Church Of All Saints

The Church of All Saints is a 12th-century church, significantly altered and expanded over the centuries. A north aisle, arcade, and tower were added in the late 13th century; the upper part of the tower was rebuilt in the 14th century, and the chancel was partly rebuilt at the same time. A south aisle and arcade were added in the late 14th century, and a north chapel, chancel arch, clearstories, and porch in the 15th century. In the mid to late 19th century, north vestries and a south organ chamber were constructed. The entire church underwent restoration and alteration in the 18th century, and further work was carried out in 1852, 1889 by J.H. Morton of South Shields, and in 1898 by Charlewood & Hicks of Newcastle.

The church is constructed of earlier snecked and coursed limestone rubble and later snecked and dressed sandstone. It has Welsh slate roofs, with lead to the flat roof of the north aisle. The building comprises an aisled nave with clearstorey and a south porch, a chancel, two vestries and a chapel to the north side, and an organ chamber to the south. The three-stage west tower is defined by chamfered step-backs, diagonal buttresses with offsets, an embattled parapet, and angle and intermediate pinnacles. The lower stage of the tower contains three grouped lancet windows; the middle stage has slit lights, and the upper stage has clock faces below round-headed openings with paired trefoil-headed lights. The south doorway to the nave is pointed, with two chamfered orders under a hoodmould and an ogee-headed niche. The clearstorey has three paired lancets to the south, and two similar, blocked, windows to the north, partially concealed by the raised aisle roof. The pointed south and east windows of the chancel feature geometric tracery. The north chapel has two segmental-headed windows with Perpendicular tracery. All other windows date from 1898.

The tower arch is pointed, with two chamfered orders without responds. The two-bay nave arcades have two chamfered orders, octagonal piers, and responds; those to the north have moulded capitals. Stone benches are present either side of the porch. The pointed chancel arch has two chamfered orders with a moulded capital to the octagonal south respond; the north springing is from the arcade respond. The north chapel is open to the chancel by a two-bay arcade similar to the nave, and to the aisle by a similar arch. The north aisle windows contain stained glass by Messrs. Wailes and Stang of Newcastle, dating from around 1898. A piscina with a moulded semicircular head is located in the chancel, and a simpler piscina is in the south aisle, below a trefoil-headed niche with a crocketed canopy supported by human figures dating from around 1400. Fragments of Anglo-Saxon and later carved masonry are built into the east wall of the south aisle.