Whitworth Parish Church
Whitworth Parish Church
Whitworth Parish Church stands on Stanners Lane in the grounds of Whitworth Park, Spennymoor, County Durham. It is a Grade II parish church in the Diocese of Durham.
- Location
- Whitworth, County Durham
- Country
- England
- County
- County Durham
- City / town
- Whitworth
- Address
- Stanners Lane, Whitworth, County Durham, DL167QX
- Postcode
- DL16 7QX
- Built
- Mentioned 1183; nave 1808; chancel 1850
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Diocese
- Durham
- Parish
- Whitworth
- Grade
- II
- Style
- Gothic Revival
- Opening hours
- Open 2pm to 5pm April to October on 1st Sunday in month and Bank Holidays. Open by appointment outside opening times.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas
Overview
The church is first recorded in 1183 in the Boldon Book as a chapel of ease to Kirk Merrington. The nave was rebuilt in 1808 and the chancel added in 1850. A west bellcote sits on the gable; a north vestry door is dated 1930. Two pent shelters of 1935 at the west end house medieval effigies moved from the churchyard: a late thirteenth-century knight in mail, traditionally linked with Humez of Brancepeth, and a draped female figure. The chancel roof of 1888 and a Perpendicular-style reredos of 1895 are by Ralph Hedley of Newcastle. Stained glass includes a 1901 east window to the Revd E. A. Wilkinson and a 1920 west war memorial. Robert Shafto — ‘Bonnie Bobby Shafto’ — was born and buried here.