towns and cultivated fields, remained barren and desolate until about 1140."

The family name first mentioned in connection with this place is Escolland, who held the Tower soon after the Conquest; the head of this family eventually assumed the local name of Dalden. Helias d'Escolland, Lord of Dalden, and Galfrid, his son and heir, are mentioned in connection with the fixing of the boundaries between the possessions of the Church and Lords of Dalden and Seaham, in 1155. In a copy of a list, found in Lord Conyers' study, of Knights dwelling in the Bishopric of Durham who fought at the Battle of Lewes, occurs the name of Sir Jorden Daldem of Daldem, (? Dalden).

Through the marriage of Aline, widow of William de Dalden, to Robert Coigniers, the estate passed to the Conyers family about 1371; and again by the marriage of Matilda, daughter and sole heiress of Robert de Dalden, to Sir William Bowes, Knight, it passed to the family of Bowes, about 1375; and for two centuries became the favourite seat of the Bowes' of Streatlam.

Upon the marriage of Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir George Bowes, Baronet (who died 1557), to John Blakiston, and of Dorothy to Sir Cuthbert Collingwood, the estate was divided and became the seat of the latter who resided here in the reign of Elizabeth. In 1618, George Collingwood, Esquire, repurchased the moiety from his brother, who had bought it from Thomas Blakiston, Bart., in 1615. In 1678, George Collingwood sold the Manor to Sir Mark Milbanke, Bart.

According to tradition, the first person mentioned in the Milbanke pedigree, was cup-bearer to Mary, Queen of Scots, who, in consequence of fighting a duel, was obliged to fly to England for safety, where he purchased an estate at Chirton, near North Shields. His great-grandson, Mark, was Mayor of Newcastle in 1658 and 1672, and married one of the wealthy daughters and co-heiresses of Ralph Cook. His eldest son, Mark Milbanke, who purchased the Dalden and Seaham estates from George Collingwood in 1678, as before mentioned, was

nominated for a Knight of the Royal Oak on the Restoration, and created a Baronet, August 7th, 1661; he died in 1680. The estate was inherited by his son, the second Sir Mark, and by descent ultimately became the property of Sir Ralph Milbanke, Bart., whose only child, Anne Isabella, became Lady Byron. He resided at Seaham Hall as the Tower had fallen into disuse. Lord Byron was married in the drawing room of the Hall, on 2nd January, 1815.

The estate was sold by auction in 1821, when Sir Ralph Milbanke removed from the neighbourhood upon inheriting the Wentworth estates, and assumed the surname of Noel, the purchaser being Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquis of Londonderry, husband to Lady Frances Anne Vane, and grandfather to the present Lord Londonderry, by whom it is still owned.

The village of Dalton-le-Dale with the Church of St. Andrew's is situated about half a mile further up the vale towards the west. At the east end of the village is the old coach road, now disused, running north and south between Sunderland and Stockton. Previous to 1789, the stream was crossed by a ford, the road making three very sharp curves; a bridge now carries the road over the stream and is dated 1789, on a stone under the archway. This road is mentioned in the catalogue of the sale of the Seaham estate in 1821, thus:-"The Mail and other coaches pass the lodge gates daily."

The Church, dedicated to St. Andrew, stands at the west end of the village, and is an ancient structure dating back to the 11th century, being of late Norman origin and having examples of Norman, early English, and decorated architecture. The roof was formerly of lead, but this has been removed and one of slate substituted.

As before mentioned, the boundaries between the possessions of the Church and those of the Lords of Dalden and Seaham were fixed in 1155. Bishop Richard de Marisco afterwards gave the Church to the Convent at Durham; after the Dissolution the lands were restored to the Cathedral, and up to within a short

while ago the whole of the township was held by lease under the Dean and Chapter.

The most ancient part of the Church is the north wall on the outside of which is an arch of a doorway, now built up, decorated with chevron moulding of the Norman period, the plain semicircular arch of the chancel was of Norman date, but has been replastered. To the west of the south porch on the outside is a stone built into the wall, supposed to be part of a Saxon headstone; the present porch is of late decorated construction, about 1450.

On the north wall of the interior are raised numbers of VII., VIII., IX., X., XI., XII., and I., used as a sundial, the shadow being cast by the light from one of the south windows; this is said to be one of only two examples now existing in the Kingdom. On the south wall is a stone with initials quartered, supposed to have been those of the Churchwardens of that year :

Under an arch in the north wall of the chancel is an altar Tomb with a figure of a Knight in full armour, worked with the Arms of the Bowes; his feet rest against a Lion Couchant. It is generally supposed to be the Tomb of a Sir Robert de Dalden," but there is no inscription upon it. The effigy was taken down and restored adout 1828, when it was found to be carefully jointed; in the Tomb below were found only a jawbone and a few teeth. At this time the Church was repaired while the Rev. William Smoult Temple, son of Simon Temple, of Hylton Castle, was Vicar. At the foot of this effigy is a monument covered with a black marble slab and one in front, but no inscription is visible;

* Other names mentioned in connection with this Tomb are Richard and William.