St George's Church, Middleton St George
The old church of St George (NZ 366117) now stands virtually alone amongst fields, close to the south-west end of the runway of Teesside International Airport, c 2 km to the east of the present village of Middleton One Row. The church consists of an almost square nave, extended to the north in the late 18th or early 19th century, with a south porch, and a chancel with north vestry.
The site is an ancient one, but no portion of the existing structure is older than the latter half of the 13th century. The only parts of this date now standing are the chancel arch and the south and west walls of the nave. Towards the end of the 18th century, when the spa was established, the nave was widened by pushing out the north wall, the chancel was rebuilt, and nearly all the original architectural features of the building destroyed. New roofs were erected covered with blue slates and with flat plaster ceilings inside, the old mullioned windows were destroyed, the tops of the openings renewed in brick, and wooden frames inserted. The vestry was built at the same time. In 1888 the tower was added by Henry A. W. Cocks, patron and lord of the manor, in place of a former west bellcote, and in the same year the building was repointed, the flat ceilings removed, open benches inserted in place of the old pews, new wooden windows put in and a general restoration effected.
The chancel has a window of three lights at the east end and one on the south side. There is also a priest's doorway, the square head of which is old, probably belonging to a former and narrower doorway in the same position. The chancel arch is of two orders, the outer plastered and of square section and the inner one chamfered, springing on either side from semi-octagonal corbels supported by human heads, a man's on the north side, and a woman's with protruding tongue on the south.
The nave is lighted by two windows on the north and one on the south side. The latter has an original square head, but the opening is filled with a modern wooden frame. All the other windows in the building have pointed brick heads and wooden frames of three pointed lights. The porch has a plain coped gable and semicircular brick arch, but the original jamb stones remain below the springing. The inner doorway has a square head and there is a seat on either side.
The tower, of a nondescript Gothic character, detracts in no small measure from the appearance of the building. It was built up against the west gable, but is now leaving the building and leaning westward. It contains an old bell without inscription.
The font is ancient and consists of a circular tublike sandstone bowl on a stepped base and high octagonal plinth. The bowl may be of late 12th-century date. The pulpit is modern.
The plate consists of a small chalice and paten of 1868; a flagon of 1829 given in 1836 by the Rev. William Addison Fountain, rector; and a set of two chalices, two patens, a flagon and an almsdish of 1888, presented in 1889 under the will of Robert Henry Allan of Blackwall Hall, Darlington.
The registers of marriages and burials begin in 1616; that of baptisms in 1652. They have been printed down to 1812.
'Parishes: Middleton St. George', in A History of the County of Durham: Volume 3, ed. William Page (London, 1928), pp. 293-299
The Cache
You will need to find a Commonwealth War Graves memorial to Pte. H. P. LAMBERT at the rear of the church (the original co-ordinates) and determine the following:-
Pte. LAMBERT died AB August 191C, aged DE
His service number was FGHJ
The actual cache is at:-
54 29.(C+D)(F+G)(G-H), -1 26.(A+J)(B)(E+J)
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