Whickham, Dockendale Road, St Mary's RC Church

HER Number:
17441

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Whickham, Dockendale Road, St Mary's RC Church

Place:
Whickham

Map Sheet:
NZ26SW

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:
Church

Site Type: Specific:
Roman Catholic Church

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Extant Building

Description:
A simple centrally-planned modern church of the mid 1970s, which replaced an earlier church in a converted barn, of sixteenth or seventeenth century date (which survives nearby as the parish hall). The presbytery of the parish was originally Dockendale Hall, a sixteenth century building (now demolished), and the church was at first housed in a converted barn of the same period, extended to accommodate a growing congregation. In the early 1970s a new church and presbytery were built adjacent to the barn, which now serves as a parish hall . The church was designed on a tight budget of £52,000 and was intended to seat 350 people. It was opened in August 1973. The church is in a modern style with a single storey skirt surrounding a central pyramid containing a large glazed opening. The walls are faced with buff-coloured brick. The concealed main roof is felted, while the pyramid is covered with clay tiles. The principal front of the church has a vertical copper-covered fascia above a glazed timber entrance screen; otherwise the external walls are almost wholly blind. Internally the church is a single low flat-ceilinged space with plain plastered walls centred on the sanctuary area which is lit from the pyramid above. The fittings appear to be contemporary with the church.

Easting:
2120

Northing:
6132

Grid Reference:
NZ21206132

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
http://taking-stock.org.uk/Home/Dioceses/Diocese-of-Hexham-Newcastle/Whickham-St-Mary