Sockburn Parish, 1848

SOCKBURN (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Darlington, partly in the S.W. division of Stockton ward, county of Durham, but chiefly in the wapentake of Allertonshire, N. riding of York, 7 miles (S.E.) from Darlington; containing 201 inhabitants, of whom 42 are in the township. This is supposed to be the Saxon Soccabyrig. In the time of Canute, Snaculf gave to the church of Durham "Socceburg and Grisbi;" and soon after the Conquest the place became the seat of the Norman family of Conyers. The parish comprises the townships of Sockburn, Over Dinsdale, and Girsby; the first, which is wholly in the county of Durham, contains about 1,000 acres. Among other late improvements, a bridge of wood, consisting of one arch of upwards of 150 feet span, has been thrown across the river Tees by the lord of the manor and owner of the lands within the township, Henry Collingwood Blackett, Esq. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £3. 18. 1½.; net income, £190; patron and impropriator, the Master of Sherburn Hospital. The great tithes of Sockburn township have been commuted for £68, and the small for £48: the vicar has a glebe of 3 acres. The church has been partly taken down, and a new building erected on the opposite side of the Tees, in a situation more convenient for the parishioners, chiefly at the expense of Mr. Blackett and the master of Sherburn Hospital. The old edifice contains some ancient monuments, one of which is said to be that of Sir John Conyers, representing him with his feet resting upon a lion that appears to be contending with a winged dragon. In an adjoining field is the Grey Stone, where, according to legendary story, the dauntless knight slew the "monstrous venomous and poisonous wyveron, ask, or worm, which overthrew and devoured many people in fight."