Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, South Hylton

This is a parish church built in 1880 by C. Hodgson Fowler of Durham, designed to replace a previous "house church" that had occupied the same site. The house church, a Lodge from the Woodhouse estate donated by the owner Captain Maling, was destroyed by fire in 1878, and its foundations are purportedly visible beneath the current building. The church has received additions in 1930 and 1970, though the surrounding boundary wall predates the church itself.

The building is designed in the Gothic Revival style and constructed in irregularly coursed stone with a blue slate roof. The plan is straightforward, comprising a nave, a chancel almost as wide as the nave, a north transept, and a tower at the south-west corner which incorporates the entrance porch.

The west elevation features a triple lancet window divided by stone jambs with hood-moulding over the arches; the centre window is larger and divided centrally with a small quatrefoil at the top. Below runs a raised band stepped down to either side, with a plinth at the base and small buttresses at each corner. The south elevation has an entrance porch at the west end with a pointed arched doorway fitted with a twentieth-century aluminium door, followed by three lancet windows of two lights each with small quatrefoils; two contain modern stained glass. This elevation also has a plinth, three buttresses (the easternmost marking the end of the nave), and a raised band below the windows. The chancel on this side has two windows of similar style. The east elevation displays three grouped lancet windows comparable to those on the west, again with stained glass, a stepped raised band below with a plinth and corner buttresses. The north elevation has a small pointed arch door to the chancel with no windows, a small arched doorway on the north side of the transept, and three-light lancet windows on the east and west sides of the transept. The nave windows on the north are similar to those on the south but offset; two contain stained glass. The square tower has a hipped pyramidal roof and contains the entrance porch, with narrow lancet windows to the east and west sides above the door, and a row of three on each side between the roof and an offset band running around the tower near its top.

The interior retains an entrance at the back of the nave; the first few rows of wooden pews have been removed and the remainder repositioned to provide wider spacing, with matching wood panelling to the sides and west end. The roof features exposed alternating single-framed and crown-post trusses, with the rafters shaped to resemble the blades of cruck construction. There is no chancel screen; instead, an exposed stone arch marks the junction between nave and chancel. The chancel has had its choir stalls removed but retains its wood panelling. The altar is backed by a finely carved altar piece in matching wood, and the altar rail also matches the panelling, pews, and altar. The sanctuary floor is laid in Frosterley marble. The organ, installed in 1884, sits somewhat awkwardly on the north side of the chancel, partly covering an arch that may have been intended as a window. The chancel roof is barrel vaulted with beams again shaped to resemble crucks.

The stained glass is of high quality in the Arts and Crafts style and includes work by Veronica Whall, James Eadie Reid (also known as Eadie Reid), and Leonard Evetts. The windows on the west elevation contain four panels of particularly fine quality by Eadie Reid, restored and re-installed in 2000. Much of the stained glass required recent restoration following bomb damage to the area in 1941.

The tower was added in 1930 to a design by G E Charlewood. The cast aluminium porch door was designed in 1970 by Ronald Sims.

Evidence of subsidence is visible within the church, consisting of deformation of the westernmost north-side window of the nave, cracking of plaster, and a gap in the stonework between the nave and chancel on the north side, caused by the slope of the ground down to the north. Despite this, the church is a well-preserved early example of Fowler's work with some particularly fine Arts and Crafts stained glass and very few alterations, representing a good example of Victorian Gothic Revival style.