St Bede's Church is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

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. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

South Tyneside South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is bordered by all four other boroughs in Tyne and Wear: Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, North Tyneside to the north and Newcastl ...

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 ...

, England. It was built from 1874 to 1876 in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

of architecture. It is located on Westoe Road, south of Crossgate near the town centre. In 2016 it was designated a

Grade II listed 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, H ...

building.

History

Foundation

In the first half of the 19th century, the Catholics in

had to travel to

North Shields North Shields ( ) is a town in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. The population of North Shields at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom cens ...

to go to

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

. St Cuthbert's Church there was the closest church to them at the time (it was demolished and rebuilt in the 1970s). In 1832, a Sunday school was started in the Mill Dam area of the town. On 4 December 1849, St Cuthbert's Church in South Shields was opened. It was on Western Approach and the building was a former protestant chapel. It was opened by Bishop William Hogarth, the Apostolic Vicar of the Northern District. He became the first

Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle The Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle in the Province of Liverpool, known also on occasion as the Northern Province. History With the gradual abolition of the legal restric ...

the following year. Later a school and a presbytery were added to the church.

Construction

By the early 1870s, St Cuthbert's Church had become too small to accommodate its

congregation Congregation may refer to: Religion *Church (congregation), a religious organization that meets in a particular location *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administrative body of the Catholic Church *Religious congregation, a type of religious instit ...

. The site of the current church on Westoe Street was purchased by the priest Canon Waterton. On 27 May 1874, the foundation stone of St Bede's Church was laid. The architect was recorded by

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

in ''

The Buildings of England ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' as being Gibson Lidbetter under the supervision of Thomas Cooke Nicholson. On 22 August 1876, the church was opened. Construction work was delayed because of problems with laying the foundations on quicksand. That foundation work also increased the cost of constructing the church. Initially, the cost of building the church was supposed to be around £8,000, but it increased to £11,000. On 14 September 1949, the costs of the church were finally paid off and the church was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

by Bishop Joseph McCormack of Hexham and Newcastle.

Developments

In 1913, a new parish school was built on Derby Street. In 1971, the school was replaced by the current primary school. Also in 1971, the parish hall opened. It was on the site of the former Marsden Miners’ Hall. Later, the parish hall was moved into the renovated and enlarged presbytery basement. In 1965, the church was refurbished, and again in 1972.

Parish

St Bede’s Catholic Primary School is located in the

, adjacent to west of the church. St Bede's Church is in the same parish as Ss Peter and Paul Church. St Bede's Church has two Sunday

es at 5:00 pm on Saturday and at 9:30 am on Sunday. Ss Peter and Paul Church has its Sunday Mass at 11:00 am.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Bede's Church South Shields Roman Catholic churches in Tyne and Wear Grade II listed churches in Tyne and Wear Buildings and structures in South Shields Gothic Revival architecture in Tyne and Wear Gothic Revival church buildings in England 1849 establishments in England Roman Catholic churches completed in 1876 Religious organizations established in 1849 Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom