Patrick Comerford
During my recent visit to Durham, I visited Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle, visited the locations of the former synagogues in Durham, crossed the bridges and walked through the steep narrow cobbled streets and along the banks of the River Wear.
It was my first visit to Durham, and it was also all too brief. But I also I also managed to visit four other churches in Durham. Although I did not manage to get inside any of those churches – this time – their stories, nevertheless, illustrate the variety and diversity of church life in Durham over the centuries, and one of them brought me on a pilgrim trail while another brought me back on what I like to think of as the ‘Pugin Trail’.
Earlier in the day I had also seen Durham Presbyterian Church, first built as Durham Synagogue and described in a blog posting on Friday evening (12 September 2025). But I also visited four other churches, three Anglican and one Roman Catholic:
• Saint Nicholas Church on Durham Market Place, once celebrated in Archbishop George Carey’s book The Church in the Market Place
• The former Saint Mary-le-Bow Church, which housed the Durham Museum until it closed at the end of last year
• Saint Margaret of Antioch Church on Crossgate, a parish church in the Liberal Catholic tradition, dating back to the 12th century, and once part of a mediaeval pilgrimage trail
• Saint Godric’s, built by EW Pugin on a raised site looking across the city.
Saint Nicholas Church, Market Place:
Saint Nicholas Church, commonly known as Saint Nics, is a Grade II listed building on the north side of the Market Place, and was once celebrated in Archbishop George Carey’s book The Church in the Market Place.
The original Saint Nicholas Church is thought to have been founded in the early 12th century by Ranulf Flambard, Bishop of Durham. He cleared Palace Green, between the cathedral and his castle, and established the current Market Place below the castle, with Saint Nicholas Church beside it. The first known vicar was Galfrid de Elemer in 1133.
This church had a buttressed nave and chancel, and a square tower with battlements. Its north wall formed part of the city walls, and abutted the ancient Clayport Gate until the gate was demolished in 1791. A graveyard lay between the church and the Market Place, and there was another behind the church.
The building was extensively modified over the centuries, the east end was shortened to allow street widening, and a market piazza was built against its south wall in the 19th century. But by 1803 it was said to be ‘very ruinous’.
The architect James Pigott Pritchett junior from Darlington was still only 24 when he was commissioned to renovate the church in 1854. However, when the market piazza was demolished, the church was found to be beyond repair, and instead Pritchett was commissioned to design and build a new church.
The old church was demolished in 1857, and all that remains from it is a font dating from 1700 and five bells dating from 1687.
Pritchett designed the new church in the Decorated Gothic style, and it opened in December 1858. The Illustrated London News said at the time it was ‘the most beautiful specimen of church architecture in the north of England’, and the architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner said it is one of Pritchett’s best.
Pritchett’s church was the first in Durham to have a spire. Although it was not part of Pritchett's original plan, it was added at the behest of the Revd George Townshend Fox, who paid for it himself.
George Carey, later Archbishop of Canterbury, was Vicar of Saint Nicholas in 1975-1982. He removed the pews and the majority of the Victorian interior features to make the church more flexible and adaptable. His book The Church in the Market Place (1984) describes the changes and their impact on the life of the parish.
The parish is small, covering only the area around the Market Place, Claypath and the Sands. It is bounded by three other ancient parishes in Durham: Saint Giles, Saint Oswald’s and Saint Margaret of Antioch. Historically, the parish was densely populated. However, slum clearance and commercial developments in the 1920s greatly reduced the parish population parish, and the church draws the majority of its congregation from outside the parish.
The church has a long evangelical tradition, and since the mid-19th century its patronage has been held by the Church Pastoral Aid Society. The church had a long involvement with the fair trade movement and with Richard Adams, the founder of Traidcraft.
