You will need to find the memorial for Arthur Treharne DINGLE, a former rector of the church, and his wife to derive the following co-ordinates from the inscription.
Arthur died June AB 19CD, aged EF
Beatrice died June GH 19IJ, aged KL
The cache will be found at N 54 GH.LIB, W 1 A(E-B).I(C-D)C
The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN stands on an ancient site and consists of a chancel 28 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. 6 in. with north vestry and organ chamber, nave 46 ft. by 20 ft., chapel forming a south aisle, 26 ft. 8 in. by 8 ft. 6 in., south porch and west tower 10 ft. 9 in. square, all these measurements being internal.
(The invocation of the church was forgotten and for some time that of St. John the Baptist was adopted and is still used.)
The fragment of a pre-Conquest stone carved on two sides was found in 1908 built into the buttress on the north side of the chancel and is now in the porch. The oldest parts of the existing fabric, however, are the south doorway, the jambs of the chancel arch and portions of the north wall of the nave, which are all that remains of a 12th-century church, consisting of an aisleless nave, apparently of the same dimensions as still exist, and a chancel. Some work appears to have been done in the 13th century, two fragments having been found in 1908, one with the dog-tooth and the other with a nail-head ornament, and the bowl of the piscina in the chancel is of this period. The building then seems to have remained unaltered till the 15th century when the Aislaby chapel on the south side of the nave, later known as Hindmers' or Pemberton's porch, was added. The 11th-century chancel, which was the same width as the nave, was entirely rebuilt at the same time or shortly after, the tower erected, and the nave considerably altered, all the windows now being of 15th-century date. In 1633 the chancel was reported to be in good repair, but the south chapel, 'called Hindmers' porch,' was in great decay. (fn. 227) The chapel was then apparently restored and other repairs done to the building. In the latter part of the 17th century under Cosin's episcopate the chancel roof was renewed and new fittings, including chancel screen and stalls and seating to the nave, were inserted. A slated roof replaced the old leaded one over the nave between 1811 and 1814, and a flat plaster ceiling was erected at the same time. The interior was restored in 1864, when the ceiling was taken down and the walls plastered. The vestry and organ chamber were added in 1908. The tower was repaired and electric light installed in 1926.
The church throughout is built of rubble masonry, and the roof of the chancel, which is covered with blue slates, is lower than that of the nave. The walls of the nave finish with embattled parapets, and the roof is covered with blue slates, but the south aisle or chapel is under a lean-to leaded roof behind a straight parapet.
The chancel has a five-light pointed east window with perpendicular tracery, and two windows of three cinquefoiled lights on the south side with four-centred labelled heads. A single window of similar type originally existed on the north side near the west end, but was reset in the north wall of the organ chamber in 1908. The 17th-century oak roof is in three bays with two end and two middle curved principals and moulded purlins. The principals are carried down the walls and rest on carved oak corbels. At the east end of the south wall in the usual position is an ogee-headed piscina, with a broken 13th-century bowl, having a base of a shaft on each side. Adjoining is a triple sedile with four-centred arches and attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The recesses are only 7 in. in depth and originally had apparently movable seats of wood. Immediately west of the sedile is a four-centred priest's doorway. The floor is flagged and the west end of the north wall is open to the organ chamber. The pointed chancel arch is of two chamfered orders with hood mould towards the nave springing from the older square responds and chamfered imposts.
The nave has two windows on the north side similar to those in the chancel, the easternmost being old, the other a restoration. There is also a window of two cinquefoiled lights on the south side between the tower and the porch and a built-up doorway in the north wall. The nave roof is modern, plastered between the principals. The chapel is open to the nave towards the east end by an arcade of two pointed arches of two chamfered orders springing from an octagonal pier with moulded capital and dying into the wall at each end. The east wall of the chapel is in the same line as that of the nave, and there are two windows of two cinquefoiled lights with four-centred heads on the south side. The end walls are blank, the porch being built up against the west wall. Between the windows is a recess with flat four-centred chamfered arch, containing a recumbent stone effigy of late 13th- or early 14th-century date, probably commemorating Sir William de Aislaby, who established a chantry at his manor-house in 1313, or Thomas Aislaby, who fought at the battle of Lewes. The figure is that of a man in chain mail and long surcoat. The head rests on two cushions and the feet on a lion. The right hand grasps the hilt of the sword and the left holds the scabbard. Over the left arm is a shield with the arms of Aislaby suspended from the right shoulder by a belt, and a winged monster is represented biting the bottom of the shield. Another effigy, very similar in type, but much worn and weathered, is preserved in the porch. The arms on the shield are obliterated, but the figure probably represents a member of the same family.
