Mainprise Tomb Circa 10 Metres South West of Church of St James is a Grade II listed building in the County Durham local planning authority area, England. First listed on 26 November 1987. Tombstone.
Mainprise Tomb Circa 10 Metres South West of Church of St James
- WRENN ID
- twelfth-wicket-willow
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- County Durham
- Constituency
- Bishop Auckland MP: Dr Sam Rushworth (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 26 November 1987
- Type
- Tombstone
- OS grid reference
- NZ 127 308
- Coordinates
- 54.67286, -1.80441
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Mainprise tomb, located approximately 10 meters south-west of the Church of St. James, dates from around 1785 and commemorates John Mainprise of South-side and members of his family until 1820. This headstone is made of sandstone ashlar and stands about 1.4 meters high, featuring a shaped top. The top panel has a pecked finish with low-relief paired skulls beneath a winged head and crown, accompanied by the motto "ITA VITA." Acanthus and palm leaves adorn the sides, which also display incised scrolled wing heads flanking a Greek inscription. The long, well-cut inscription begins with "What lies buried & neglected/beneath your feet contiguous to this Stone/was formerly JOHN MAINPRISE." The rear of the tomb features an inscription in Hebrew and a verse that reads, "Consider Man weigh well they Frame/The King the Beggar are the Same/Dust form'd us all, each breathes his Day, Then sinks into his native Clay." There is also an eroded line of Greek below, along with inscriptions for other family members.
Local climate
Mainprise Tomb Circa 10 Metres South West of Church of St James receives an average of 880 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 64% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 88% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 48 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 90% of listed buildings. Of these, 29 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
- 1 Group of Headstones and Chest Tomb 2m South of Chancel of Church of Saint Manacca
- 2 Group of 5 Chest Tombs Between Approximately 10 and 15 Metres to South of Nave and Chancel of Church of St James
- 3 Unidentified Tomb in Churchyard of Church of St John, Circa 1 Metre South West of Churchyard Cross
- 4 Leighton family tomb
- 5 Keeper Monument, in the Churchyard and 22 Metres South of the Tower of Church of St James the Less
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