Church Of St Hilda

The Church of St Hilda, Darlington

This Early English style church was built in 1887–8 to the designs of John Loughborough Pearson, one of the greatest Victorian church architects. The building is constructed in red brick laid in English bond with sandstone dressings.

The plan comprises a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, north porch, north chapel, and south organ chamber/transept with vestries. The west end, facing the road, features three tall lancet windows with double-chamfered frames divided by two tall, slender buttresses with offsets. The north and south sides have low lean-to buttressed aisles with paired lancet windows. Above these, the nave walls are lit by large triple graded lancet clerestory windows with rounded hoodmoulds. On the south side is a moulded doorway with a two-leaf door fitted with decorative strap hinges. The north porch has a moulded outer doorway with engaged shafts and bell capitals. The tall, narrow south transept displays a cusped circular window in its gable. The vestry block has a plate tracery east window, a transomed two-light south window, and a chimney stack against the south transept. The distinctive north chapel features a canted north wall following the shape of the site, and a striking large five-light plate tracery east window.

The well-proportioned interior, currently empty, exposes bare red brick walls with bare sandstone dressings. The arcades have circular and octagonal piers with moulded capitals and double-chamfered arches. At the chancel entrance, the arch is tall with semi-circular responds. The north of the chancel contains a two-bay arcade to the northeast chapel, which has been screened off. The nave is spanned by a tie-beam and crown-post roof.

Nearly all fittings and stained glass have been removed. The font survives, an octagonal stone bowl on a stem with engaged shafts and an outer order of detached shafts. Stained glass remains in the upper part of the east window.

East of the church and linked to it stands a modest church hall with stone mullioned square-headed windows and a south entrance.

Pearson (1817–97) began practice in 1843, having trained in the offices of Ignatius Bonomi in Durham, and Anthony Salvin and Philip Hardwick in London. He was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1880 and is celebrated for a series of exceptionally fine churches, many displaying strong French influence. His most famous work is Truro Cathedral, begun in 1880, the first English cathedral built on a new site since Salisbury in the early 13th century. St Hilda's exemplifies late 19th-century brick churches built with modest financial means yet achieving considerable architectural presence through scale and height, described as "a boldly massed composition."

The church was declared redundant in 1986, with most fittings removed by 1987. Conversion to a community centre, offices, and residences was granted in 1993. Following vandalism and fire damage, the Light and Life Gypsy Church acquired the building in 1996 and continues to own it as of June 2009.