Escomb

Escomb Church was built in the 7th or 8th century AD[3] when the area was part of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria, and has been called "England's earliest complete church".[4] The building includes long-and-short quoins[3] characteristic of Anglo-Saxon architecture, and re-used Roman masonry from Binchester Roman Fort.[5]

Until the 19th century Escomb was a dependent chapelry of Bishop Auckland.[6] In 1848 a vicarage was built at the top of the hill and Rev. Henry Atkinson became Escomb's first resident vicar for centuries.[7]

The Anglo-Saxon church seated only 65 people, and in the 19th century Escomb's population outgrew it. In 1863 a new parish church, St John's, was completed next to the vicarage.[5]

Thereafter the old church repeatedly fell into disrepair. It was restored in 1875–80 by RJ Johnson, again in 1927, and again in 1965 by Sir Albert Richardson.[7]

In the 20th century church attendance declined and became too small for St John's. In 1969 the Anglo-Saxon church reverted to being the parish church, and in 1971 St John's was demolished.[7]

The George Pit coal mine was sunk in 1837, and an ironworks was opened at Witton Park in 1846.[7]

In 1843 the Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway was opened between Shildon Junction and Crook to take coal from the area.[8] It passes Escomb but its nearest stop was Etherley railway station, which had been opened by 1847.[8] The line was worked initially by the Stockton and Darlington Railway,[8] through which it became part of the North Eastern Railway in 1863.

WC Stobart & Co's Etherley Colliery was Escomb's major employer from the middle of the 19th century until the seams of its pits became exhausted in the 1920s.[9] The 1851 Census recorded 1,293 inhabitants of Escomb, most of whom worked at the pit.[10]

British Rail closed the Bishop Auckland and Weardale line to passenger traffic in 1965 and to freight traffic in 1993.[8] The Weardale Railway reopened the section past Escomb and through Etherley shortly thereafter.

On 1 April 1937 the parish was abolished and merged with Bishop Auckland and West Auckland, part also went to form Crook and Willington.[11] In 1931 the parish had a population of 3248.[12]

• Escomb Bridge
• Northman of Escomb, involved in the transfer of Escomb to St Cuthbert's of Lindisfarne (later Durham Cathedral) in the 10th century
• Combe

Escomb has a public house, the Saxon Inn, that was built in the 17th century.[13]

The village has a primary school.[14]

• Blair, Peter Hunter (1977) [1956]. An Introduction to Anglo-Saxon England (Second ed.). Cambridge & London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 157–158. ISBN 0-521-29219-0.
• Jenkins, Simon (1999). England's Thousand Best Churches. London: Penguin Books. pp. 170–172. ISBN 978-0-14-103930-5.
• Lewis, Samuel, ed. (1931) [1848]. A Topographical Dictionary of England (Seventh ed.). London: Samuel Lewis. pp. 181–186.

Media related to Escomb at Wikimedia Commons