Toponym

• Socca's fortification^[11]

• Fortification on tongue of land wedged between two rivers ^{[lower-alpha 2][1]}

Sockburn : ( Socca..byrig ) (8th cent.)^[10]

The most likely explanation for the unusual Scottish Gaelic name ( Socca..byrig ) is that it was introduced by Hiberno-Scottish monks when they established a base at Sockburn for Celtic Christianity.^{[lower-alpha 3]} The local language in use at that time was a mix of Old English and Common Brittonic.^{[lower-alpha 4]} It would be expected that words might also be borrowed from Cumbric and Scottish Gaelic due to geographic proximity and population movements.^{[lower-alpha 5]}

The name element ' Socca ' is from Scottish Gaelic ' socach ' ( ” tongue of land (usually steep, wedged between two rivers) ” ). ^{[lower-alpha 6]}

The name element ' byrig ' is from Old English ' burg ' ( ” within a walled enclosure, fort, castle ” ).^{[lower-alpha 7][lower-alpha 8]}

Celtic christianity

In antiquity, Higbald, Bishop of Lindisfarne was crowned at Sockburn in 780 or 781 and Eanbald, Archbishop of York, in 796.

Estate and church

For many centuries the estate was in the hands of the Conyers family. In medieval times Sir John Conyers was said to have slain a dragon or "worm" that was terrorising the district. The stone under which the Sockburn Worm was reputedly buried is (or at least until recently was) still visible, and the falchion with which it was said to have been slain is in Durham Cathedral Treasury. As Sockburn was the most southerly point in the Durham diocese, the sword was ceremonially presented by the Lord of the Manor to each new Bishop of Durham when he entered his diocese for the first time at the local ford or the nearby Croft-on-Tees bridge. This custom died out in the early nineteenth century, but was revived by Bishop Jenkins in 1984, the Mayor of Darlington doing the honours.

The Conyers family died out in the seventeenth century, and their manor house fell into ruin. The estate came into the hands of the Blackett family, industrialists from Newcastle. A new mansion, Sockburn Hall, was built around 1834 for Henry Collingwood Blackett and the church was closed and allowed to become dilapidated, presumably because the occupant wanted a fashionable picturesque ruin in his grounds. A bridge to the south of the house was built in 1836–7, although all that remains today are the abutments. A new church for the locals was built at his expense across the river at Girsby. In about 1870, Henry's widow, Theophania, erected another footbridge some way north of the house, to enable the faithful to access their church without using a ford near the house.^[14]

The Conyers family of Sockburn continued in America when Edward Conyers, son of Christopher Conyers of Wakerly and Mary Halford, left England on Governor Winthrop's fleet ship Lyons and landed at Salem Harbor on 12 June 1630. Edward Conyers changed his name to Edward Converse. He founded the town of Woburn, Massachusetts, established the first ferry service between Charlestown and Boston, and as organizer of the First Church of Charlestown was called Deacon Edward Converse. His grandson, Samuel Converse, was among the first settlers of Killingly, Connecticut where his house, built in 1712, still stands today.

Lake poets ( Wordsworth, Coleridge )

A new farmhouse was built in the late eighteenth century. In 1799, this was occupied by Tom Hutchinson, who is said to have once bred a seventeen-and-a-half stone sheep, and his sisters Mary and Sara. They were distant relatives of the family of William Wordsworth. He lodged with them for six months in 1799, and eventually married Mary. His friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge also stayed there, and fell in love with Sara, but he was already married; his feeling for Sara found expression in his poem "Love", which contains references to the church and the dragon legend.^{[lower-alpha 9]}

Lewis Carroll

Another literary association is with Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland. His father was sometime rector at Croft-on-Tees, and it is said that the legend of the Sockburn Worm provided the inspiration for his poem Jabberwocky.

Hogback discovery in old church

The remains of Sockburn Church (1894).

"The building was in use down to the year 1838, when a new church was built at Girsby on the Yorkshire side of the river. It was then unroofed and allowed to go to ruin, but in 1900 the Conyers chapel was repaired and roofed, the ruins cleared of rubbish, and certain excavations made which led to the discovery of a large number of pre-Conquest stones. Nine fragments of ancient cross-shafts and horizontal grave slabs lay among the ruins before this date, and a complete hog-back in two pieces was at the hall. (fn. 128) No suspicion of pre-Conquest work in the structure itself, however, existed till the year 1891."^[10]

"The stone effigy of a knight, four brasses and some grave-covers occupy their original positions in the chapel. The effigy belongs apparently to the middle of the 13th century, (fn. 130) and is represented in a suit of mail with sleeveless surcoat. The head rests on a square cushion and the feet on a lion and wyvern in combat."^{[10][lower-alpha 12]}

"Other mediaeval fragments preserved in the chapel comprise a portion of a square-headed traceried window, a grave-cover with cross formed of four circles conjoined, portions of three other gravecovers, (fn. 131)"^[10]

"The chapel also contains the collection of preConquest sculptured stones brought together during the restoration and excavations of 1900. They comprise portions of twenty-two crosses and grave-covers of varied and characteristic design. (fn. 133)"^[10]

Chronology of the Early Medieval Period

Notes

Citations

Sources