The newly enthroned Bishop of Durham, John Cosin, wrote of the scene that had greeted him in the middle of the River Tees at High Wath, Neasham, when he entered his bishopric for the first time from the south.
More than 1,000 people, many on horseback, stood in the river waiting to present him with the Conyers falchion – the enormous sword that Sir John Conyers once used to slay the Sockburn Worm, or dragon.
The bishop wrote:
The confluence and alacritie of the gentry, clergy, and other people, was very great, and at my first entrance through the river of Tease, there was scarce any water to be seene for the multitude of horse and men that filled it, when the sword that killed the dragone was delivered to me with all the formality of trumpets, and gunshots, and acclamations that might be made.
Sir John had required the strength of the Holy Spirit to wield the falchion against the ‘fiery flying serpent’ that had terrorised people in Saxon times, and so the sword represents the strength of the faith of the people of Durham. For centuries, it has been presented to the new bishop when he crosses into Durham, although since High Wath closed in 1790, the ceremony has been performed on Croft Bridge – most recently in 2014.
(Longstaffe, and Lloyd: Rockliffe)