Lamesley, Church of St. Andrew, church hall

HER Number:
7536

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Lamesley, Church of St. Andrew, church hall

Place:
Lamesley

Map Sheet:
NZ25NE

Class:
Civil

Site Type: Broad:
Meeting Hall

Site Type: Specific:
Church Hall

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Extant Building

Description:
This charming, dual-winged hall was once the Parish School of Lamesley, designed very sympathetically to harmonise with the strong architectural style of the village. The characteristic local sandstone, dressed and laid in courses, accompanied by an unusual, ‘jigsaw’ shaped version of the curved kneelers seen on many village buildings, make it clearly identifiable as Ravensworth Estate architecture of the 19th century. . It is most humane in scale, befitting the original users of the building, and the leaded lights with chamfered stone mullions surrounds give it an ecclesiastical feel, associating it visually with the church. The substantial chimneys and small bell turret provide vertical animation, and the comparative size of the visible roof planes make the wonderfully varied purples, blues and greys in the slate an important feature of the whole. Even the entrance leads in gently, up shallow steps and through curved walls under a wrought iron arch originally holding a lantern. The building was successfully extended to the rear with assistance from a Heritage Lottery Fund grant in the 1990s. MATERIALS Sandstone, Welsh slate, leaded lights, wrought iron DATES c1867 (records begin) 1890 extended, 1896 mixed 1943 closed, 1990s extended {1}. Built as a National School in the 19th century. Built of ashlar with a slate roof, heavy gables and steeply pitched roofs, mullioned windows and a prominent moulded chimney stack and a small bell tower {2}. LOCAL LIST

Easting:
2522

Northing:
5800

Grid Reference:
NZ25225800

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Gateshead Council Local List X20/LL/161; Gateshead Council, April 1999, Conservation Area Policy Guidelines, Strategies and Character Statements, Proposed Lamesley Conservation Area, pp 82-85 (Supplementary Planning Guidance), pp 88-90; Gateshead Council, July 2003, Lamesley Conservation Area Policy Guidelines, Strategy and Character Statement (Appendix to Supplementary Planning Guidance 1), pp 29-34