---
title: "St John's Methodist Church, Sunderland"
description: "Located in Sunderland, Tyne & Wear. Built 1887-88; hall c.1907. Grade II. Early English Gothic style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Methodist Church","Tyne & Wear","Tyne and Wear","Sunderland","Ashbrooke","Grade II","Early English Gothic","Robert Curwen"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/sunderland-st-johns-methodist-church"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T02:50:21.519Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-09T12:31:10.220Z"
location: "Sunderland, Tyne & Wear"
country: "England"
county: "Tyne & Wear"
town: "Sunderland"
address: "Ashbrooke Road, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, SR2 7HQ"
postcode: "SR2 7HQ"
built: "1887-88; hall c.1907"
architect: "Robert Curwen; contractors J H Thorp and Sons of Leeds"
denomination: "Methodist Church"
dedications: ["John"]
grade: "II"
style: "Early English Gothic"
materials: "Rock-faced sandstone with ashlar sandstone dressings; Prudhoe stone tower; Denwick stone interior; graduated Lakeland slate roof"
website: "https://www.sunderlandmethodistcircuit.org.uk/"
openingHours: "The church is open throughout the week for various activities for the elderly, children and families."
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1207054"
gridReference: "NZ 395 558"
accessNotes: "Accessible toilets in church. Non-accessible toilets in church"
---

# St John's Methodist Church, Sunderland

St John's is a Grade II Wesleyan Methodist church of 1887-88 on Ashbrooke Crescent, Sunderland, with an attached hall of about 1907, both by Robert Curwen.

## Overview

Historic England lists the church and hall together. The contractors were J. H. Thorp and Sons of Leeds. The fabric is rock-faced sandstone with ashlar sandstone dressings, Prudhoe stone for the tower and Denwick stone internally, under a graduated Lakeland slate roof. The plan is Early English: chancel, five-bay nave with aisles and paired transepts, a four-stage south-west tower with octagonal stone spire, and a north-west porch. Meeting rooms occupy an undercroft to the chancel; a corridor links the church to the hall. The ritual west front to Ashbrooke Road has a gabled canopy over paired doors and a large five-light window. The tower has a door, lancet slits, an arcade and tall paired belfry lancets, with pinnacles, lucarnes and carved bands on the spire.

The interior is plaster and ashlar with a hammer-beam roof on corbelled wall shafts. Furnishings include a pulpit and reading desk on stone pedestals, a brass pulpit handrail in the form of a serpent, a brass and cast-iron communion rail with sunflower ornament, and carved choir pews. Glass includes an 1888 lancet in the north transept, an east window to T. C. Squance (d.1897) and a west Crucifixion window to J. W. Taylor. The church stands in the Ashbrooke Conservation Area.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1207054](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1207054)
- [British Listed Buildings: Church of St John and attached hall](https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101207054-church-of-st-john-and-attached-hall-st-michaels-ward)
- [Sunderland Methodist Circuit](https://www.sunderlandmethodistcircuit.org.uk/)