Bishop Auckland Methodist Church

Wesleyan Methodist Church with attached hall, built in 1903 by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne architect TE Davidson.

The building is constructed of rock-faced sandstone with ashlar plinth and dressings, a slate roof with stone gable copings, red terracotta ridge tiles and a stone spire. The church plan comprises a choir with north organ chamber, a chapel with transepts and aisles, a west vestibule and north-west tower, with a hall positioned to the south. A linking passage connects the spaces, incorporating a north vestry and south schoolroom. The design follows the Early English style throughout.

All windows are set within ashlar surrounds and have ashlar mullions. The choir is lit by a tall 3-light window with plate tracery within a pointed arch beneath a low gable. The gabled transepts contain paired lancets, with similar lights appearing in the clerestory. The aisles have 2-light square-headed windows under pent roofs. The west elevation features three central lancets beneath a tall pointed chamfered arch containing plate tracery with four lancet lights below, with 6-foil and roundel decoration. Flanking entrance bays are defined by buttresses rising through the gable peak; the inner buttresses are gabled whilst the outer ones are topped with spirelets. The entrances themselves are set within chamfered pointed arched surrounds with dripmoulds, with boarded double doors featuring elaborate hinges and lancet windows above them. The north-west tower has two high stages with angle buttresses, paired lancets to the first stage and a tall 2-light window to the second. A gutter cornice with angle spouts runs below an ashlar parapet with coped angle blocks. An octagonal spire rises above, pierced by four lucarnes on its parapet. A south-west vestibule echoes the first tower stage and features a parapet. The link to the hall is lit by lancets flanking a gabled porch. The hall itself displays flowing tracery in paired 2-light west windows flanked by buttresses topped with spirelets rising through the gable, with lancets in the outer bays. A porch is positioned on the left return, with a schoolroom located in the aisle behind, a store and kitchen on the right return aisle, and a further schoolroom at the rear.

The church interior is finished with painted plaster, ashlar arcades and dressings, and includes a wood gallery. The arcades feature wide raised segmental arches supported on round piers with moulded capitals; the choir arch has an inner recessed chamfered arch on corbelled shafts. A boarded ceiling with three pierced vent roundels sits beneath a queen post roof with moulded and arch-braced construction, the timbers resting on moulded stone corbels which alternate between the clerestory sill string and the arcades. Six-panel doors are found throughout the interior; those at the west feature glass in the top panels, whilst the vestry door is set within a fluted architrave topped by a fleur-de-lys finial.

The church fittings include a curved arcaded communion rail on a step, with a further step leading to the altar. A panelled wood west gallery is present, along with panelled pews with moulded ends and brass umbrella racks. Half-glazed vestibule screens below the gallery and at doors within the vestibule retain their original glass. The vestibule floor is laid in terrazzo with a flower motif. Most windows contain rectangular quarries with panels decorated with floral motifs. The north aisle central window is a memorial to W H Hanflett (1857-1928) and is signed Abbott & Co., Lancaster; the same maker's signature appears on other plainer windows and in a south aisle window commemorating members of the Curry family (died 1905 and 1924), which depicts Christ with Children. The vestry interior displays a marbled painted chimney piece with incised decoration on pilasters and lintel, and a stucco ceiling cornice. The hall and other rooms feature boarded dado work with rail, retaining much original detail including numbered coat hooks and cast iron radiators marked 'Decorated Patent no. 280475'.