An expert look at the history of Seaham’s churches

From an article in the Sunderland Echo, come this review of Fred Cooper's book, A History of the Churches at Seaham:

..... begins in Saxon and Norman times when the area we know as Seaham was served by the two churches of St Mary’s and St Andrews in the two parishes of (Old) Seaham and Dalton-Le-Dale.

Fred added: “In medieval times, churches were often built by the manorial lord who were the patrons of the church and were the possessors of the advowson i.e. the right to appoint the Rector.”