The clergy of Saint Nicholas have included Alfred Tucker, a curate in the 1880s who became the first bishop of Uganda; John Wenham (vicar, 1948-1953), New Testament Greek scholar and author of The Elements of New Testament Greek; David Vivian Day, former Principal of Saint John’s College, Durham (1992-1999); Bishop Pete Broadbent, former Bishop of Willesden (2001-2021); and Maeve Sherlock, Baroness Sherlock, a Labour life peer and Minister of State for Work and Pensions.
The Revd Dr Will Foulger has been the Vicar of St Nicholas since 2023. Before that he taught theology and mission in Durham. The main Sunday services are a 9 am, 11 am and 6:30 pm, although I could not find out on the church noticeboard on the Market Place or on the church website when the Eucharist is celebrated.
Saint Mary-le-Bow Church, Bow Lane:
The former Church of Saint Mary-le-Bow, which housed the Durham Museum until last year, is a Grade I listed building on the corner of the North Bailey and Bow Lane, near Durham Cathedral. It is bounded on the north and east by Hatfield College, on the south by Bow Lane, and on the west by North Bailey.
Saint Mary-le-Bow was founded in 1241, and the mediaeval parish church served people living in the North Bailey. It is said to stand on the site of the White Church, or Tabernacle of Boughs, in which Saint Cuthbert’s body was kept until the cathedral was completed. An arch connected the church tower to the fortifications, creating a gateway or ‘bow’, with a room in the tower for a chantry priest.
The gateway, the tower and much of the west end of the church collapsed in 1637, and the church lay in ruins for decades and was not rebuilt until 1685, with the support of the Bishop of Durham and the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral.
Saint Mary-le-Bow was rebuilt on the same site, using earlier material and elements from different dates. The roof dates from the 15th century, the panelling is 18th century, and present tower dates from 1702, with a bell cast by Dalton of York in 1759.
The church had intricate wood carvings. The altar rails dated from 1705, the wooden screen from 1707, the wainscoting was installed in 1731, and the west gallery and vestry were built in 1741.
The church closed in 1968 and many of the fittings were removed. Saint Mary-le-Bow became Durham Museum and Heritage Centre and then Durham Museum. The museum opened in 1972, and the Bow Trust was formed in 1975 to maintain Saint Mary-Le-Bow as a centre for history and culture.
The museum told the history of Durham from the Middle Ages, with displays on industries and trades in Durham, the manufacture of organs, and aspects of Durham’s social history. Works by the Durham sculptor Fenwick Lawson in the sculpture garden include one of Saint Cuthbert carved in 1984 from an elm tree that grew in front of Durham Cathedral.
The museum was mainly run by volunteers, but the costs of maintaining the building and the prospect of extensive and expensive repairs forced the museum to close at the end of last year (2024).
A ‘pop-up’ museum has opened at Prince Bishops Place, on the High Street off Durham Market Place.
Saint Margaret of Antioch Church, Crossgate:
Saint Margaret of Antioch Church at the bottom of Crossgate is a parish church in the Liberal Catholic tradition, with a diversity inherited from recent history – charismatic, catholic, contemplative – that is reflected in the congregations.
Crossgate is the ancient route west from the city, on a bluff overlooking Framwellgate Bridge. It connects the city centre with Neville’s Cross, where the remains of a stone cross are a reminder that Crossgate was once a pilgrim route for those travelling to Durham and the relics of Saint Cuthbert.
Saint Margaret is Grade I listed, with substantial parts that date from the 12th century. Saint Margaret’s was established in the 12th century as a chapel of ease in the Parish of Saint Oswald to serve the people of the Borough of Crossgate or the ‘Old Borough’.
Like Saint Oswald’s Church, Saint Margaret’s was under the jurisdiction of the Priors of Durham, and their successors, the Dean and Chapter of Durham, remain the patrons of the living to this day.
The earliest surviving parts of the church date from ca 1150. At that time, the church probably consisted of the nave, south aisle and chancel; a north aisle was added at the end of the 12th century. The north nave arcade is taller and more elaborate than the south nave, though both are in the Norman style.
