with rounded heads, roughly 

 fashioned and without hood moulds. These windows 

 and the embattled parapet are of late date, the top 

 part of the tower having possibly been rebuilt in the 

 1 6th century or later. The parapet is very plain and 

 of rubble masonry with two embrasures only on each 

 side. 



Against the east wall of the chapel are two alabaster 

 figures on a plain altar tomb representing Thomas 

 de Langton (d. 14+0) and his wife Sibyl. The man, 

 whose face is destroyed, is attired in plate mail with 

 the collar of SS. The head rests on a helm and the 

 feet on a lion. The head of the lady lies on two 

 cushions, and her hair is dressed in horn-like fashion, 

 the head-dress being partly covered by a veil. She 

 is clad in an under-garment and long loose kirtle 

 with jewelled belt. The tomb is probably not 

 original.^' 



A Portland stone slab, with the names of those of 

 the parish who fell in the Great War inscribed on it, 

 has been inserted in the east wall of the south-west 

 porch. 



The font is of late 12th-century date, and consists 

 of a circular basin of Frosterley marble on a shaft and 

 moulded base. The Gothic cover is said to date from 

 18+5.=-= 



The seating to both nave and chapel is of 

 late 17th-century date, being somewhat similar in 

 style to that at Egglescliffe, Aycliffe and in other 

 churches in the county, the backs of the pews being 

 open, with short turned balusters. In the nave the 

 pew ends have fleur-de-lis terminations, but those in 

 the chapel finish with turned knobs, and the pew doors 

 have balusters in the upper part. The whole of the 

 woodwork, however, is painted dark red, and it may 

 be a later copy of earlier work. The three canopied 

 churchwardens' seats lettered ' Redmarshall,' ' Carlton ' 



and ' Stillington ' against the west wall of the chapel 

 suggest a comparatively late date. 



The organ, now at the east end of the nave on the 

 north side, stood formerly in a gallery at the west 

 end ; it was a combined barrel and keyboard instru- 

 ment. The gallery has been removed. 



The tower contains three bells, two of which are 

 without date or inscription. The third is a mediaeval 

 bell and bears the inscription ' + cristoferus ' in 

 Gothic letters more than 2 in. apart. '•* 



The plate consists of a chalice and paten of 1845, 

 Newcastle make, of Elizabethan design, both inscribed 

 ' Tho^ Austin Rector 1845.' There is also a pewter 

 dish.5* 



The register of burials begins in 1559, that of 

 baptisms in 1564, and that of marriages in 1568. 



The advowson originally belonged 

 ADVOH'SON to the bishopric ; thus Ralph de 

 CroynJen was presented to the rec- 

 tory by the king in 1260, the sec being vacant." 

 The .advowson was transferred to the Bishop of Ripon 

 in 1859 ^^ and in the following year to the Crown,'' 

 which retains the patronage. 



In I 29 1 the benefice was taxed at £^i6 13/. 4<s'.,'* 

 but this was reduced by half before 1318 in conse- 

 quence of the depredations of the Scots.'' The 

 assessment had risen to ^^i 8 in 153 5 ; 2/. was paid to 

 the archdeacon.*"" The tithes of corn of Stillington 

 belonged to Sherburn Hospital.' 



Nichol.is Holme, canon of Ripon, rector of Red- 

 marshall, who died in St. Mary's Abbey at York in 

 1458-9, left to this church a book called Pup'dla 

 Ocu/i.- In 1 46 1 -2 Adam Morland, then rector, 

 had the bishop's pardon for building a tower to 

 his rectory-house and beginning to crenellate it as 

 a fortalice, and was allowed to go on with this 

 work.' 



A chantry at the altar of St. Mary in the church 

 was founded before 131 1, when Alan de Langton, 

 lord of the manor, presented a chantry priest.'' In 

 I 3 14 inquiry was made at the bishop's command by 

 the rectors of Redmarshall and other neighbouring 

 churches ; it was found that the patronage belonged 

 to Henry de Langton as heir to his father Alan, that 

 the value was 6 marks a year, and that on a vacancy 

 the patron must present within forty days or his right 

 would devolve on the archdeacon.' No further 

 mention of this chantry has been found. 



Stillington gave its name to an ecclesiastical parish 

 formed in 1872,' but the church is in Whitton. 



Christopher Morpeth, by will 

 CHARITIES proved at York in 1640, demised a 

 rent-charge of j^4, one moiety thereof 

 for the poor of Redmarshall and Carlton and the other 

 moiety for the poor of Stillington. The annuity is 

 paid out of land called Bishopton Field. The distri- 

 bution is made among poor widows. 



" The figures are described in Proc. Sec. 

 Antij. Nitccasdt, x, 104-6. They arc 

 figured in Surtees, op. cit. iii, 71. Glover, 

 in his MS. pedigrees of the Lords of 

 Wvnvird, mentions the effigies as being 

 'in the porche of the parish church of 

 Redmarshall under a tomb of alabaster 

 having both their portraitures engraven 

 very sumptuously' (quoted in Prac. Sac. 

 Anrij, Ne'zvcatfle, x, 104-6). 



" Fordyce, op. cit. ii, 230, 



" Proc. Soc. Antiq. Ne-u'caiilt, iv, 22. 

 The mediaeval bell is probably of 14th- 

 centurv date. 



^< Ibid. 



" Cal. Pal. 1258-66, p. 89. Later, 

 presentations by the king for the same 

 reason arc found in subsequent rolls. 



*^ LonJ. Ga^. 5 Aug. 1859, p. 2998. 



'' Ibid. 31 Aug. i860, p. 3220. 



'^ Popi Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 315; 

 Cal. Papal Lerrert, ii, 84. 



'^ Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 330. 

 'M Vahr Eul. (Rec. Com.), v, 318. 

 ' Ibid. 308 ; EnJciLcd Char. Rep. 



* Teit. Ebor. (Surt. Soc), ii, 2 1 9. 



^ Dur. Rec. cl. 3, R. 48, m. 1 o, no. 49. 

 A 'small bronze figure finely cut' was 

 found in the old parsonage-house (Fordyce, 

 op. cit. ii, 231). 



« Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (Rolls Scr.), i, 73. 



5 Ibid. 632. 



* Lond. Gax. 31 May 1872, p. 2563. 



