Church Heritage Record 613040

Rectangular. 3-bay aisled nave with west tower (with external south stair) with porch in base. Shallow west balcony. Boiler house abuts north nave wall. Chancel with north vestry and south organ chamber.

Between the church and the Castle is a SAM marking a DMV – the remains of the medieval village of Castle Eden, a large moated site and an early medieval timber building (C12th or earlier) which survive as buried features beneath ground level. C14th and C15th pottery has also been found. A C6th blue glass vessel, known as a claw beaker (now in the British Museum) was found in the same field in the C18th and is indicative of a Saxon burial ground. A settlement at Castel Eden is recorded in an C11th document. With the churchyard, is a medieval (C13/14) cross slab with effigy (see above), there are also fragments of grave cover sections incorporated into the tower fabric which date to circa C114th. In addition there are 2 medieval (C11th/C12th and possibly pre-Conquest) grave slabs in the organ chamber. Faint traces of medieval plaster with red painted lines can also be detected on a few of the tower stones.

The church occupies a medieval site and there is high archaeological potential for evidence of an earlier building as well as remains beneath the floors, though alterations and heating systems will have disturbed these. Ancient fabric has also been built into the walls of the tower. The churchyard also has potential for finds given the archaeology of the environs.

It is said that the name ‘Eden’ has Saxon origins, from Joden or Yoden meaning ‘a river which gushes forth’. A chapel was built in the C12th. A charter c.1150 by Robert de Brus and witnessed by Bishop of Durham, granted the Chapel of Eden to the Monks of St Cuthbert. The Prior of St Cuthbert was given 4 years to build a chapel.

The church was rebuilt in 1764 ‘from ruinous decay’ by Rowland Burdon, as recorded by an inscribed stone with coat of arms in the vestry. The Burdons were lords of the manor of Castle Eden from 1758 (or 1764?) when they bought the estate at which point the church was in ruins and the mansion house had gone. Successive generations of the Burden family are commemorated in the church. Pevsner and Williamson [1983] call it the first Gothick Revival church in the north of England and attribute the work to William Newton (he built The Castle c.1765 for the family).

Castle Eden had a brewery in 1826 opened by Nimmo and Son.

In 1795 the church was extended by the addition of aisles, new pews, enlarged gallery and the lead roof was replaced with slates. In 1895 the chancel was enlarged (rebuilt?), organ chamber added, vestry extended, arcades inserted, and font relocated to west end. The work is attributed to the architect Hodgson Fowler but a plaque to W S Hicks in the south aisle says “whose last completed work was the redecoration of this church”. In 1902 the oak screen was added, in 1908 the porch was altered and external stair added. The tower was raised 1920-30s?

TPOs as a conservation area. SSSI and national nature reserve to north of site. 

Square 4 stage tower with plinth and crenelated parapet and octagonal lead-covered spire with weathervane. The stone tower walls incorporate some fragments of medieval cross slab grave covers, a sundial and there is evidence of plaster and painted red lines. Quatrefoils punctuate the north and south sides, some blocked. Louvred openings at the 4th stage. Pointed arched windows in raised surrounds. Clock faces in the west and south sides. The west door, set in a Gothick stone arch, has 4 steps up to it. On the south side, an external stair with iron handrail rises to a lean-to open porch on square pilasters. Finished in rendered brick – added c.1908?

The 3-bay nave is marked by three pointed windows. It has a low plinth, shallow pitched roof, raised coped gables, and shaped kneelers. A C19th gabled bellcote at the east end of the north aisle. 2-bay chancel with lean-to vestry to north and organ chamber to south.

The elevations are simple, with the west elevation the most varied. Windows are protected by Perspex.

The church is entered through the base of the tower through half-glazed double doors which open into panelled lobby, c.1908. Access to the tiered balcony and higher levels of the tower is from the external stair.

The walls of the 3-bay nave are plastered and painted. Each bay marked by a lancet window. A panelled dado continues around the walls at the height of the remaining fixed pews. The aisles have been covered in red carpet. Columns on tall square panelled bases, with gilt Corinthian Capitals, carry a moulded arcade plate. A shallow west gallery has trefoil headed open tracery front. The roof is formed of 6-bays with boxed-in tie-beams with king-posts and smaller posts. Ceiled at mid-height of trusses, coved at either side. The aisles have level plastered ceilings with heavy moulded plaster cornice. Small round headed arches lead into the vestry (north) and organ (south) in the east walls of both aisles.

Either side of the round chancel arch are giant Corinthian pilasters. An ornate early C20th oak screen crosses the arch. The chancel is raised by a step, the Sanctuary by another and the altar is placed on a third. The space is oak panelled with tesserae floor, c.1895. Tiered choir stalls to north and south. The chancel has an ornate ceiling with moulded cornice and stencilling, coved at sides, with square panels decorated with Sacred Monograms XPC and IHC alternating with floral patterns (Dr Neil Moat suggests this could have been done by Messrs Burlison & Grylls who painted the east window). The east window of the Chancel takes the form of a Venetian window.

A round arch from the chancel leads into the south organ chamber. Within the organ chamber are medieval stone crosses hardly visible. A doorway in the north chancel wall leads into the vestry which has 2 mural recesses, 1 inside a cupboard.