The font is believed to date from the 12th century. Two Norman windows survive from that period: one in the chancel, one in the south nave clerestory. The south aisle was remodelled in the 14th century, and new clerestory windows were inserted above the nave.
After their own chapel was built, the people of Crossgate resented still having to attend the parish church at certain times and to pay certain dues. During one dispute, the prior removed the font from Saint Margaret’s in 1343. It was returned by the bishop, but he insisted, however, that the parishioners had no right to use it. Eventually, the residents of Crossgate won the right to be baptised and married in Saint Margaret’s, and burials were allowed there from 1431.
Further expansion in the 15th century included the addition of a Lady Chapel to the south of the chancel, and the tower. Two of the church’s three bells date from this period, while third is from the 16th century.
The memorials in the church include a large ledger slab on the nave floor marking the burial place of Sir John Duck, a 17th-century mayor known as ‘Durham’s Dick Whittington’ because of his poor origins.
The church was restored in the second half of the 19th century, when the north aisle was largely rebuilt, and a full set of stained glass windows was added. The organ dates from 1917 and is by Harrison & Harrison. Their factory until recently was within the parish, and Arthur Harrison was the churchwarden of Saint Margaret’s at the time.
Saint Margaret’s was a leading centre of charismatic worship from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Father Barnaby Huish is the Rector of the parishes of Saint Margaret and of Saint John, Neville’s Cross and Saint Edmund’s, Bearpark. The services include the Parish Eucharist on Sundays at 10:30 am, the Eucharist on Wednesdays at 10 am, and Choral Evensong on Fridays with Saint Cuthbert’s Society Choir.
Saint Godric’s Church, Castle Chare:
Saint Godric’s Church, Castle Chare, formally known as the Church of Our Lady of Mercy and Saint Godric, is part of the Roman Catholic parish of the Durham Martyrs, which also includes Saint Bede’s Chapel and Saint Joseph’s Church. It is part of the Finchale Partnership in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, and was Grade 2 listed after a fire in 1985.
Saint Godric (1065-1170) was a merchant from Norfolk who travelled to Rome and Jerusalem, a ship’s captain and possibly a pirate, before his conversion to the religious life. He retreated to Finchale, four miles from Durham on the banks of the River Wear. There he lived the rest of his life as a monk and hermit, and it is said he died at the age of 105.
Saint Godric’s stands dramatically on a raised site close to Durham city centre, and its design takes full advantage of the location. The church was designed by the architect was Edward Welby Pugin (1834-1875), son of the leading architect of the Gothic Revival, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852).
Pugin’s original designs included a tower and spire, but funds were not available for building them. The church originally consisted of just the five-bay nave and aisles. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop William Hogarth on Whit Monday 1863 and the church was opened by the bishop on 15 November 1864, when the preacher was the future Cardinal Henry Manning.
Fundraising for completing the church began in 1906 and plans were drawn up by Pugin & Pugin, the successor practice to EW Pugin. The tower was completed and reopened on 27 October 1909. It appears likely that the east end was built at the same time; it has seven gables, each surmounted by a stone cross.
The interior continued to be enriched with new fittings. A marble and alabaster high altar was erected in 1914 by Canon Robert Thornton in memory of his parents, incorporating the earlier tabernacle. The altar is probably by Pugin & Pugin, although this has not been established with certainty. The alabaster altar rails may also date from this time.
Stained glass windows were installed In 1913-1914 in the baptistry by the widow of Edward Gannen. A stone war memorial was unveiled outside the church in 1923, and electric light was installed in the church. After Canon Thornton died in 1934, the Lady Chapel was redecorated and panelling and a screen erected there in his memory. The church was consecrated by Bishop Séamus Cunningham on 23 September 1959.
The church was badly damaged in a fire on 13 January 1985. The roof was destroyed, but many internal furnishings survived, including the high altar and some of the stained glass. After two years of careful restoration, the church reopened in 1987.
The church celebrated the 150th anniversary of the church in 2014. Sunday Mass is celebrated at 9 am and weekday services usually take place at 10 am.
