Churches - St Cuthbert's

The foundation stoneOpen the pdf on the right (or below, if you are on a mobile device or tablet) for the newspaper account, written in 1924. for the church was laid by Archbishop Riley on the 13th September 1924 on land donated to the Anglican Church in 1914 by Amelia Stone and her daughters.

The building was designed by Mr George Herbert Parry and built by a local Darlington builder; George Bishop at a cost of £900.00. It is described as a Gothic style stone church built using two different types of stone. The lower part uses diorite and the upper part is granite with brick quoins on the corners and all openings, the roof is tiled.

The church was consecratedOpen the pdf on the right (or below, if you are on a mobile device or tablet) for the newspaper account of the consecration, written in 1925. by Archbishop Riley on the 1st March 1925, being named after the church of St Cuthbert in Darlington, Durham in England.

The Swan Express reported the official opening and described how Archbishop Riley consecrated the Font which was covered with Rosebuds from Mrs Burnett’s garden. According to Auber Neville’s daughter, Anne MacLeod, this font was gifted from the Neville family who were early Darlington residents. Auber was involved with the Anglican Church before St Cuthbert's was built and in 1925, he was elected as Synodsman of St Cuthbert's.

The first bell at St Cuthbert's was given by Constance Gaze in honour of her husband Frederick Owen Gaze in 1934. This wooden bell tower and bell survived at St Cuthbert's until around 2000 when it fell from the tower, its whereabouts is currently unknown. The wooden bell tower was then removed.

A second bell, which was originally from Blackboy Hill, was moved along with the St Georges Church to Greenmount. When that church was demolished in 1968 the bell and bell tower were moved to St Cuthbert's. This bell was stolen in 1973 then replaced by a bell made at Whitechapel Foundry, London in 1974 using the insurance money. This is the current bell at St Cuthbert's which is tuned to note B.

The Lych gate was added in 1950 using the same builder (George Bishop) and was in memory of Walter Scott Clarke who was the first Rector of St Cuthbert's. It was paid for by Walter’s second wife Grace and cost £115.00. After Grace Scott Clark’s death in July 1955 she left an amount of £175.00 to the church for a stone wall to be built along the front boundary to meet the Lych gate to complete the memorial to Walter.

The Sanctuary “Dalle de Verre”'Dalle de verre', from French: 'glass slab', is a glass art technique that uses pieces of coloured glass set in a matrix of concrete and epoxy resin or other supporting material. Source: Wikipedia. windows were paid for by Barbara Cowper at a cost of £70.00 and dedicated on 24th October 1965 to her Mother Grace Scott Clarke and Uncle John Kirk (Grace’s brother). These were designed and made by the Gowers and Brown Studio in Greenmount with input from Guy Greysmith who was involved with refurbishing the Sanctuary in the early 1970’s.

The stained glass windows in the church were also done by Ted Gowers and Bert Brown’s stained glass studio in Greenmount between 1972 and 1976. These are dedicated to some of the early parishioners of the church and the 'Conversion of St Cuthbert' window to Lennard Sydney Quinlin; the longest serving Rector from 1939-1964.

The proceeds from the sale of the Bellevue Church,'The Good Shepherd' were used to build a walkway, offices and a meeting room. The design was done by Luke Harvey and built by Tony Trlin. The building was dedicated on Sunday the 18th May 2003 by Bishop Farran. In 2012 a storage room was added to complete the complex.

Lyn Myles DHG August 2014