Holy Cross Church is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in Ryton,

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

. The church is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The Holy Cross church is the oldest building in Ryton and dates back to 1220. The most striking feature of the church is its 13th-century broach

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

which is 36 m tall. Other well known artefacts include a 13th-century

Frosterley Marble Frosterley Marble is a black, bituminous coraliferous limestone containing fossil crinoids of the Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian ), some 325 million years ago. It outcrops in Weardale, County Durham, England, including near the village ...

effigy An effigy is a sculptural representation, often life-size, of a specific person or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain ...

of a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

holding a book.

Notable clergy

There have been a number of prominent rectors of Ryton. These include:

Thomas Secker Thomas Secker (21 September 16933 August 1768) was an Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England. Early life and studies Secker was born in Sibthorpe, Nottinghamshire. In 1699, he went to Richard Brown's free school in Chesterfield, ...

(1727), later the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

;

Charles Thorp Charles Thorp, (13 October 1783 – 10 October 1862) was an English churchman, Rector (ecclesiastical), rector of the Holy Cross Church, Ryton, parish of Ryton, Tyne and Wear, Ryton and, later, Archdeacon of Durham and the first warden of the ...

(1807) virtual founder and first warden of the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

; and The Hon. Richard Byron (1769), brother of

William Byron, 5th Baron Byron William Byron, 5th Baron Byron (5 November 1722 – 19 May 1798), was a British nobleman, peer, politician, and great-uncle of the poet George Gordon Byron who succeeded him in the title. As a result of a number of stories that arose after a ...

and great-uncle of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

References

External links

Main website

A Church Near You entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryton, Holy Cross Church 13th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in Tyne and Wear Church of England church buildings in County Durham Ryton Holy Cross Church