Of quaint sepulchral inscriptions there are many in the county. The one in Monkwearmouth Church to the memory of a Mrs. Lee is on a small marble tablet on the vestry wall. It reads: HEERE VNDER LYETH Yᴱ BODDYE OF MARY LEE DAVGHTER TO PETER DELAVALE LATE OF TINMOVTH GENT SHEE DIED IN CHYLDBED YE 23 OF MAY 1617 HAPIE IS Yᵀ SOVLE Yᵀ HEERE ON EARTH DID LIVE A HARMLESS LYFE & HAPPIE MAYD Yᵀ MADE SOE CHAST AN HONNEST WIFE. It is strange that a lawyer "of ability and integrity" should not be able to make himself a sound will. In Greatham Chapel there is an inscription: "In memory of Ralph Bradley, Esq. an eminent Councillor at Law, born in this parish, who bequeathed a large fortune, acquired in a great measure by his abilities and integrity, to the purchasing of books calculated to promote the interests of virtue and religion, and the happiness of mankind. He died the 28th day of December 1788, in the 72d year of his age...." Below, on a copper plate, is: "By a decree of Edward Lord Thurlow, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, on the 2ᵈ day of August 1791, the charitable intention mentioned above was set aside in favour of the next of kin." In Stockton Church we may read that on "Wednesday the 19th of May 1773 was here interred the body of Mrs. Sarah Baker ... aged 59. Do thou reflect in time; death itself is nothing, but prepare to be you know not what, to go you know not where." At Houghton-le-Spring stands the massy altar-tomb of the great Bernard Gilpin, "the apostle of the North," that sweet-natured, fearless, and humble-minded man who so narrowly escaped a martyr’s death at the stake. The tomb bears his coat of arms and the following: BERNERD OBIT QVA GILPIN RE [A bear with a crescent on its side, RTV DIE M CTOR HV leaning against a tree.] ARTII AN. IVS ECCLIÆ DOM. 1583. See here his Dust shut up whose Generous mind No stop before in Honours path could find. Truth Faith and Justice, and a Loyall Heart In him Showd Nature, which in most is Art. In the same church of Houghton-le-Spring there is the following epitaph: "Here Lyes interr’d the Body of Nicolas Conyers Esqʳ. High Sheriff of this County Chiefe of yᵉ Family of Conyers of the House of Boulby in Yorkshire. He dyed at South Biddick Mar: 27 A.D. 1689 his age 57." Below is his crest. At Houghton Hall Robert Hutton, a zealous Puritan and a Captain in Cromwell’s army, was buried in his own orchard, where his altar-tomb is inscribed: "HIC JACET ROBERTVS HVTTON ARMIGER QVI OBIIT AVG. DIE NONO 1681 ET MORIENDO VIVIT." In the Galilee Chapel at the west end of Durham Cathedral there is a stone on the floor inscribed: