Our Lady and St Cuthbert's

Introduction

Our Lady and St Cuthbert's in Crook, in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, was designed by Edward Welby Pugin, with a foundation plaque dated 1853 and the tower completed in 1897. The church was opened on 25 October 1854.

Architecture and furnishings

The parish has been supported by an order of nuns since August 1862. The church has an aisled nave with a ritual north porch and south-west tower, a chancel with a north Lady chapel and a south vestry link to the presbytery. The church is in the Decorated style, with a Tudor Gothic tower. The east window glass is by Hardman, and other glass includes some by Atkinson Bros., Newcastle, commemorating the 1862 arrival in the parish of the Sisters of Mercy.

The church is built of irregular courses of squared sandstone with ashlar dressings, and the upper stages of the tower are hammer-dressed. The roofs have been renewed in slate-coloured asbestos tiles. The steeply-gabled porch has a double boarded door in a moulded arch with an elongated 2-centred head, and steps up to a 2-centred-arched west door with foliage-decorated hinges. The windows have Decorated tracery: 2-light aisle windows, a 4-light west window and a large 5-light east window.

The spherical-triangular clerestory windows have 3 cusped lights. The tall 3-stage tower has a 2-light west window, a cusped lancet at the top of the high first stage on the east, steps up to a boarded door on the south, a high plinth and clasping ashlar buttresses. The upper stages of the tower are offset, with pinnacled clasping buttresses flanking a clock under a drip-mould, and tall traceried belfry openings. The steeply-pitched roofs of the nave, chancel and Lady chapel have stone cross finials.

The interior has painted plaster above a painted boarded dado, with an ashlar chancel and dressings. The church has a painted scissor-truss roof and a painted panelled keeled chancel roof. The 5-bay arcades have moulded 2-centred arches on quatrefoil columns with varied foliage capitals; the west bays are filled with screens and the arches boxed in to form a south porch and north children's room. The chancel has an angle-bracketed ashlar balcony on the south.

The west screen and gallery have Gothic tracery with a crested balustrade. There is an east brass foundation plate dated 1853.

Parish life

Wear Valley Justice and Peace is a small ecumenical group based at St Cuthbert’s, with links to the Justice and Peace Co-ordinating Council of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. The group holds a fortnightly drop-in to welcome local refugees. The group supports Christian Aid, Cafod, and Fair Trade, including the sale of Palestinian produce and crafts.

St Cuthbert’s Wild Gardeners was formed from discussions in the Justice and Peace group to increase biodiversity in the church grounds. The group planned to develop an area adjacent to the St Cuthbert’s Centre, including a 'Peace Tree' that forms the focal point of outdoor liturgies for peace and the Season of Creation. The group aims to build links with St Cuthbert’s School, with proposals including a bioblitz and workshops.

The church is part of the Crook team of volunteers who help with local foodbanks and organize events such as free summer holiday lunches and community lunches. The parish offers four short Baptism Preparation Courses each year.

The Parish Council meets 6 times a year and acts as the parish Finance Committee. Once a year the council reports to parishioners at an open parish meeting.

Regular events

The parish publishes its annual programme each September, running through to the end of August the following year. The Justice and Peace group holds monthly meetings, aiming to promote peace and social justice through actions and prayers.