Church Of St Mary And St Cuthbert

CHESTER-LE-STREET CHURCH CHARE NZ 25 SE (East side) 4/27 Church of St. Mary 29/7/50 and St. Cuthbert I

Large parish church. Mid C13 chancel, nave arcade, lower stage of tower and possibly vestry; c.1383 anchorage extended in mid C16; c.1400 belfry and spire; mid C16 east section of north aisle; 1742 porch; 1829 Lambton pew (chapel) by Ignatius Bonomi; 1862 restorations (including new chancel arch). Squared sandstone; ashlar porch and Lambton pew; graduated green slate roofs. Engaged west tower with spire; aisled nave with south porch (porch now choir vestry), anchorage in west bay of north aisle, Lambton pew on site of north transept; chancel with north vestry. Early English and Decorated; Gothick porch.

West tower: square lower stage with pointed doorway, 3-light window and twin lancets, flanked by buttress and stair turret; octagonal belfry has bell openings with Y-tracery and embattled parapet; very tall, slender octagonal spire. 6-bay nave with high-pitched roof. Buttressed south aisle on grave- slab footings; original 2-light window at west; pointed 2-order doorway in porch. North aisle: some Decorated and Perpendicular windows; similar doorway; 2 blocked pointed arches of demolished transept (third arch on chancel wall). Aisles have moulded plinths and low pent roofs. 4-bay chancel: 2 plate-tracery windows on south; east end has clasping buttresses and 1877 window; high-pitched roof. 2-storey anchorage under pent roof: cross window and single light (cut from one slab) on west; chamfered doorway and window on extension. Vestry under steep pent roof: Tudor-arched doorway; 2-light mullioned window with arched lights; diagonal buttress. Gabled Lambton pew has 4-light window and stone stairway on west. Porch: pointed doorway beneath stepped embattled gable; blank cinquefoil-headed windows on returns.

Interior. Double-chamfered pointed tower arches on 3-shaft responds. Similar 5-bay nave arcade on cylindrical piers with octagonal caps (2 west bays slightly later). Opening and squint on anchorage wall. South aisle: west end Baptistery with C15 font and ecclesiastical effigy; east end former chantry chapel with piscina and aumbry. North aisle: 14 effigies (5 are genuine) installed c.1595 by John Lord Lumley; six C16-17 Lumley wall monuments. Chancel: double-chamfered 1862 arch; late C13 trefoil-headed piscina and 3-seat sedilia on south; one south window has 2-order rear-arch with nailhead (colonnettes missing); 1883 rood screen, pulpit and choir stalls; 1927 reredos, panelling and Bishop's throne by Sir Charles Nicholson; three 1927 painted panels (Journey of St. Cuthbert's body) by A.K. Nicholson. Sculptural fragments, including grave slabs, in porch, anchorage and tower. Mid C19 roofs.

(I. Bunting and J. Brewster, A guide to the Parish Church, Chester-le-Street, 1983).

Listing NGR: NZ2760051315