Memorials of old Durham

by Unknown

"Richard, Lord Lumley....

"The last effigy, John, Lord Lumley, in robes...."—Surtees.

In the church is also a thirteenth-century effigy of a bishop, representing St. Cuthbert.

St. Mary the Virgin, Lanchester, is a very interesting church, and has portions of Norman date. It consists of a chancel, nave with north and south aisles, and south porch, western tower, and a vestry. The chancel dates from the thirteenth century, and there is a very fine piscina in its south wall. The chancel arch dates from the middle of the twelfth century. The vestry opens from the chancel by a very fine doorway, with a cinquefoil arch. The arcades of the nave have four bays on either side, with cylindrical pillars and pointed arches. The south aisle and porch date from the beginning, and the north aisle from the end, of the fourteenth century.

There is a brass in the chancel to the memory of John Rudd, and an effigy of a priest lies in a recess in the south aisle. During the episcopacy of Bishop Bek the church was made collegiate with a Dean and seven Prebendaries, and portions of the woodwork of their stalls are still preserved.

The church at Brancepeth (St. Brandon) has parts dating from the thirteenth century, and is an interesting edifice. The panelling and general internal fittings of the church are of a most elaborate nature. Over the chancel arch is some remarkable screen work, carved in oak and painted white. The chancel screen and stalls date from the time of John Cosin, who was rector of Brancepeth before being raised to the Bishopric in 1661, but have the appearance, in common with much of his work at Durham Castle, of belonging to a much earlier period.

There are several sepulchral effigies to members of the Neville family in the church.

St. Michael’s, Bishop Middleham, is a thirteenth-century church and all of one period. Whitworth church was entirely rebuilt in 1850, and is only interesting for the remarkable male and female sepulchral effigies in the churchyard.

At Bishop Auckland, St. Helen’s has a chancel arch and two bays of the arcades of the nave of Late Transitional work, a very short period separating them from the western bays of the nave. The chancel is of thirteenth-century date, and the aisles are prolonged to engage the greater part of it, forming chantry chapels. The clerestory has three two-light, Late Perpendicular windows on each side, and at the west end is a round-headed window of earlier date, but evidently an insertion in its present position. The east window consists of three lancets under one arch, the spandrel spaces being pierced. The south doorway is of Perpendicular date, and the porch, a later addition, has in common with St. Andrew’s, Auckland, a chamber above. There is a brass of fifteenth-century date in the church.

The Church of St. Andrew’s, Auckland, is a fitting edifice to close this brief account of the parish churches of Durham. Its site has from the earliest times of Christianity in the North been occupied by a church, and there is strong evidence that it was the home of a collegiate body formed of monks removed from Durham by Bishop William de St. Carileph. This establishment was reorganized by Bishop Bek in 1292, and great alterations were made in the fabric of the church at the same time.