Cathedral of St Mary is a Grade I listed building in the Newcastle upon Tyne local planning authority area, England. First listed on 14 June 1954. A Victorian Cathedral. 6 related planning applications.
Cathedral of St Mary
- WRENN ID
- vacant-cornice-jet
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- Constituency
- Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West MP: Dame Chi Onwurah (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 14 June 1954
- Type
- Cathedral
- Period
- Victorian
- Address
- Cathedral of St Mary, Clayton Street West, NE1 5HH
- OS grid reference
- NZ 244 639
- Coordinates
- 54.96921, -1.61923
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Cathedral of St Mary is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in Newcastle upon Tyne, built around 1844 and designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. The tower was completed around 1872 by A.M. Dunn and E.J. Hansom. The building features coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings, roofs made of graduated slates with overlapping stone gable copings, and a stone spire.
The cathedral has an aisled nave and chancel that are not divided, with a south-west polygonal chapel that now serves as the entrance porch, and the tower located to the east of this chapel. It is designed in the Decorated style. The west entrance has a double door with elaborate hinges set in a moulded and shafted surround, and above it is a 5-light window flanked by niches with figures. The west aisle windows, which have reticulated tracery, are 3-light and set under gables, supported by gabled buttresses.
The south door, located in the tall tower, is similar to the west door. The upper stages of the tower feature cusped lancets, slits, and 2-light belfry openings under a crocketed dripmould adorned with fantastic beast finials. The tower's quatrefoil pierced parapet has corner pinnacles topped with spirelets, and the tall octagonal spire includes crocketed lucarnes and a weathercock finial. The aisle windows are 3-light, while the east window is 6-light.
Inside, the cathedral has plaster above a boarded dado with a tiled frieze. Angel corbels support the scissor-braced roof trusses, and there are round piers leading to the 7-bay nave and chancel, which feature moulded arches. The altar and reredos are made of Caen stone and are richly carved, and there are similar styles used for the lectern and pulpit.
Local climate
Cathedral of St Mary receives an average of 790 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 57% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 94% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 27 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 70% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 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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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2015
- Related listed building consents — 6 applications
- 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
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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