Chapel of St Cuthbert is a Grade II* listed building in the Northumberland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 22 December 1969. A Medieval Chapel. 1 related planning application.
Chapel of St Cuthbert
- WRENN ID
- leaning-spindle-elm
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Northumberland
- Constituency
- North Northumberland MP: David Smith (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 22 December 1969
- Type
- Chapel
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Chapel of St Cuthbert, North Sunderland
- OS grid reference
- NU 218 359
- Coordinates
- 55.61701, -1.65534
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Chapel of St Cuthbert is a Grade II* listed chapel located on the Farne Islands, believed to date from the 12th or 13th century. The lower part of the north wall features older masonry, while the chapel was rebuilt in the 14th century and extensively restored between 1840 and 1850. The older masonry consists of squared stone, while the rest of the structure is made from random whinstone rubble with sandstone dressings. This single-cell building has four bays, with a renewed ogee doorway in the left bay and two 19th-century Decorated windows in the central bays. The left bay has a blocked original two-light Decorated window, and there is a three-light 19th-century window on the east side. The north wall is blank, and the chapel has a gabled roof with a small bellcote on the west side.
Inside, the chapel is richly decorated with 17th-century woodwork originally made for Bishop Cosin at Durham Cathedral and brought to the chapel by Archdeacon Thorp in the 1840s. This includes tabernacled stalls featuring combined Gothic tracery and Renaissance heads, as well as pews with intricately carved back panels and bench ends. The screen displays 17th-century style balusters, Gothic tracery, and cresting with repeated mitres. There are also two older chairs with misericords, one depicting a green man and the other a cherub. Additionally, there is a monument to Grace Darling, erected by Archdeacon Thorp, which includes a commemorative verse by Wordsworth.
Local climate
Chapel of St Cuthbert receives an average of 820 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 51% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 54% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 10 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 90% of listed buildings. Of these, 7 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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