Northumberland Yesterday and To-dayTerry, Jean F. (Jean Finlay)
History
Northumberland Yesterday and To-day
Terry, Jean F. (Jean Finlay)
Northumberland (England) -- Guidebooks; Northumberland (England) -- History
The church underwent a terrible despoliation at the hands of the
Scots in 1644; but more terrible still were the injuries it
received, a little more than a century later, from those who ought
to have been its friends. In the years 1784-7 there were many
alterations made in the building, during which almost all the old
memorials and monuments perished, or were removed; those which were
not claimed by the living representatives of the persons
commemorated being ruthlessly sold, or destroyed; and the brasses
were disposed of as old metal. The modern alterations and
restorations have been more happy in their effect, and one of the
notable additions to the church is the beautiful carved oak screen
in the chancel, the work of Mr. Ralph Hedley.
There are many beautiful memorial windows in the church, and many
memorials in other forms to the various eminent North-country folk
who have been connected with Newcastle and its chief place of
worship. The Collingwood cenotaph is the most interesting of all;
the brave Admiral’s body, as is well known, lies beside that of his
friend and commander, Nelson, in St. Paul’s Cathedral, but this
memorial of him is fittingly placed in the Cathedral of his native
town, within whose walls he worshipped as a boy. There are two
monuments by Flaxman—one of the Rev. Hugh Moises, the famous master
of the Grammar School when Collingwood was a boy; and the other of
Sir Matthew White Ridley, who died in 1813. Of the newer monuments,
those of Dr. Bruce, of Roman Wall fame, and of the beloved and
lamented Bishop Lloyd, are particularly fine.
Near the east end of the church, which was raised to the rank of a
Cathedral in 1881, is hung a large painting by Tintoretto, “Christ
washing the feet of the Disciples”; this was presented to the
church by Sir Matthew White Ridley in 1818. There are many more
things of interest in the Cathedral, but mention must be made of a
wonderful MS. Bible, incomplete, it is true, but beautifully
written and illuminated by the monks of Hexham, and other
manuscript treasures carefully kept in the care of the authorities.
The oldest church in the town is St. Andrew’s, supposed to have
been built by King David of Scotland at the time when that monarch
was Lord of Tynedale, in the reign of King Stephen. It suffered
greatly in the struggle with the Scots, whose cannon, planted on
the Leazes, did it great damage, and some of the fiercest fighting,
at the final capture of the town, took place close by, where a
breach was made in the walls. In such a battered condition was it
left that the parish Registers tell us that no baptism nor “sarmon”
took place within its walls for a year (1645). But a marriage took
place, the persons wedded being Scots, who, we learn from the same
authority, “would pay nothing to the Church.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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