This slightly non descriptive bush on Station Bank, near the old Choppington Station, was once the site of a quaint little chapel of the Unitarian persuasion. Unitarians in a nutshell were a pretty dissenting peripheral denomination which went against the grain on the Holy Trinity. They were pretty liberal and rational in their understanding of god, with quite free-flowing principles and more of a focus on duty for their community. Perhaps for this reason, it blossomed in mining communities and those with quite egalitarian values.

Unitarians had a strong presence here, and originally worshipped open air just behind the site of the future chapel against the Willow Burn. This went on for a decade or so until the opening of this chapel in 1868.

It was built with local brick with stone dressings in the Early English style. The interior was “neatly decorated” and facilitated worship for 300 people at once, though I suspect this was a bit of a squeeze. It cost £600, with all of it raised by subscription of the congregation. It was also used as a day school for up to 400 children.

If there’s any Aussies reading this, you might recognise a man named Thomas Glassey. He was an Irish pitman who migrated to work at the Choppington pit, and worshipped here. He migrated to New Zealand, then Australia, in 1885 and became a founding member of the Australian Labor Party. He had been in Bedlingtonshire for 16 years, and was a major proponent of the male franchise in the area. He actively supported and befriended Thomas Burt of Backworth, who was England’s first working class MP. Burt actually attended Glassey’s leaving party and made a speech in this very chapel.

I'm really struck by such progressive and self-deconstructing discussions were held in the chapel. A report from 1933 highlights a talk around what use religion had in modern society, identifying youth with a "passionate idealism and a desire to usher in a new social order, anxious to discover means by which they may rectify the terrible condition of the world today". It has as much resonance then as it has today!

I also find out that the first female minister was inducted here in 1932. She was called Rev Lillian Preston, and was also assistant to Herbert Barnes in the Newcastle Unitarian church after gaining a certificate of theology at the University of Manchester.

It was designed by Mr William Clephan who actually passed before completion. If you’re from Stockton, you’ll recognise his surname name emblazoned on the North End Steam Building Works as he was a man of many talents as he was also a mechanical joiner.

This building remained in place right though to 1981, when it was sadly demolished. Sad really, given its prominent role in working class politics.