Church of St Hilda

Completed in 1892. Stella Coal Company donated £500 towards it, members of the Simpson family, John Simpson of Hedgefield House being one of the directors of Addison Colliery, also donated smaller amounts. Stella Coal Company donated £100 towards the organ. Significant as it one of the only surviving buildings related to Addison Colliery Village {1}.
Building recording was undertaken in 2008 by North Pennines Archaeology to produce an archive record of this listed church before the interior fittings were removed to change the building into a children’s play centre. The church is built in Arts and Crafts style and includes mock battlements, arrow slits and Gothic windows. The roof was originally tiled, but was re-covered with slates in 1920.
Inside, the chancel was originally painted in vivid reds and greens. Some of the original paintwork is visible on the coving. Illustrative canvases on the chancel ceiling, completed in 1896 at a cost of £150, showing representations of Ven Bede, St Cuthbert, St Helen, St Hilda, St Aidan and Poet Caedmon, were removed in the 1950s due to their poor state of repair, but their design can still be seen as a ‘ghost pattern’. Another features of interest is a memorial to Dr Thomas Randell, rector of Ryton 1910-15. He presented two engravings which hang at the west end of the church – ‘The Resurrection’ and ‘Return From Cavalry’. The Litany Desk, which has already been removed, was presented by the women of Addison Colliery in 1903. The octagonal stone font with wooden cover and altar frontal was provided by the Mothers’ meetings of Stargate and Addison. The carved oak altar was made by Miss Tate of Stella in 1892. It is decorated with shields and fleur-de-lys and displays the date 1892. The organ, which was been moved to St. Joseph’s in Chorley, Lancashire in 2006 was by Harrison and Harrison and dated to 1903.
The church was listed Grade II in 1985 with the following description:
'Parish Church. 1889-92 by Oliver and Leeson. Snecked yellow sandstone and irregular sections of red sandstone; plinth and ashlar dressings; Welsh slate roof with flat stone gable copings. West tower, 4-bay nave with south aisle, 2-bay chancel with north vestry and stair tower to undercroft built into hill. Arts and Crafts Gothic style. Wide west tower has pointed- arched, boarded double door in ornamental square surround;3-light mullioned and transomed traceried window above; traceried paired belfry openings and battlemented parapet; angle and diagonal buttresses. 2-light windows to nave, 3-light to chancel; 5-light east window. 5-sided stair tower to vestry has 3 cusped lancets in each plane under traceried band and battlemented parapet. Interior: plaster above sill level wainscoting; rear arches to windows; double-chamfered, pointed 5-bay arcade to nave and tower. Wagon roof to nave, Tudor bosses to square-panelled chancel roof.' {2}. LISTED GRADE 2