Former Church Of St Mary

Former Church of St Mary, Castlegate

This former church was designed by John Howison and built in 1857–8. It became redundant in 1989 and has since been converted internally as an adult training centre.

The church is constructed of local squared grey-pink sandstone with graded Westmoreland roof slates. It follows a cruciform plan comprising an aisleless nave with broad, shallow transepts, a south-west tower with spire, and a chancel flanked by north and south vestries.

The building is designed in Early English style, notable for its fanciful and inventive, though not particularly historically accurate, use of Early English motifs—an unusual approach by the mid-19th century, when more archaeologically correct styles were generally preferred. The most striking external feature is the tall and very slender spire, which rises to 91 feet above a small two-stage tower at the south-west end of the nave, creating a picturesque composition that forms an important part of the local townscape. The tower has a west door and buttresses confined to its lower stage. The church is lit throughout by lancet windows, with groups of three lancets at both the east and west ends. The west end serves as the show front, with the tower and nave west gable forming a strong composition. The north and south transept facades echo the treatment of the nave's west end; the north transept also features a north door.

The interior has been subdivided to provide adult education facilities. The roof is supported by arch-braced collars on each bay. At the crossing, where the transepts and nave intersect, semi-circular trusses meet in a dramatic fashion. The chancel arch is in Early English style, featuring a continuously moulded outer order and an inner order on attached shafts with moulded bases and capitals.

The church was notable as the most northerly in England. Built to serve the growing population of Berwick, particularly the north-east part of the town which was being extensively developed at that time, it cost £2,500, of which £2,000 was donated by Captain Gordon. The dedication takes its name from one of Berwick's four medieval churches, which were demolished during the reign of Mary Tudor, though that earlier church stood on a different site. When the building became redundant in 1989, it underwent conversion to its current use, including the insertion of internal floors and the addition of dormers to the roof.