Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

St Cuthbert's Church Newcastle, circa 1967.
Image courtesy of Newcastle Libraries Public domain image.

Plan of St Cuthbert's by Arthur B. Gibson, 1878. Image courtesy of Lambeth Palace Library.
Public domain image.

St Cuthbert's Church, on Melbourne Street circa 1967.
Image courtesy of Newcastle Libraries. PD Image.

Posted 02 August 2025.

The parish of St Cuthbert's, Newcastle, was formed in August 1877 out of the Parish of All Saints.¹ It was said to house some of the poorest people in Newcastle.² Plans were quickly put in place to build a new church for the parish, and Arthur B. Gibson was assigned the commission as early as 1878.³

Built in an Early English style, and seating 502 souls, the foundation stone for St Cuthbert's was laid in April 1879. It was consecrated by the Bishop of Durham on 18th January 1881. At the time the tower was still unfinished and the work on the south aisle had yet to commence. This had clearly been anticipated by Gibson, as a note on the plans confirms; "Mem: Arches to be filled in with 12" hollow brick wall". The cost was reported as £7,300 with a further £800 required to complete the works.⁴ Constructed from brick, it consisted of a nave, north and south aisles, an apsidal chancel, and a square tower with pyramidal roof in an unusual position to the north side of the chancel. The main roof was steeply pitched with nave and chancel of the same height, which must have greatly pleased the members of the Ecclesiological Society of the time. The tower had an external, circular stair well with a conical roof, rising to a little over half its height, making the whole look a bit like a fairy tale castle. A choir vestry was rather clumsily added to the north east side of the apse. An organ by T. C. Lewis was added in 1885 in a chamber at the base of the tower.⁵ A church hall was built on the south side of the church. A picture (right) taken in about 1967 shows how austere, and brutalist the building was, at least externally.

However, the interior seems to have been highly decorated. In 1892/3 a scheme was designed by Hicks and Charlewood, architects of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to beautify the sanctuary. This consisted of a new reredos carved by Ralph Hedley also of Newcastle, with paintings by Burlison and Grylls. In one of the firms earliest commissions, Percy Bacon was contracted to decorate the walls of the apse. The article in the Newcastle Journal of 19th January 1893 describes the work thus:

Those final words seem to confirm the view that the church was a rather ugly edifice. The cost of the decoration and furnishing was defrayed by an anonymous donor who contributed £1,000 towards the works. Unfortunately no pictures of the interior have yet come to light.

Percy Bacon would continue to work with the architects, Hicks and Charlewood in future years, notably at St Chad's, Bensham, and St Michael & All Angels, Newburn.

The church closed in 1967, and was demolished in 1969. The site is now occupied by student flats and a convenience store.

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St Cuthbert's Church, Newcastle. Design of unknown date for a single light window representing the Annunciation to the Virgin.

St Cuthbert's Church, Newcastle. Design of unknown date for a single light window representing the Annunciation to the Virgin.

St Cuthbert's Church, Newcastle. Design of unknown date for a single light window representing the Annunciation to the Virgin.

St Cuthbert's Church, Newcastle. Inscription.

     St Cuthbert's Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
     Design for the Annunciation window by Percy Bacon.
     Photo courtesy of Northumberland Archives Ref
     DN/E/8/2/2/289.

The only trace of Percy Bacon's work at St Cuthbert's is a watercolour design for a single light untraceried window with a number 2096. The subject is the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary. At the base of the design, the hand-written note of an inscription reads:

No information has yet come to light to confirm where in the church this window was installed, or indeed whether it was ever executed.

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1. Newcastle Courant, 21 Jan 1881, p8.
2. Ibid.
3. See design in Lambeth Palace Library.
4. Newcastle Courant, 21 Jan 1881, p8.
5. Newcastle Journal, 6th April 1885, p3.
6. Newcastle Journal, 19th January 1893, p6. Report on the dedication service.