Description

CHESTER-LE-STREET CHURCH CHARE
NZ 25 SE
(East side)
4/27 Church of St. Mary
29/7/50 and St. Cuthbert
I

Large parish church. Mid C13 chancel, nave arcade, lower stage of tower and
possibly vestry; c.1383 anchorage extended in mid C16; c.1400 belfry and spire;
mid C16 east section of north aisle; 1742 porch; 1829 Lambton pew (chapel) by
Ignatius Bonomi; 1862 restorations (including new chancel arch). Squared
sandstone; ashlar porch and Lambton pew; graduated green slate roofs. Engaged
west tower with spire; aisled nave with south porch (porch now choir vestry),
anchorage in west bay of north aisle, Lambton pew on site of north transept;
chancel with north vestry. Early English and Decorated; Gothick porch.

West tower: square lower stage with pointed doorway, 3-light window and twin
lancets, flanked by buttress and stair turret; octagonal belfry has bell
openings with Y-tracery and embattled parapet; very tall, slender octagonal
spire. 6-bay nave with high-pitched roof. Buttressed south aisle on grave-
slab footings; original 2-light window at west; pointed 2-order doorway in
porch. North aisle: some Decorated and Perpendicular windows; similar doorway;
2 blocked pointed arches of demolished transept (third arch on chancel wall).
Aisles have moulded plinths and low pent roofs. 4-bay chancel: 2 plate-tracery
windows on south; east end has clasping buttresses and 1877 window; high-pitched
roof. 2-storey anchorage under pent roof: cross window and single light (cut
from one slab) on west; chamfered doorway and window on extension. Vestry
under steep pent roof: Tudor-arched doorway; 2-light mullioned window with
arched lights; diagonal buttress. Gabled Lambton pew has 4-light window and
stone stairway on west. Porch: pointed doorway beneath stepped embattled
gable; blank cinquefoil-headed windows on returns.

Interior. Double-chamfered pointed tower arches on 3-shaft responds. Similar
5-bay nave arcade on cylindrical piers with octagonal caps (2 west bays slightly
later). Opening and squint on anchorage wall. South aisle: west end Baptistery
with C15 font and ecclesiastical effigy; east end former chantry chapel with
piscina and aumbry. North aisle: 14 effigies (5 are genuine) installed c.1595
by John Lord Lumley; six C16-17 Lumley wall monuments. Chancel: double-chamfered
1862 arch; late C13 trefoil-headed piscina and 3-seat sedilia on south; one
south window has 2-order rear-arch with nailhead (colonnettes missing); 1883
rood screen, pulpit and choir stalls; 1927 reredos, panelling and Bishop's
throne by Sir Charles Nicholson; three 1927 painted panels (Journey of St.
Cuthbert's body) by A.K. Nicholson. Sculptural fragments, including grave slabs,
in porch, anchorage and tower. Mid C19 roofs.

(I. Bunting and J. Brewster, A guide to the Parish Church, Chester-le-Street,
1983).

Listing NGR: NZ2760051315

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Mary and St Cuthbert, Chester-le-Street at Wikipedia
• St Mary and St Cuthbert, Chester-le-Street official website
• Wikidata Q7594612

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)