Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

St Aidan's Church, Gateshead, c1900. Newcastle Libraries. PD Image.

Design for St Aidan's Church by Stephen Piper dated 1891. PD Image.

Plan of St Aidan's Church by Stephen Piper dated 1891. PD Image.

St Aidan's Church c1900. Newcastle Libraries.
Public Domain Image.

Posted 05 May 2025.

St Aidan's Church was built in c1893/4 to a design by Stephen Piper of Newcastle.¹ His original concept, Early English in style, included a tower at the south west corner, but this was not built. The church had seating for a total of 540 worshippers. It is uncertain when the church was demolished, but marriage records seem to continue until 1964,² and a map published after 1971 shows an undeveloped area where the church once stood. The area where St Aidan's stood surrounded by neat rows of terraced housing is just south-east of the roundabout at the intersection of the A189 and A184, Askew Road. Outside St Cuthbert's Court, a block of flats on St Cuthbert's Road, Windmill Hill, there is a stone memorial plaque commemorating St Aidan's Church. Mounted on the top of the brick plinth is all that remains of the church, and what appears to the the roof ridge gable end-stop which supported the stone cross.

No information has come to light regarding the subject matter, location or exact date of installation for Percy Bacon's work at St Aidan's. The only reference so far uncovered is a passing mention in a local newspaper of November 1900 reporting on the installation of one of Bacon's windows at another church, and citing "other examples" in the Newcastle area.³

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1. Lambeth Palace Library.
2. Durham County Council The Story website. Gateshead St. Aidan, Marriages, 1956-1964.
3. Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette - Saturday 10 November 1900, p3.