Church

Great Bavington URC

Great Bavington URC

Great Bavington United Reformed Church, listed as the Presbyterian Church, is a Grade II former Presbyterian meeting house of random rubble and Welsh slate, among the oldest still used for worship in England.

Location
Great Bavington, Northumberland
Country
England
County
Northumberland
City / town
Great Bavington
Address
Great Bavington, Northumberland, NE19 2BN
Postcode
NE19 2BN
Built
1693; porch dated 1725; altered and Gothicized 1869; meeting room and kitchen 1975
Denomination
United Reformed Church
Grade
II
Style
Presbyterian meeting house, Gothicized 1869
Materials
Random rubble with Welsh slate roof
Grid reference
NY 984 802
Opening hours
Covid19 : Open for services on the 1st Sunday of every month (November to March), and the 1st and 3rd Sundays (April to October). [Open most days from late March to late October (British Summer Time).]
Access
Non-accessible toilets in church

Overview

Historic England records a Presbyterian church dated above the south door DB EB 1725, with a porch added, the church altered and Gothicized in 1869 (date below the lintel), and a meeting room and kitchen of 1975 (not of special interest). The vessel is four bays with two-light round-headed Victorian windows on the south; bays one and four were originally doors. An eighteenth-century sundial sits between the second and third bays. The National Churches Trust and Co-Curate date the congregation’s building to 1693, after the Act of Toleration, following the ejection of Robert Blunt, vicar of Kirkharle, in 1662; they describe it as the oldest former Presbyterian church still used for worship in Northumberland and the second oldest in England after Tunley, Lancashire. A west window of 1962 by Hartley Woods of Sunderland marks the tercentenary of the Great Ejectment. Listed Grade II on 5 September 1985 (NHLE 1155038).

Further Information