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The District Badge

During the 1967 celebrations of Darlington Town’s centenary as a County Borough, the Council discontinued the use of the old unregistered Coat of Arms, designed and registered a new one at the cost of some £400, to which was added a Royal Lion en Rampant, granted for use by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. To balance this Royal Lion in the design and to add to the heraldic effect, the Council adopted the design of the slain Sockburn Werme because of it’s close association to Darlington. The Ancient Hall at Sockburn, where by long descent Conyers was Lord there, is little to be seen and the old churchyard and Church, where the Lords knelt in life and slept in death, is now in ruins. The later built Conyers Chapel retains a few of the Conyers monuments, including the effigy of a Knight in chain armour with his right hand on his sword, these possibly preventing the extinction of the Conyers memory at Sockburn for not one acre of land in the County is held by one of that name.

The Legend

A legend still lingers of this place, and a doughty Knight, Sir John Conyers Kt., which in the words of an old writer is as follows:-

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“Sir John Conyers Kt. Slew that monstrous and poisonous vermin, Wyvern, Aske or Werme, which had slain and devoured many people in fight, for the scent of it’s poison was so strong, that no person might abide by it. And by the providence of the Almighty God, the said Sir John Conyers Kt. overthrew the said monster and slew it. Before he made this enterprize, having but one sonne, went to Church at Sockburn in complete armour and offered up his only son to the Holy Ghost. The place where the monster was slain is named Greystone. And this Sir John Conyers lyeth buried in Sockburn Church in complete armour of the time before the Conquest.”

The condition of tenure, as laid down at that time on Sockburn Manor contained the following:- When a new Bishop of Durham comes into his Diocese, the Lord of Sockburn shall met him in the middle of the River Tees at Neasham Ford if the state of the river allows, or if not, on the Croft Bridge and shall address him in these words:-

“My Lord Bishop, I here present you with the Falchion (sword) wherewith the Champion Conyers slew the Werme, Dragon or Fiery Serpent that destroyed man, woman and child, in the memory of which, the King then reigning gave him the Manor of Sockburn, to hold by tenure, and that upon the first entry of every Bishop, of and into this County, this Falchion should be presented to him.”

The Bishop takes the Falchion into his hands, returns it and says his wishes and blessings to the Lord of Sockburn on his health and the long enjoyment of the Manor.

There is a 19th century poem which tells the story of the Sockburn Worm.

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