St Hilda's Church, South Shields is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

parish church in

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

, England. It is part of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

History

The church, the parish church of South Shields is said to be on the site of a chapel founded by St Aidan circa AD 647 and placed in charge of St Hilda. Some restoration work was carried out in 1675 by

Robert Trollope Robert Trollope was a 17th-century English architect, born in Yorkshire, who worked mainly in Northumberland and Durham. His work includes: * Eshott Hall, about 1660 * Capheaton Hall, 1667-8 * Cliffords Fort, North Shields, 1672 * Callaly Castl ...

. In 1753 a north aisle was added to the church. It was then mostly rebuilt between 1810 and 1881 and the interior galleries are supported on cast iron columns. The rebuilding of the church incorporated the font of 1675 by Robert Trollop, and a Gilt chandelier dating from 1802. The church is most famous for the model of a lifeboat by

William Wouldhave William Wouldhave (1751–1821) is a rival of Lionel Lukin for recognition as inventor of the lifeboat. His tombstone (erected thirteen years before Lukin’s) describes him as: ::::::‘''Inventor of that invaluable blessing to mankind the Lifeb ...

dating from 1802 which is suspended from the ceiling.

Organ

In 1788 Donaldson of York built an organ for the west gallery, which was rebuilt by J W Walker in 1850. The current organ is a fine instrument by Thomas Christopher Lewis, built in 1866. It was his first major build outside of London and includes a fine case designed by J F Bentley which measures 26 ft high, 13 ft wide and 18 ft in breadth. It was rebuilt and enlarged by five stops in 1904 by Nicholson & Lord. A full restoration was carried out in 2003/2004 by Harrison & Harrison. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

Ernest Farrar Ernest Bristow Farrar (7 July 1885 – 18 September 1918) was an English composer, pianist and organist. Life Ernest Farrar was born in Lewisham, London, but moved in 1887 to Micklefield in Yorkshire, where his father was a clergyman. The rest ...

held the position of organist from March 1910 to August 1912. A stone dated 1710 in the grounds of St. Hilda church

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:South Shields Church of England church buildings in Tyne and Wear Grade II listed churches in Tyne and Wear Buildings and structures in South Shields