St Ninian’s church is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

place of worship situated on Burnhouse Road in the town of Wooler in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

, England. It is a Grade II

listed building 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 ...

and is within the Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.

History

Early Catholic mission

Post-Reformation Catholic worship in Wooler dates from 1792 when a Catholic mission was founded by Mrs Jane Silvertop in a chapel on the top floor of her house she had renamed St Ninian‘s. A priest lived within the house, which stands on present day Ryecroft Way. After the death of Mrs Silvertop it became the presbytery for the town of Wooler until 1850 when Bishop William Hogarth converted it into a Diocesan Mission Centre in one of his first acts as the newly installed Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. The mission was badly damaged by fire in 1856 and the building reverted to being the presbytery for the new church which was being built just a few yards to the west. The presbytery was used as a hospital store in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and was sold by the church in 1974 to become the Loreto Guest House, in May 1986 it was designated as a Grade II listed building. Taking Stock: Catholic Churches of England and Wales
Gives history of church and mission. Images of England
Gives details of mission.

New church is built

The church was built in the Late Geometric style at a cost of £1305 by the architect

George Goldie Sir George Dashwood Taubman Goldie (20 May 1846 – 20 August 1925) was a Manx administrator who played a major role in the founding of Nigeria. In many ways, his role was similar to that of Cecil Rhodes elsewhere in Africa but he did ...

of the firm Weightman and Hadfield of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. The church was opened by Bishop Hogarth on 24 June 1856, it was described at the time by the Catholic publication “ The Tablet” as ''‘a severely simple building in harmony with the wild scenery around it’''. Changes to the church over the years have included a reordering of the

Sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

by Father Timney in 1974 and the glazing of the wooden tracery screen below the west gallery in 2012. Images of England
Gives details of church and architecture.

Architecture

The church is built from snecked stone (courses of stonework with smaller stones, or snecks, inserted at regular intervals) with a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

roof. The south west tower has a multi moulded pointed arch doorway with paired

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

s at bell level, topped off by a steeply sloping roof with

quatrefoil A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...

s in the gables. The interior includes a very tall

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

arch. The multi sided

Lady chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, an ...

stands at the end of the south aisle. The east window and the glass in the south aisle is by

William Wailes William Wailes (1808–1881) was the proprietor of one of England's largest and most prolific stained glass workshops. Life and career Wailes was born and grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, England's centre of domestic glass and bottle manufacturing. ...

and includes one dedicated to the architect George Goldie and his wife Madeleine de Kersadier and another which depicts Saint Ninian. Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle
Gives details of St Ninian stained glass. The bell tower was designed for eight bells but has only ever had one, which has not been rung for many years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Ninian's Catholic Church, Wooler Roman Catholic churches completed in 1856 Roman Catholic churches in Northumberland Grade II listed churches in Northumberland 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom George Goldie church buildings Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England Saint Ninian