<< Our Photo Pages >> Conyer's Chapel Crosses - Ancient Cross in England in County Durham
Submitted by Anne T on Monday, 20 October 2014 Page Views: 5213
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: Conyer's Chapel Crosses Alternative Name: Conyer's Chapel Hogback Tombstones, Sockburn HallCountry: England County: County Durham Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Darlington Nearest Village: Neasham
Map Ref: NZ34980711
Latitude: 54.458176N Longitude: 1.461938W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Anne T visited on 17th Oct 2014 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 5 Conyer's Chapel, near Darlington: Hogbacks and Anglo Saxon Crosses: In reading about the Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculptures material for Northumberland, I’ve become more and more excited about trying to visit Sockburn Hall. In order to find out who to contact, I went through English Heritage, who have a web page about Sockburn, who put me in touch with both the Sockburn Hall Project and the owner of Sockburn Hall. He also told me that the neighbours at Sockburn Farm taking their privacy very seriously and there are signs to deter visitors, although there are rights of access to Sockburn Hall and the Chapel. I have to say I was made to feel exceptionally welcome once I'd arrived at the Hall.
Conyer’s Chapel is a small, private museum containing the remains of 13 Anglo-Saxon crosses and 9 hogback tombstones plus a small, but impressive (and nationally signficant) stone with runes which was found in the last year.
The chapel is the roofed section, and apart from the arches, the only remaining part of the now ruined church of All Saints. It sits less than 100 yards from the more recent (19th century) property of Sockburn Hall. Built into a loop of the River Tees, Sockburn sits on almost an island, making it an enigmatic and ancient place, suspended between County Durham and North Yorkshire.
The English Heritage records tell us the history of the area begins in AD780 to 796 when a church at Soccabyrig or Sochasburg) hosted the consecration of a bishop of Lindisfarne and the ordination of an Archbishop of York, meaning it would have been a monastic community. Sockburn then disappeared from the written record following Viking raids in the 9th and 10th centuries, and this history explains the fusion of pagan and Christian imagery on the surviving artefacts.
Most impressive was the hogback stone with the two riders carved on it, the rune stone and the large hogback with the ridge missing. I was shocked by the damp and slime within the chapel – in moving the fragments an inch or two to photograph them, I was covered in green slime, cobwebs and insects and this site must surely be at risk.
Sockburn Hall sits on the site of the Conyer’s family former mansion (whose distance ancestor was supposed to have fought the famous ‘worm, dragon or fiery flying serpent’) and is privately owned (see ‘The Grey Stone’ entry on the Portal). It is not open to the public, but the Chapel is owned by the Diocese of Durham and the resident of Sockburn Hall is a keyholder for the chapel. Because the chapel contains so many important artefacts, and the Hall and its surrounding lands have so much history, English Heritage have worked with the Diocese of Durham to survey the earthworks and look at the wider archaeological setting.
The Hall is about to be sold privately as it needs a lot of money to repair and conserve it.
Conyer’s Chapel is a small, private museum containing the remains of 13 Anglo-Saxon crosses and 9 hogback tombstones plus a small, but impressive stone with runes which was found in the last year.
The Chapel is the only remaining part of the older and now ruined church of All Saints. It sits less than 100 yards from the 19th century property of Sockburn Hall. Built into a loop of the River Tees, Sockburn is almost an island, making it an enigmatic and ancient place, suspended between County Durham and North Yorkshire.
The English Heritage records tell us the history of the area begins in AD780 to 796 when a church at Soccabyrig (also spelled as Sochasburg) hosted the consecration of a bishop of Lindisfarne and the ordination of an Archbishop of York, meaning it would have been a monastic community. Sockburn then disappeared from the written record following Viking raids in the 9th and 10th centuries, and this history explains the fusion of pagan and Christian imagery on the surviving artefacts.
More detail about the artefacts within the chapel can be read on the University of Durham Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculptures web site, too numerous to mention all here. but which includes two cross heads, a hogback stone with two riders carved upon it, a rune stone (found only in the last year) and a large hogback with the ridge missing and carved with figures and beasts on both sides.
Sockburn Hall sits on the site of the Conyer’s family former mansion (whose distance ancestor was supposed to have fought the famous ‘worm, dragon or fiery flying serpent’) and is privately owned (see the The Grey Stone entry on the Portal). It is not open to the public, but the Chapel is owned by the Diocese of Durham and the current resident of Sockburn Hall is a keyholder. Because the chapel contains so many important artefacts, and the Hall and its surrounding lands have so much history, English Heritage have worked with the Diocese of Durham to survey the earthworks and look at the wider archaeological setting. A separate volunteers project, the Sockburn Hall project, exists to save the current Hall and safeguard its history.
The keyholder is happy to host visits to the chapel by appointment. Sockburn Hall is 2.8 miles down Sockburn Lane from the village of Neasham. Once you see the ‘private, no public access' signs, it is at least a mile further down this private driveway to the Hall. Parking for one or two cars is available outside the Hall, then there is about a 50 metre walk across grass from the hall to the chapel.
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