'The [medieval] church of St Nicholas, Auburn, was taken down about 1590 because it stood very near the sea and was rebuilt inland on Auburn Common'. This church in turn became unfit for public use and it was demolished in 1731. The location of the still visible mound and wall foundations is indicated by the provided grid reference. The site of the medieval church is lost to the sea (VCHER II, 207).
'Auburn, or Aborn, was formerly a chapelry in the parish of Fraisthorpe but the village has been reduced, by the enroachments of the German ocean, to one farm, of about 200 acres of land, and a cottage... on the 25th of September, 1731, a faculty was granted to take down the Chapel of Auburn, when it was likely to share the fate of the rest of the village.' The curacy of Auburn was annexed to that of Fraisthorpe. (Sheahan and Whellan 1856, II, 463).
