England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Sockburn All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Sockburn is something of an anomaly in being spread across both Durham, where it forms the county's southern border, and with Yorkshire, where it forms the northern border, there are roughly equal acreages in each county. Sockburn is located roughly 7 miles southeast of the industrial town of Darlington. Sockburn is little more than a hamlet enclosed within a tight meander of the River Tees, it is connected by a footbridge to that portion in Yorkshire wherein sits the small village of Girsby which holds the modern day parish church. The nearest numbered road to Sockburn lies entirely in Yorkshire where the B1264 road links the town of Yarm with the A167 (Darlington to Northallerton) road. With most of the parish either enclosed with the loop of the Tees or lying alongside that river pastoral farming dominated the parish's economy. Sockburn is drained eastwards by the Tees which performs numerous meanders before arriving at Stockton on Tees and passing through the former industrial heartland of Teesside to the North Sea. Sockburn is sited at around 30 metres above the sea with Girsby some 10 metres higher, away from the Tees land rises to over 60 metres near to Great Smeaton. Sockburn parish was typically sized with an overall cross-boundary acreage of close to 2,800 acres which would have supported a population of close to 200 parishioners. Sockburn is not mentioned in Domesday Book which has sparse coverage this far to the north.

The Church

The original All Saints church stood adjacent to the Hall almost at the apex of the Tees' meander. In 1838 the church was partially dismantled and turned into a picturesque parkland ruin, the ruins show evidence of a very early origin for that church as lancets from the Early English Gothic period in the remains of the east end whilst fragments of 10th or 11th century Saxon fabric in the remains of the nave. Today's All Saints sits within the Yorkshire portion of the parish at the western end of a dead-end lane in Girsby. This church was completed at a similar date to the demolition of the old church and is a simple box augmented with a porch and bellcote. All of the marriages listed here would have been at the old church. The current church is signed from the main lane through Girsby, where that lane makes a right-angled bend there is ample space for parking, the churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.