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Jesmond, Newcastle

Jesmond Parish Church

Last Updated:

25 Oct 2024

Jesmond, Newcastle

This is a

Church, Place of Worship

54.982309, -1.606554

Founded in 

1861

Current status is

Extant

Designer (if known):

John Dobson

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Listed Grade II

This is Jesmond Parish Church, or should I say the Clayton Memorial Church. It was built in tribute to that man Richard, who was the Master of the Mary Magdalene Hospital which stood behind St Thomas the Martyr, which he was also Chaplain of.

The church came about as home for the towns most evangelical congregation. Clayton’s faithful devotion, piety and oratory skills led to him gathering a significant following, which grew resentful of not having their own space. It sounds like Clayton could have become another Wesley!

The church was designed by John Dobson (though superintended by his pupil David Birkett) and opened in 1861 - one of his very last constructions as he died 4 years later. It was consecrated by the Bishop of Durham after 2 years of construction. This “geometric gothic” church covers 110ft side to side, and 154ft top to bottom.

It has a capacity for 1340 worshippers and from opening had its own hot water pipes - rare for those days but gives credence to the amount of subscriptions it raised. The site and the building cost £6700 - about £440,000 today.

The vestry was added in 1874 through public subscription to once again commemorate Clayton.

Listing Description (if available)

NZ 26 NE NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE ESLINGTON ROAD (south side, off) 9/234 17/12/71 Jesmond Parish Church and choir vestry attached. G.V. II Parish church. 1857-61 by John Dobson; vestry 1874; paid for by public subscription to commemorate Rev. R. Clayton, a leading Evangelical. Gothic style. Coursed squared sandstone with ashlar plinth and dressings; roofs of Welsh slate. Aisled nave with galleries; chancel; south porches, one in east tower; west baptistry. Western porch has boarded double door in splayed reveals to moulded arch. Lozenge with tracery above under steeply-pitched gable with overlapping coping and cross finial. Eastern porch has diagonally-boarded double door in moulded and shafted opening. Both doors have head-stopped drip mould. 4-stage tower has door between buttresses; and niche flanked by windows in triple arcade above; clock in third stage; tall paired 2-light belfry openings above. Corbel table to pierced parapet with open- arched corner turrets. Aisles have 2-light windows, square-headed below and Decorated to galleries, in gabled bays defined by buttresses with gargoyles. Large 5-light east window with Decorated tracery. 2-light square-headed baptistry windows under head-stopped drip moulds; roll-moulded parapet coping. Interior: painted ashlar and plaster above boarded dado with Gothic pierced frieze; Gothic-panelled galleries; arch-braced collar-beam roof. 4 bays to nave and 2 to chancel, with an extra north bay, have octagonal piers with flower capitals and slightly-pointed single-chamfered arches; similar carving to shafts of roof trusses alternating with corbels. Chancel panelling memorial to Charles Dixon, D.L.I., died 1917, with high-relief reredos of Last Supper. Painted Gothic arcading flanking window has pictures of saints, reaching to roof. Memorial panel to Rev. Richard Clayton over vestry door. Square shafted font with wood cover; baptistry and gallery fronts 1907 memorial recorded on panel with enamel roundel, to members of Lang family. Glass by Atkinson Bros., Newcastle in south baptistry and in north aisle; east window of north aisle has window by J.B. Capronnier, Brussels, 1886. Bronze memorial plaque in north aisle by F. Clubb and Son, Hampstead, to R. G. Hoare, died 1899. Perpendicular-style link to 3-sided apse of attached 2-bay choir vestry with 2-light windows, corner shafts, gargoyles on eaves string; high hipped roof.

Both these Ordnance Survey maps illustrate the bottom of Jesmond from the mid to late 19th century, and the contrast is quite staggering.

The church managed to nip its way onto the first, having literally just been built. It was bought on a plot of remaining farmland, which is easily illustrated with the field boundaries. Before the Royal Grammar School was built, it was fields against a Corporation Manure Depot and pinfold where livestock would be caught and rounded up. The fields were probably owned by Friday Farm just up the road. Terraces on Sandyford Lane and Jesmond Road were just popping up and Brandling Village was well establish, but the genteel Jesmond suburbia was yet to take full hold.

The tale changes by the end of the 19th century. Large townhouses and the Royal Grammar School have enveloped the church. Windsor Crescent, now composed of 3 single properties due to the Central Motorway, stood on its left. Carlton Village was demolished from around 2016, and Briarwood/Eslington House have made way for the Metro station. Jesmond Station is still in situ, though now a restaurant.

This is Edwardian Newcastle fully realised, with large townhouses built to accommodate the growing middle classes of this might industrial city. Most will recognise much of this landscape except the Central Motorway splitting the town in two, but plenty of features still exist like the Sandyford Stone Brewery and Church of Scotland on Sandyford Road. Portland Park has vastly shrunk - previously a general recreation ground with multiple bowling greens, tennis courts and quoits grounds but now a single bowling green after the bus depot was constructed.

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Jesmond Parish Church in September 2024

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The church in 1937. It looks like there’s been some decent renovation and extension works since. Source: Newcastle Libraries

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A Torday shot of the church during Metro construction. Source: Newcastle Libraries

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