old grave stones

grae yard :St. Cuthbert's Church, Bellingham - Map
The 12 th Century building was built with "aisles, choir and nave of four bays, with narrow aisles on each side." The stump ends of the springers of the arcades can still be seen protruding inside at each end of the nave. A south-aisle transept was also added in the 12 th Century.

By 1609, the building was a roofless ruin. During the 17 th Century the present vaulted stone ceilings of the south transept and nave were built. These comprise 'Roman' vault slabs laid on heavy ribs.

18 th Century. External buttresses were added to the nave.

A gallery, accessed by a step-ladder, was removed some time after the mid-18 th Century.

After 1843, the roofs of the choir and nave/south transept were replaced and repaired respectively, two buttresses were built against the west gable and a west window was added.

c. 1885. Floors tiles and pews were added, central heating was installed and the south doorway was blocked.

1926. The pipe organ was installed on the north side of the nave, and the pulpit was moved from the north side to the south side.

c. 1960: the choir stalls were removed, a new altar rail was installed, the pulpit was returned to the north side and the organ was moved to its present position in the south transept.

1996-7. Restoration of stonework, re-plastering, repairs to the central heating system and re-wiring.

The post-Reformation font, an octagonal stone pillar, has a wooden carved lid with metal circlet inscribed in memory of Bellingham men who died in the Second World War.

There is a piscina in the south transept.

Three cannon balls were found during the work on the nave and south transept roofs after 1843.

In the churchyard, affixed to the south wall, a memorial stone (Charlton) is dated 1628. The Long (Lang) Pack tomb on the north side of the church is associated with a gruesome murder (1723). Graves and a memorial of the Fife family (1914) include the name of a former mayor of Newcastle.

The site may be that of the earlier church where St Cuthbert performed a miracle, and near 'Cuddy's Well', which St Cuthbert found and consecrated.

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• gtaves

[The8sidedcircle]

@geordietoddy thanks friend always good to find out something new, pat on the back for you sir :o)

[geordietoddy]

'conspiracy idiots' lol....

We have graves with cross-bones in my home town , it's apparently something to do with them dying whilst serving in the Navy.