St. Nicholas Church, Tomb of Nicholas Wood

This tomb was listed Grade II in 1985 with the following description:
'Tomb, c.1855. Sandstone, Gothic style altar tomb. 3 cusped-arched panels by one, flanked by coped buttresses supporting frieze, with simple flower decoration, and cornice. Inscriptions 'SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF MARIA FOSTER, WIFE OF NICHOLAS WOOD ESQ. OF HETTON-LE-HOLE WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE JANUARY 24, 1855 AGED 56 YEARS' 'ALSO OF THE ABOVE NICHOLAS WOOD F.R.S. WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE DECEMBER 1865 AGED 70 YEARS'. Historical note : Nicholas Wood was engineer to the Hetton Coal Company, at whose Minor Pit in 1820 was sunk the first shaft to reach the coal beneath the limestone of Durham. With George Stephenson he designed the Hetton railway, opened in 1822, to transport the coal to the Wear; in 1825 his A Practical Treatise on Rail-Roads and Interior Communications in General was published.'
Friend and mentor of George Stephenson, Nicholas Wood was involved in the development of the locomotive and some early colliery railways. He was engineer to the Hetton Coal Company, designing the Hetton railway of 1822 with Stephenson. He was involved in the construction of the Brandling Junction Railway. He died in 1865 aged 70 {1}. LISTED GRADE 2