THE main subject of this week's peer into the Echo's photo-library is Kirk Merrington, an hilltop ancient village between Bishop Auckland and Spennymoor.

It has been a religious centre since Saxon times, when there was a monastery here, and in the 12th Century it was said to be a fort in which a renegade Bishop of Durham, William Comyn, tried to hold out against the forces of the Pope.

The Northern Echo: LANDMARK CHURCH: It is said that Kirk Merrington church tower was used as a guide for the navvies constructing the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The line goes straight north from Whiley Hill, over the level crossing at Heighington Lane with the Locomot

LANDMARK CHURCH: It is said that Kirk Merrington church tower was used as a guide for the navvies constructing the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The line goes straight north from Whiley Hill, over the level crossing at Heighington Lane with the Locomotion No 1 pub beside it, and from a map, at least, it looks as if the square hilltop tower really could have been a marker - can it be true?

Plus, of course, Kirk Merrington is home of one of the county's most horrific murder stories – at Christmas 1683, Andrew Mills, driven by the devil's voice, killed three of the Brass children.

However. today we are more interested in the Witches Stone, the church as a navigational aid, and the name of pubs. If you can help us, or have anything else to add, please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk.