Christ Church © DCC 2002


Side view of Christ Church, Station Road, New Seaham © DCC 2016


Back view of Christ Church, Station Road, New Seaham © DCC 2016

Parish church. 1857 by P.C.Hardwick for Frances Anne, Marchioness of Londonderry. South aisle added 1862. Snecked sandstone with ashlar dressings and steeply-pitched Welsh slate roofs. Aisled nave, chancel, south porch and north vestry. Gothic Revival style with Geometrical tracery.

Chamfered stone plinth. 4-bay nave has angle-buttressed west end with 5-light window in double-chamfered reveal. Tall, 2-stage bellcote with 3 lancets surmounted by cross. Aisles have groups of 2 and 3-light trefoil-headed lancets. Projecting gabled south porch has flanking stepped buttresses, doorway in pointed arch of 3 orders under hoodmould and group of 3 quatrefoils under pointed hoodmould in gable. Slightly lower, single-bay chancel has diagonally-buttressed east end with 5-light window under pointed hoodmould. Projecting north vestry has 3-light window with stepped, trefoil-headed lancets.

Interior: spacious; nave arcade has 3 chamfered, pointed arches on octagonal piers with moulded caps and bases, smaller pointed arch at west end; waggon roof to nave has closely spaced braces; tall double-chamfered, pointed chancel arch on 3 clustered columns with moulded semicircular-plan cap; panelled barrel roof to chancel. The organ was installed and dedicated as a First World War memorial in 1926 (1)