Merrington St John

Parish Notes Durham

Merrington St John the Evangelist

[Population 1911: 2,909]

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The Church is dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, and shows many marks of antiquity. It stands at the east end of the village, and from the elevated position which it occupies, is one of the most conspicuous landmarks in the entire county; its steeple was one of the points of triangulation adopted during the ordnance survey in 1851. It is a cruciform structure, with a square tower, sixty feet in height, rising from the intersections of the nave and transepts. The venerable edifice underwent a thorough renovation in 1849, when the restorations were made, as nearly as possible, in a style of architecture similar to the original. The cost of the restoration, &c., amounted to upwards of £1,380. When Cumin usurped the see of Durham, his nephew seized this church, filled it with armed men, and began to fortify it with a ditch and vallum. In the churchyard is an altar-tomb in memory of John, Jane, and Elizabeth, the children of John Brass, who were murdered by their father's servant, Andrew Mills, who was executed for the crime, and afterwards hung in chains, A.D. 1683. The parish register commences in 1578. The living, a vicarage in the deanery of Darlington, is a peculiar, belonging to the dean and chapter of Durham, valued in the Liber Regis at £14 4s. 9d. The glebe consists of fifteen acres. Some years ago, the living was augmented by the dean and chapter with a portion of Merrington tithes, annual value £50; and in August, 1846, it was endowed by the ecclesiastical commissioners with the remainder of those tithes, anual value £88 18s. 6d. The gross income of the living, in 1835, was £221. Rev. John Tyson, vicar.

The Parsonage, which has a small garden attached, is situated west of the churchyard. [Whellan's History, Topography and Directory of Durham (and Newcastle) (1856), pages 310-11.]

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