Sacred Heart Church, North Gosforth

The Sacred Heart RC Church is a Roman Catholic church and parish in North Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. Situated to the south of the village of Wideopen and north of Gosforth Park, the church is Grade II listed on the National Heritage List for England. The church is notable for its stained glass windows, bearing designs by artists from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

History

St Mary's Church

The church is a 19th-century former Anglican church, built and donated by Thomas Eustace Smith in the 1860s, and named St Mary's. Use of the church fell following the more general use of St Columba's church in Seaton Burn, which was closer to most of the parish, and the church later closed.

Sacred Heart Church

The church was bought in 1911 by Bishop Richard Collins, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle and endowed to the Diocese. Mass was first led by the Bishop on 28 January 1912, and the church was formally dedicated to the Sacred Heart on 24 June 1912.

Architecture

Built in the 1860s, the church is designed in the Early English style of English Gothic architecture. The architect is unknown, but due to a number of similarities to the church of Baldersby St James in North Yorkshire, the parish believes that it is the work of William Butterfield or one of his students.

Stained glass windows

The church is notable for its stained glass windows, bearing designs by Pre-Raphaelite artists Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown and William Morris.