The south doorway has a late pointed arch introduced below the 12th-century semicircular opening. The original arch is composed of fifteen plain voussoirs springing from angle shafts with large carved capitals and chamfered imposts running back to the wall on each side. The shaft on the west side is octagonal in section, the other circular, and the capitals are 15 in. deep with volutes at the angles and a face below. The porch is 8 ft. 6 in. square internally and of late date with a very low plain outer arch, above which is a wooden sundial dated 1779 with the motto, 'Memento mori,' and the names of the churchwardens. It was renovated in 1881.
The tower is of three stages with embattled parapet and angle pinnacles, and has a projecting vice in the south-east corner stopping at the second stage. There are diagonal buttresses of three stages at the north-eastern and western angles finishing below the belfry, the windows of which are pointed. The mullions have been cut away and the openings filled with wooden louvres. The pointed west window is of three cinquefoiled lights, and there is a modern single light with trefoiled head in the middle stage above. The two lower stages north and south are blank. The tower arch is of two chamfered orders dying into the wall at the springing. The opening is the full width of the tower. The vice is entered from a doorway in the south-west corner of the nave.
The font is of late 12th or early 13th-century date and consists of a plain circular stone bowl moulded on the edge, on a moulded stem and base. It stands below the tower and has a 17th-century oak pyramidal crocketed cover.
The woodwork and fittings are chiefly of Cosin's time, but the pulpit, altar rails, and pewing in the chapel are about a century later. The chancel screen has five openings, and is of mixed Gothic and Renaissance detail. The lower panels and the heads of the openings are of late Gothic type, the cornice, turned balusters and carved posts being of Renaissance character. The work, if not equal to that of the same date in other parts of the county, is interesting, and the same characteristics are prevalent in the stall work and wainscot of the chancel. The sanctuary walls are panelled to a height of 6 ft. 9 in., and there are four stalls on each side to the west of the priest's doorway with canopies and cornice supported by turned balusters, and two others on each return against the screen. In the wainscot the Gothic feeling predominates as at Brancepeth and Sedgefield, but in the stalls the detail is chiefly Renaissance in character. The fronts of the seats have semicircular-headed panels, and the bench ends have poppy heads and swags of fruit and flowers. The nave is filled with good 17th-century oak pewing with open backs and doors filled with short turned balusters, and with turned knobs to the pew ends. The pulpit, which stands in the north-east corner of the nave, is of plain but good 18th-century design and has a canopy.
In the porch, in addition to the fragments and the effigy already mentioned, are a mediaeval grave slab with raised cross, and the upper part of a stone crucifix. Copies of Jewell's Apology and the Works of Charles I are preserved in the chapel.
There is a ring of eight tubular bells hung in 1897, but two old bells still hang in the tower. The oldest is of mediaeval date, probably about 1400, and bears the inscription, 'Sancta Maria Ora Pro Nobis,' some of the letters being reversed. The other is dated 1665 on the waist, but has no inscription.
The plate consists of a 17th-century chalice (c. 1664) made by John Wilkinson of Newcastle; a paten made by William Ramsey of Newcastle, inscribed 'Dec. 6th 1687'; and a set of two chalices, two patens, a flagon and an almsdish provided under the will of Robert Henry Allan of Blackwell Hall, Darlington, in 1889. There is also a modern flagon of Britannia metal, Sheffield make. A chalice, paten and flagon of 1863, given by Mrs. Maltby, wife of the rector, are now in use at the church at Haverton Hill.
'Parishes: Egglescliffe', A History of the County of Durham: Volume 3 (1928), pp. 222-232.
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication
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