Swalwell, Gateshead
Swalwell, Church of the Holy Trinity
Last Updated:
2 Sept 2024
Swalwell, Gateshead
This is a
Church, Place of Worship
54.953702, -1.685483
Founded in
Current status is
Extant
Designer (if known):
Messrs Hicks & Charlewood
Still in use for services
The Church of the Holy Trinity is the last remaining place of worship in Swalwell. We mentioned the assortment of chapels devoted to various denominations this past week which have all disappeared.
This one was consecrated in 1894 which is brand new in the world of churches and the reason it isn’t listed. It was first a Mission church, speaking the CofE’s version of the gospel to an area yet untouched. As such, it became a chapel of ease to Whickham.
Services were previously held at the now demolished Claxton Hall next door, which could only hold a maximum of 170. As a result, a new site was needed. The Rector of Whickham H B Carr financed the purchase of land to build it, and the cost of the structure itself was £1000 funded through bazaars and donations.
The new church could hold 300 people, and given the lost cost is austere in nature. The architects were Messrs Hicks & Charlewood. Hicks had already gained a reputation designing alterations at Newcastle Cathedral, and was commissioned for war memorials all over the country.
You may also notice one side of the church is strangely angular and rendered. When it was built, it adjoined a terrace of 4 properties which were demolished sometime in the past half century.
Listing Description (if available)
The Ordnance Surveys shown provide us an insight into Swalwell between the 1890s and 1910s. The first was just a decade after the terraces sweeped Swalwell, as they did in most areas on Tyneside. You'll notice some dramatic changes from the present quite quickly, for example the now demolished Crowley Works which was a core employer of the settlement. Swalwell Colliery was still operating in the north as well as Axwell Colliery in the south, and the more traditional 19th century cottages still dominated the centre of the town at Hexham Road.
These cottages started to dissipate by the 1940s, and the settlement spread east with semi detached properties and a Methodist Church. Some of the older cottages on Market Lane were being cleared by this date also. You'll notice the church is still adjoining the terrace of 4 properties, and also stood close by the village Wesleyan chapel.
Let's turn back time for the moment to 1862. Crowley was operating in its last couple of decades and Axwell Park Colliery was yet to be redeveloped in its known state though did still operate a drift in the area. Two parochial schools, probably operated by Methodists, were open in the village with a boys site and girls site near the Wesleyan chapel.
The railway was also yet to touch the fringe of the village, and as a result he nearest railway station was still at Derwenthaugh on the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway.
The Holy Trinity Church and its rendered side elevation in 2024
A second view of the Holy Trinity in Swalwell, 2024
One of the few photographs of the Holy Trinity adjoining the terrace. This was at the point Swalwell developed into a terrace-laden conurbation. Source: Historic England Archive (RAF photography) raf_58_b_35_v_5199 flown 16 May 1948