- Sockburn
infobox UK place
country = England
static_
static_image_caption =
latitude = 54.46173
longitude = -1.46397
official_name = Sockburn
population =
shire_district= Darlington
shire_county =County Durham
region = North East England
constituency_westminster =
post_town =
postcode_district =
postcode_area =
dial_code =
os_grid_reference = NZ348075Sockburn is a village in
County Durham , inEngland . It is situated at the bottom of a loop of theRiver Tees , south ofDarlington , known locally as the Sockburn Peninsula. Today, there is not much there apart from an early nineteenth-century mansion, a ruined church and a farmhouse built in the late eighteenth century.Sockburn is a site of great antiquity, Higbald, Bishop of
Lindisfarne having been crowned there in780 or781 and Eanwald,Archbishop of York , in796 . For many centuries the estate was in the hands of the Conyers family. In medieval times a Sir John Conyers is said to have slain adragon or "worm" that was terrorising the district. The stone under which theSockburn Worm was reputedly buried is (or at least until recently was) still visible, and thefalchion with which it was said to have been slain is inDurham Cathedral Treasury. As Sockburn was the most southerly point in the Durham diocese, the sword was ceremonially presented by theLord of the Manor to each newBishop of Durham when he entered his diocese for the first time at the local ford or the nearbyCroft-on-Tees bridge. This custom died out in the early nineteenth century, but was revived by Bishop Jenkins in1984 , 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 farmhouse was built in the late eighteenth century. In1799 , 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 ofWilliam Wordsworth . He lodged with them for six months in1799 , and eventually married Mary. His friendSamuel 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.A new mansion,Sockburn Hall , was built around1834 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. Abridge to the south of the house was built in 1836/7, although all that remains today are theabutments . A new church for the locals was built at his expense across the river atGirsby . In about1870 , 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.Another literary association is with
Lewis Carroll , the author of "Alice in Wonderland ". His father was sometimerector at Croft-on-Tees, and it is said that the legend of the Sockburn Worm provided the inspiration for his poem "Jabberwocky ".External links
[http://bjorn.foxtail.nu/h_conyers_eng.htm Illustrated article about the Conyers Falchion and the Sockburn Worm legend, with bibliography. Retrieved 2007-05-29.]
[http://www.sockburnhall.co.uk Information and photos of the project to restore Sockburn Hall. Retrieved 2007-07-19.][http://www.theblacketts.com/ The Blacketts of North East England]
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