I READ Chris Lloyd’s article on the Open Treasure exhibition in Durham Cathedral (D&S, Jul 29) with great interest.

As well as Brompton’s superb hogback stones, he mentions the antiquities from the old church at Sockburn, which as far as I know are still stored in the Conyers chapel there.

Members of the history group I belong to were fortunate enough to be able to see these last year, but as the chapel is on private land, they are not normally accessible to the general public or displayed to their best advantage.

A previous owner built himself a mansion at Sockburn in about 1834. The church there was allowed to decay and later largely demolished, presumably because Henry Blackett and his wife wanted to look out on a fashionable Romantic ruin, rather than have the local hoi polloi traipsing across their land to worship. Perhaps Durham diocese was mollified when the Blacketts built the parishioners a new church at Girsby in 1838, but the ancient sculptures seem to have remained in their possession.

To his credit, a later Blackett, Sir Edward, had part of the ruined church rebuilt and re-roofed for their preservation and I believe the effigy of a knight reposed in the hall for a while.

Some of the Sockburn hogbacks are broken, possibly damaged when they were moved long ago, and three nationally important early Medieval stones were stolen from the site earlier this year.

A spokesperson for Durham diocese expressed concern at the time. I am not aware who is now the legal owner of these artefacts, or whether they are part of a scheduled monument, but surely they constitute an important part of our national heritage.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if at least some of them could be displayed in the exhibition at Durham Cathedral, where they would be secure and could be more widely appreciated?

Phoebe Newton, Northallerton