The Church of St Luke 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, ...

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 ...

church located in the centre of

Wallsend Wallsend () is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of ...

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered by Ne ...

, next to Station Road.

History

Due to an increase of the population in

, supported by both coalmining and shipbuilding industries, the parish of St Peter, Wallsend was divided in 1887, with the western portion becoming the new parish of St Luke, complete with a new church. The foundation stone was laid in 1885, and the building was consecrated in 1887, although construction was not completed until 1906. One of the key donors to the new building was George B. Hunter, then managing partner of the

Swan Hunter Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three pow ...

shipbuilding company. The long association between the church and the company (whose yard is just down Station Road) saw St Luke's nicknamed the ‘Shipyard Church’. In 2001 the parish was merged with that of St Peter, Wallsend, reuniting the original parish and the two sister churches.

Tradition

The church was founded in the

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...

mould. Indeed, during the incumbency of the second vicar, Fr William O'Brady-Jones, Anglo-Catholic practices were listed i
evidence
given to the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Discipline in 1904. But after his departure 1908, with the then Bishop of Newcastle being unsympathetic to Anglo-Catholics, a Low Churchman was appointed. The High Church tradition lay dormant until Fr Colin Turnbull, who began his ministry as an assistant curate at St Peter's, Wallsend, was made vicar.

Stained Glass

The Crucifixion by Wilhelmina Geddes 1922

Inside, the church's most striking feature is the magnificent east Window. It portrays the Crucifixion, and was unveiled in 1922 as a memorial to the men of the parish who died on active service during the First World War. Designed by the artist

Wilhelmina Geddes Wilhelmina Geddes HRUA (25 May 1887 – 10 August 1955) was an Irish stained glass artist who was an important figure within the Irish Arts and Crafts movement and also the twentieth-century British stained glass revival. Notable works include wi ...

, it has been widely lauded and described 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 ...

as of ‘quite exceptionally high quality’ and is regarded as one of her finest works.

Other notable features

The church's architecture is in the

Early English Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...

style, designed by Oliver, Leeson & Wood, and the tower is an easily recognisable landmark on the Wallsend skyline. Originally it was meant to be even taller, with a spire on top: however, quicksand below prevented this being carried out. The pipe organ is by

Abbott and Smith Abbott and Smith were a firm of organ builders based in Leeds, England from 1869 to 1964. History Isaac Abbott established the firm in Leeds in 1869. He had worked for William Hill & Sons, William Hill in London for 20 years. Another Hill emplo ...

of Leeds, and its specification is detailed at the

National Pipe Organ Register The British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) is a British organisation and registered charity which aims to promote study and appreciation of all aspects of the pipe organ. Further, it acts as a lobbying body to raise awareness of organ issue ...

. The vestries at the west end of the church are a memorial to Kathleen O'Brady-Jones, the eldest daughter of Fr O’Brady-Jones. She was accidentally shot during a rehearsal for an entertainment organised by the church in the nearby Co-op Hall, by a boy who had bought a revolver in the Bigg Market in Newcastle: whilst showing it to his friends the gun fired and Kathleen was killed. The Anglican church in

Wallsend, New South Wales Wallsend is a western suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, from Newcastle's central business district. It is split between the local government areas of City of Newcastle and City of Lake Macquarie. History The Awabakal and W ...

, also a suburb of

Newcastle, NSW Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and it is the hub of th ...

, is dedicated to St Luke, following the dedication of this St Luke's.

Clergy

Vicars of Wallsend St Luke * 1887-1892 W.S. Wrenford * 1892-1908 William O'Brady-Jones * 1908-1912 R. Nicholson * 1912-1923 T.W. Allen * 1923-1933 A. Simpson * 1933-1943 J.H. Johnston * 1943-1952 Robert McCaughey * 1953-1958 Donald MacNaughton * 1958-1968 Colin Turnbull * 1969-1971 John Clay * 1971-1989 Peter Heywood * 1990-1996

John Inge John Geoffrey Inge ( ; born 26 February 1955) is a retired British Anglican bishop. From 2007 to 2024, he was Bishop of Worcester, the diocesan bishop of the Church of England's Diocese of Worcester. He was previously Bishop of Huntingdon, a ...

* 1996-2001 Richard Deadman Rectors of Wallsend St Peter & St Luke * 2001-2011 Michael Vine * 2012-2019 David Sudron Assistant Curates * 1937-1941 Arthur Donnelly * 1947-1949 Matthew Hodgson * 1949-1951 Jack Walker * 1952-1955 Peter Rendell * 1953-1954 George Betts * 1955-1960 Bernard Mather * 1957-1958 Ralph Knight * 1960-1963 Lionel Trevor Eddershaw * 1961-1964 Richard Hicks * 1963-1967 David Rogerson * 1965-1968 Keith Ward * 1967-1969 Richard Kingsbury * 1969-1970 Thomas Stevens * 1971 William Golightly * 1973-1976 Howard Smith * 1976-1979 Michael Vine * 1979-1982 Stephen Pickering * 1982-1983 Richard Hill * 1983-1986 Iain Young * 1988-1991 Neil Wilson * 1991-1995 Samuel Wells * 1994-2002 Andrew Elder * 1995-1997 Sheila Hamil (deacon) * 2006-2007 Stephen Gillham (deacon) * 2016-2020 Endre Kormos

Today

Following large-scale alterations to the building in 2009–10, the church has become a home for many of the community gatherings which met in the old church hall. The west end of the church has been augmented and converted into halls and a kitchen that play host to a number of community groups. Also, the vestries are home to the Walking With Project, a charity set up by Wallsend Churches Working Together that supports asylum seekers and refugees in the North Tyneside area. File:St Luke's Wallsend Church Hall.jpg, The new Church Hall looks across Frank St to Wallsend Memorial Hall File:St Luke's Wallsend Nave West.jpg, The west end of the nave has been subdivided File:Wallsend St Luke Nave.jpg, The nave of St Luke's, Wallsend, looking east File:St Luke's Wallsend Lady Chapel.jpg, The Lady Chapel at the east end of the south aisle

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wallsend, St Luke Churches completed in 1887 Anglo-Catholic church buildings in Tyne and Wear 19th-century Church of England church buildings Church of England church buildings in Tyne and Wear