Pilgrim Street, Church of All Saints

Pilgrim Street, Church of All Saints

HER Number
8947
District
Newcastle
Site Name
Pilgrim Street, Church of All Saints
Place
Newcastle
Map Sheet
NZ26SE
Class
Religious Ritual and Funerary
Site Type: Broad
Place of Worship
Site Type: Specific
Parish Church
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Hanoverian 1714 to 1837
Form of Evidence
Extant Building
Description
Parish church; now urban studies centre and concert hall. 1786-96 by David
Stephenson replacing medieval church. Sandstone ashlar; Welsh slate roof. Oval
plan, with apses on short axis west-east; south chapel and vestry flank portico
and tower. Classical style, with baroque tower. Greek Doric tetrastyle portico
has dentilled pediment; flanking windows have tripartite sashes in Ionic pilasters
under shallow lunettes with glazing bars; voussoirs continuous with chanelled
rustication. Rusticated plinth supports paired Ionic pilasters defining bays,
with top entablature. Returns have similar window treatment to 2-bay chapel and
vestry. Oval continues plinth and Ionic Order framing segmental-headed windows;
round-headed gallery windows have balustrades; top dentilled cornice continuous
with pediments of tower. 4-stage tower has segmental-headed windows under
dentilled pediments; tall arched panels above with louvred lunettes under dentilled
cornice; clock faces flanked by plinths of paired diagonal columns; tripartite
windows above. Set-back top stage has round balustrade and set-back open-arched
belfry with paired corner columns; top spire. Double door in portico and in west
apse. Both apses have blind panels, the upper balustraded and with swags. Fluted
impost strings. Low, flat-coped walls flank 3 flights of steps to portico.
Interior: painted plaster above panelled mahogany dado, moulded plaster ceiling
with much leaf and flower ornament; dentilled cornice. Panelled pews join fluted
Doric columns supporting balcony, all mahogany. Corinthian Order in east apse;
organ in west concealing exit. Vestibule under tower contains replica of medieval
font with heraldic shields; memorials on walls include marble plaque commemorating
David Stephenson, architect, died 1819, by Davies; low-relief obelisk on mount to
Edward Moses d.1813, son of the master of the Grammar School, by Davies with Greek
and Latin inscriptions; and to Joseph Garnett, died 1796, a bracketed marble slab
with book and drapery, by Craggs. Former vestry contains boards of Creed, Lord's
Prayer and Commandments from church. Source: T. Sopwith A Historical and
Descriptive Account of All Saints' Church in Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle 1826.
Tyne and Wear Museums Service The Tyneside Classical Tradition 1980. LISTED GRADE 1
Easting
425250
Northing
564020
Grid Reference
NZ425250564020
Sources
Department of National Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural and Historic Interest, 21/452 and 24/452; Brenda Whitelock, 1992, Timepieces of Newcastle, pp 13-14; Thomas Oliver, 1844, Historical and Descriptive Reference to the Public Buildings on the Plan of the Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead; T. Sopwith A Historical and
Descriptive Account of All Saints' Church in Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle 1826; Tyne and Wear Museums Service The Tyneside Classical Tradition 1980; Grace McCombie, 2009, Newcastle and Gateshead - Pevsner Architectural Guide, p. 14 and 129-30; N. Pevsner and I. Richmond (second edition revised by J. Grundy, G. McCombie, P. Ryder and H. Welfare) , 1992, The Buildings of England: Northumberland, p 425-426