The Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary and St. Thomas Aquinas in Stella, near Blaydon, was built 1831-1832. It was designed by the architect John Green, whose work also included Grey's Monument in Newcastle and the Penshaw Monument.

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"There was living at Stella Path-head a Widow named Catherine Miles, of the extraordinary age of 103 years, and so active and vigorous that a month previously she carried a stone of flour from Newcastle to her home, a distance of five or six miles. Her son had promised to take her to Stella in the wherry, but she would not wait for that conveyance." 19th July 1834

From: T Fordyce, J. Sykes. Local records; or, Historical register of remarkable events which have occurred in Northumberland and Durham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick-upon-Tweed..., published 1867