A teacher, whose great-great-grandfather was a master craftsman at Durham Cathedral, is the latest in a long-line of her family members to join the ranks of the city’s freemen.
Charlotte Middleton was sworn-in during an ancient Town Hall ceremony alongside Patrick Conway, a retired senior local government official whose own career included working with the Dean and Chapter on the cathedral’s 900th anniversary celebrations and the public showing of the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Mr Conway’s professional and community service earned him an OBE, in 2007.
Mrs Middleton’s great-great-grandfather, William Jopling, was the cathedral’s joinery foreman and expert wood carver, who was publicly acknowledged as, “a fine English craftsman.”
(Image: Durham Freemen)
Events in 1898 were, however, to put those high-quality skills to a once-in-a-lifetime test.
He was tasked with re-constructing the coffin of St Cuthbert, the great 7th Century Northern saint, from fragments gathered from the original wooden casket.
They were recovered from a previous opening of the tomb in the early summer of 1827.
At that point the saint’s religious relics, interred with him after his death on the Farne Islands in 687 AD, were removed to be put on publics display.
But that first operation, controversially carried without the approval of the Bishop or Dean, was criticised as “rushed and unsophisticated” by historians.
Although the skeletal remains were restored to the shrine it was claimed the most important parts of the coffin’s fragments, were, “thrown back into the grave in haste”, before it was sealed.
The re-opening of the tomb for a second time in 1898 was a more painstaking and fully authorised examination.
For the first time specialists were able to record every bone belonging to Cuthbert, establishing, among a range of things, he was five feet eight inches tall, was aged between 50 and 60 and may have suffered from tuberculosis.
Mr Jopling and his joinery team were tasked with providing a new and more durable coffin and he was among the group who signed a document bearing testament to the fact they had witnessed the replacement of all the bones in the casket before it was closed on March 17, 1899.
A magnificent ornately carved wooden door was subsequently installed at the entrance to the shrine as a public tribute to Mr Jopling’s outstanding work during his time in the cathedral.
Mr Jopling’s son, Mrs Middleton’s great grandfather, also called William, went on to set up a joinery business, known as Jopling Brothers, in Half Moon yard, in the shadow of the cathedral in 1921.
The business was, in turn, passed on to her grandfather, the third member of the family to bear the name Joseph.
His brother, Harold, a stonemason and also a freeman, later received an OBE for his work on the cathedral’s Rose Window.
Mrs Middleton’s father, Trevor, now 81, ran the business until he retired in 2012.
During his working life he completed many restoration and conservation projects in the heart of the city, including work for the Dean and Chapter.
He also undertook repeated work at St Oswald’s Church, including restoration of the bell tower.
(Image: Durham Freemen)
Mrs Middleton lives near the centre city with husband Peter, an IT specialist with a Newcastle-based insurance company.
Their daughter, Holly, aged 19, a promising footballer, begins studies at Leeds University in September with sights set on a physiotherapy degree.
The couple’s 15-year-old son, William, is still at school and plays local league cricket for Littletown.
Speaking after the Town Hall ceremony, Mrs Middleton said: “I was born and raised in Durham and grew up knowing my father and grandfather were freemen of the city.
“What a privilege this was and what pride it brought to our family.
“I was delighted when the changes in law allowed women to become freeman and have enabled me to extend our involvement to a fifth generation.”
Meanwhile Mr Conway, born to Irish immigrant parents in Lincolnshire, 75 years ago, attended Caistor Grammar School and then Loughborough University, after which he qualified as a chartered librarian, working initially in Grimsby.
(Image: Durham Freemen)
A keen sportsman, Patrick played for his school and had a brief flirtation with Grimsby Town juniors.
His sporting prowess served him well as an undergraduate and he later earned coaching badges.
In the autumn of 1979 he moved to Gateshead to take up a job in the borough council’s arts and libraries department and initiated its renowned public art programme.
He and wife Pat, a “Cornish Maid,” moved to Gilesgate Moor the following March where the couple raised their son Stephen and daughter Rachel.
Mr Conway was the borough’s departmental director until he transferred to Durham County Council in 1991, following his appointment as Director of Culture and Leisure Services, before retiring in 2007.
During his time with the county council he played a key role in the continued development of Bowes Museum, Beamish Museum, the establishment of the Killhope Lead Mining Centre and the opening of the Clayport Library and Millenium Square in Durham City.
His wife was a volunteer with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB) for many years and he later joined her on the management committee, becoming its chair and later chair of the regional CAB.
He is also a former chair of the BBC regional advisory council.
(Image: The Northern Echo)
After retirement he served as a county councillor for four years until 2017, was deputy mayor of Durham and is a former president of Durham Rotary.
He remains a member of Belmont Parish Council and chair of Belmont Community School governors.
Over the years he has been involved with other community and arts associations, both locally and regionally.
His sporting interests continue to flourish, as a life member of Durham County Cricket Club and a season ticket holder at Sunderland AFC, while also maintaining his life-long following for his boyhood favourite club, Grimsby Town.
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Since 2010 he has been a member of the of Durham City Freemen’s Trustees and chairman for the last six years before retiring.
He has now been sworn-in as a gentleman freemen.
Honoured to earn the accolade in Durham, Mr Conway said he remains a proud Lincolnshire “yellowbelly,” a nickname with disputed origin, but not referring to a lack of courage.
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