SOCKBURN is a fabulous, if secluded, loop of the River Tees near Neasham, on the outskirts of Darlington, and its ancient church has just been removed from the Heritage At Risk Register.
This church must once have represented the capital of Christianity in the North East, as Higbald was crowned Bishop of Lindsfarne there in 780 and Eanbald was made Archbishop of York there in 796.
The ruined church at Sockburn was built on top of a monastery and it contained the finest collection of Viking Age sculpted stones in the country. It had intricately decorated gravemarkers from the 9th and 10th centuries, which featured depictions from Scandinavian myths and runic inscriptions.
It was, of course, in this secluded loop that the Sockburn Worm – a fire-breathing dragon – once took up residence until the local people were freed from its tyranny by brave Sir John Conyers who ran it through with a massive sword which is presented to a new bishop of Durham when he enters his diocese for the first time.
READ MORE: THE DRAGON STORIES OF THE NORTH EAST
In the last 30 years, the loop has had a chequered history, with its 1834 manor house becoming uninhabitable and dogs kept on the site in ''sickening conditions'' as they became too much for their elderly owners, who had been judges at Crufts.
Amid this degradation, Sockburn church was placed on the At Risk register in 1999. Historic England has since funded repairs but in 2016, three Viking stones were stolen from it. Two were recovered from the river.
This concentrated minds, and in 2021 all the stones were taken to Durham Cathedral where they are now in the permanent collection, along with the massive falchion which slew the Sockburn Worm.
The 200-year-old manor house has also been restored by its new private owner. It is the most modern of three or four mansions that lie beneath grassy mounds surrounding the church. There’s the remains of an old bridge over the Tees, and there’s a massive boulder under which the last entrails of the dreaded dragon are said to be buried – it is a magical, and secluded, place which is no longer at risk.
READ MORE: THE FULL STORY OF MAGICAL SOCKBURN
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