Description

NZ 23 SW SPENNYMOOR STANNER'S LANE
(East side, off)
Whitworth

5/72 Whitworth
30/3/51 Parish Church

GV II

Parish church; dedication unknown. 1808 rebuilding of nave of church of
unknown date; 1850 improvement and addition of chancel and vestry; vestry
extended 1930. Roughly-coursed squared sandstone; east elevation rubble;
ashlar plinth and dressings. Roof graduated Lakeland slate with stone gable
copings. Nave with south porch; chancel with north vestry. Porch has high
gable over diagonally-boarded door,with elaborate hinges, in chamfered
surround with shafts and head-stopped dripmould: sundial in gable peak.
3-bay nave and 2-bay chancel have lancet windows with dripmoulds; flat sills
in nave; bays defined by buttresses, angle at corners, with offsets; chancel
sill string continuing round buttresses, and stepped up to 3 stepped east
lancets. 2-light west window under dripmould; gabled bellcote, with bell and
wheel in 2-centred arch, on west gable coping. North vestry door dated 1930.
At west, 2 pent extensions dated 1935 have open roofs on pilasters, sheltering
2 effigies transferred from churchyard. At north a much-eroded female figure
with long drapery; at south a late-C13 knight in chain mail, holding shield
and wearing flat-topped cylindrical helm with eye-slits; feet on twisted
figure in tunic; dog lies by his crossed legs. Said to represent Humez of
Brancepeth.

Interior: painted plaster with ashlar dressings over embattled panelled dado,
with blind tracery, in chancel. Roof arch-braced collared trusses on frieze,
wall-posts and deeply-moulded corbels. Chancel roof 1888 by Ralph Hedley of
Newcastle: panelled, with Tudor-flower bosses and rich stencilled decoration,
on enriched frieze. Double-chamfered 2-centred-chancel arch, the outer
chamfer pyramid-stopped and resting on stop-chamfered jambs, the inner on
shafts with moulded capitals, under head-stopped dripmould. Shafted moulded
rerearch to east window, with ball-flower-stopped dripmould. Perpendicular-
style reredos 1895 by R. Hedley, with much gilding and richly-painted
Crucifixion.Painted Gothic-style stone pulpit and octagonal font. Panelled
pews with roll-moulded square ends; choir pews have poppyheads and Tudor-flower
decoration. Terrazzo chancel floor. Painted heraldic shields high on chancel
walls. Glass includes 1901 east windows to Rev. E.A. Wilkinson: The Ascension.
1920 west window World War I memorial to men of Binchester and Page Bank.
Northnave windows: c.1897 high-quality Christ the Good Shepherd; others dated
1889, 1898; and 1909 St. Aidan by Horton, Butler and Bayne. South nave
windows, including medallion glass with Presentation in the Temple, to
Catherine Duncombe Shafto, died 1872 aged 102. Vestry has medallion glass.
Organ one of the first by Harrison of Durham. Monuments include dark grey
ledger stone in north-east corner of nave, with deeply-cut arms and crest, and
inscription to Margaret, wife of Mark Shafto of Whitworth Hall, naming her
children Robert, John and Catherine. Alabaster wall monument above in Art
Nouveau style, to E.A. Wilkinson, died 1900, by Lowes and Sons; at west
end, circa 1723 alabaster wall monument to Mark Shafto, with coat of arms in
broken segmental pediment on aedicule containing long, well-cut Latin
inscription saying he died of dropsy, and the monument was put up by his son
and heir Robert. Classical wall monument to R.E.D Shafto, died 1848, by
Denman, London.

Gothic monument at south-west to Robert McFarlane, surgeon, died 1854 after
a fall from a gig, by W.T. Hale,London. Brass plaques below most windows.

Historical note: 'Bonny Bobby Shafto' of the popular C19 children's song was
the grandson of Margaret and is said to be buried here in the family vault.

Sources: Whitworth Church, A Brief Guide, n.d.; typescript in church.

Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XX, Newcastle (for 1898) 220 and 228.

Listing NGR: NZ2356034712

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26414617

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.

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