The church
Introduction, Foundation of the parish, The church, The presbytery, The clergy, Parish, Congregation, Spiritual, Education, Social and economic, Some notable events, Acknowledgements
The church was designed by Thomas Gibson of Newcastle, a leading ecclesiastical architect. The foundation stone was laid on 24th August 1854, and on 26th June 1855 the church was formally opened by Bishop William Hogarth, the first bishop of the Diocese of Hexham, newly created on the restoration of the Hierarchy in 1850, and who had earlier been Chaplain at Cliffe Hall.
The church is built in the Gothic style. The only subsequent alterations to the external fabric would appear to be the insertion into the roof at some stage of the dormer windows over the sanctuary and the fitting of a second pane of plain glass to the outside of each of the stained glass windows.
Internally, the principal original features are the painted open ceiling, the stained glass windows and probably the Stations of the Cross, the font and the pews. The painting of the ceiling was carried out in 1855 by Mr Henderson, a church decorator. The colours of red and blue are those of Our Lord and Our Lady respectively, and are used in a pattern of garlanding, rosettes, stars and large roundels containing IHS for Jesus and a crowned letter M for Mary.
Over the sanctuary this pattern changes to vines of passion-flower interspersed with other symbols – the visitor might like to look for
- the scourges and the pillar to which Our Lord was tied;
- the seamless robe and the dice which were cast for it;
- the cross, lance and sponge;
- the crown of thorns and the three nails;
- the centurion’s helmet, and the pelican, once believed to wound its own breast to feed its chicks, and hence symbolising Our Lord.
There are also various geometric and mystical designs. Along the purlins, in Latin inscription, runs the Litany of Loreto to Our Lady.
Click here for a description and translation of the inscription.
The stained glass windows, supplied by Messrs John and Joseph Gibson of Newcastle, are also noteworthy, particularly that in the east gable. In the centre pane is depicted Christ’s Ascension, with on his right St Osmund and on his left St Thomas Aquinas, to whom the church is also dedicated.
In 1855 permission had been sought (and granted) from Rome for the erection of the Stations of the Cross in the newly completed church, but it was about 1864 before they were provided, and it is most likely that those now in the church are the ones then erected, since they have been identified as of mid-19th century French origin.
The font was also installed after the church was built. In a report prepared in 1868 for the pending visitation of the Bishop, Fr James Rodgers apologised that due to lack of money a font had not yet been provided, but that he hoped to install one shortly. The font on the sanctuary is almost certainly that original one, now some 120 years old but probably with a later lid. Until 1981 it was located near the church door.
The pine pews and the complementary pine dado in the main body of the church are also probably original. Some years ago prayerbook shelves were added to the pews and very recently, hinges were fitted to the kneelers.
The Sanctuary has been modified on a number of occasions over the decades. The original altar was of stone, resting on two granite pillars and open underneath. It may have been free standing – in the course of a recent alteration, it was found that the lower part of the east gable had once been decorated in a similar theme to the ceiling. The tabernacle was an iron safe enclosed in stone. In 1898 this original altar and tabernacle were replaced by an elaborate highly carved and ornate oak altar and reredos , supplied and fitted by Boultons of Cheltenham at a cost of £251 10s 8d, with a further £10 5s 0d for the tabernacle supplied by W Tickell of Camberwell and £11 18s 9d to Mr R & S Adamson of Gainford for forming the altar steps.
The closing stages of the 19th century saw other changes. In 1899 a new oak pulpit was supplied and erected by Charles Tennick of Gainford at a cost of £17 19s 6d, less £2 allowance for the old stone pulpit. In the same year the original heating system, consisting of pipes under the floor with the heat rising through grills in the stone paving of the centre aisle (the pipes are still lying under the floor), was replaced by a new boiler and heating system, supplied and installed by Dinning and Cooke of Newcastle at a cost of £49 12s 6d, exclusive of mason or joiner work and cartage from the railway station. There is evidence that replacement boilers were fitted in 1922 (cost £27) and again in 1955. All these boilers were fuelled by coke and hand stoked. In 1964 either the existing boiler was converted to automatic oil firing or a completely new one fitted (the expression used was “oil fired heating apparatus”) at a cost of £250. However, the basic heating system remained in use from 1899 until 1990. Since it depended on thermal gravity to circulate the hundreds of gallons of water contained in its 6” diameter pipes it was very expensive to run, particularly on intermittent use where in cold weather it took nearly 20 hours of continuous running to bring the church up to an adequate temperature for just one service. The cost of the replacement modern small bore pumped system with gas fired boiler was £8427.68 plus VAT, comparable in cost to that of 1899 if one considers that average wages have risen by at least 200 times in the intervening century, and very much more efficient into the bargain!
The altar installed in 1898, while a good example of late Victorian ecclesiastical furniture, always tended to be too dominant in a church the size of St Osmund’s, and also obscured much of the stained glass window behind the sanctuary.
In 1962 the spire on top of the tabernacle canopy and the three pinnacles on each of the reredos flanks (described by the priest of the time as “the cricket stumps”) were removed, which exposed more of the window, and oak panelling was added on either side of the reredos and along the side walls of the sanctuary.
In 1981 the sanctuary was re-ordered to current liturgical requirements. The altar table was moved forward and reduced in length and the wings of the reredos lowered to floor level, which resulted in a rather unbalanced appearance. At the same time, the pulpit was removed and the font was transferred from near the church door on to the sanctuary.
In 1990 a major renovation and refurbishment of the church was undertaken. In addition to the installation of new heating, lighting and sound reinforcement systems, the ceiling was professionally cleaned, the pews and doors, which after decades of ever darker varnishing had been painted in the 1970’s in oak “scumble”, were stripped and french polished; the oak-faced plywood with which the dado had been clad was removed and the original dado panelling restored, and alterations were made at the west end with the removal of a modern choir stall and replacement by three additional 19th century pews, obtained from an Anglican church in South Shields.
The most difficult aspect was the treatment of the Sanctuary. Trials were carried out on re-raising the reredos wings and also of moving them and/or the canopy to other positions, but there was no outcome which was either liturgically or aesthetically satisfactory and it was ultimately decided to retain only the tabernacle on its pedestal and the two carved statues – on the left St Osmund and on the right St Aidan carrying the head of St Oswald. In addition the altar rails were removed, the sanctuary reduced slightly in depth and a new stone lectern installed to replace the rather flimsy light oak one of 1981. Finally, the church was carpeted throughout.
Much of the land at the rear of the church was always surplus to requirements and from the outset was let off for grazing etc. The railway closed in the 1960’s and subsequently an exchange was effected with a housing development company of this surplus land for an equivalent amount to the east, alongside part of the remaining church land (see plan on facing page). This exchange land is also let out for grazing, and in 1990 the south-east corner was leased to Gainford Parish Council for use as a children’s play area, enabling them to provide a much needed amenity facility for the whole village.
Visitors to St Osmund’s are recommended to take a stroll round the back of the church to see the cemetery and grounds.
