It is situated at the apex of a meander of the River Tees, to the south of Darlington, known locally as the Sockburn Peninsula.

Today, all that remains of the village is an early nineteenth-century mansion, a ruined church and a farmhouse built in the late eighteenth century.

The ancient parish included the townships of Sockburn in County Durham, and Girsby and Over Dinsdale, both on the opposite bank of the River Tees in the North Riding of Yorkshire.

In medieval times Sir John Conyers was said to have slain a dragon or "worm" that was terrorising the district.

The stone under which the Sockburn Worm was reputedly buried is (or at least until recently was) still visible, and the falchion with which it was said to have been slain is in Durham Cathedral Treasury.

This custom died out in the early nineteenth century, but was revived by David Edward Jenkins in 1984, the Mayor of Darlington doing the honours.

A new mansion, Sockburn Hall, was built around 1834 for Henry Collingwood Blackett and the church was closed and allowed to become dilapidated, presumably because the occupant wanted a fashionable picturesque ruin in his grounds.

In 1799, this was occupied by Tom Hutchinson, who is said to have once bred a seventeen-and-a-half stone sheep, and his sisters Mary and Sara.