Church Of The Holy Sepulchre

ASHINGTON WANSBECK ROAD NZ 28 NE (West side)

2/30 Church of the Holy Sepulchre 14/4/49 GV II

Parish church 1887-1896 by W.S. Hicks. Snecked stone with ashlar dressings; Lakeland slate roof. 5-bay aisled plan with no structural nave/chancel division, western narthex, cross-gabled east bay of north aisle as organ chamber, with truncated bell tower and sacristy on east. Late C14 style.

Stepped buttresses between bays and set back at angles, chamfered plinth, sill string. 3-light windows to north and south, with part-blocked priest's door near east end on south. 2-light window at west end of north aisle and 4-light window to organ chamber with cruciform loop in gable above. Flat-roofed narthex has three 2-light windows on west; boarded double doors with scrolly ironwork under moulded arch, with sunk quatrefoils in spandrels, on each return. Large 4-light window above. 5-light east window with whirling mouchette in gable above; 3-light east window to south aisle. Lower stage of bell tower, octagonal at top, now forms link to sacristy which has boarded door under moulded round arch with trefoiled panels holding blank shields in spandrels. Coped gables with finial crosses; timber bellcote on nave roof.

Interior: plastered double-chamfered arcades on octagonal piers with moulded caps and bases, and corbel responds. Arcade of 3 arches with broad chamfers, now glazed, to narthex. Boarded vault in main body of church and coffered ceilings over aisles, both with brattished wall plates. Carved pulpit and screens at east end of aisles. Octagonal stone font in simple C15 style. East window: Ascension as 1914-18 war memorial.

The dedication is taken from the former medieval church at Sheepwash. The tower was never completed as the Ashington Coal Company, major benefactors, objected on the grounds that their slumbering night-shift workers would be disturbed by bells.

Listing NGR: NZ2642687651

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 27 October 2017.