Religion from the end of the middle ages to the modern world

The end of monastic world

The sweeping religious reforms instituted by Henry VIII during his rule resulted in major changes to religious landscape of north-east England. As noted above, the abolition of monasteries led to major changes, with many monastic sites falling into ruin and neglect. Indeed, many monastic and associated religious sites have entirely disappeared, this is particularly true for the houses of friars that once existed in the region’s urban centres, such as Newcastle. At Black Friars, Newcastle, the church only survived a few years, but most of the remaining precinct and claustral range was taken over in 1552 by nine craft companies. Later the open space and closes around the claustral range became infilled with 18th-century light industry and tenements.

Blanchland Abbey suffered a very different fate. Its land fell into private hands and eventually came to be owned by Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham. On his death the estate was left as part of a charitable trust. Much of the original infrastructure was converted into a model village, the Abbot’s lodging, guesthouse and kitchen becoming the manor house. The remains of Finchale Priory were also taken over for agricultural use, while the claustral range at Egglestone Abbey was converted into a private house, which was finally abandoned in the mid-19th century. The landscape had been re-ordered in the mid-18th century when the Morritt family bought the abbey and made use of the remains of the medieval buildings as an ornamental feature in their estate. Many of the associated landscape and garden features were recorded in a recent English Heritage survey

The Rise of the Protestant Church

The rise of Protestantism also led to important changes within churches themselves. The role of the eucharist (the part of the mass where the priest says prayers over the bread and wine) became less important, whilst preaching became a more important part of the service. As a result, more pulpits were constructed to allow the congregation to see and hear the priest. Meanwhile, many of the wooden screens known as ‘rood screens’ which were intended to hide the mysteries of the mass from everyone except the priest were removed.

There were periods of iconoclasm when religious fundamentalists removed visual images from churches as the depiction of saints or images of the Virgin Mary was believe to be inappropriate, particularly in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. As a result, parts of elaborate tombs or others parts of the church might be removed or damaged. This attitude also resulted in the destruction of much medieval stained glass, such as at Durham Cathedral and whitewashing over the wall-paintings that would have been such a striking feature of medieval churches.

In the 16^th and 17^th century, religious debates between Catholics and Protestants ranged particularly fiercely. At one point, during the Commonwealth (1649-1660) Bishops were entirely removed, and in the early 1650s, the Cathedral was even used as a prison for Scottish soldier captured during the Battle of Dunbar. This was also a period that saw very little church building; the total reconstruction of Holy Trinity in the centre of Berwick-upon-Tweed is a noticeable exception to this.

However, with the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the church was more able to express itself through building and investing in churches. Bishop John Cosin (bishop from 1660 to 1672) was particularly noticeable for his patronage. He was responsible for the internal reordering of several churches, and is best known for the quality of the wooden fittings he commissioned, of which the screen, pulpit and reading desk at Brancepeth (now destroyed) were perhaps the best examples. Significant features can also be seen at Auckland Castle chapel, Darlington, Durham Cathedral, Egglescliffe, Haughton le Skerne, Houghton le Spring and Sedgefield, among others.

The 17^th century also saw the emergence of other forms of Christianity, who rejected both Catholicism and the state-sanctioned Church of England. Some had their origin in the presbyterian church of Scotland, and the Baptists emerged in the early 17^th century. The period of the English Civil War was a particularly fertile time for the emergence of these non-Conformist traditions. The 18^th century then saw the development of Methodism; initially as a group within the Church of England, but then as a group independent from the church.

These new groups did not have access to the network of churches used by the Church of England; instead they had to build their own meeting places, although at first they often used to meet in other buildings or come together for worship and preaching outside. Because of their very Protestant views, purpose built meeting houses did not have altars and were instead planned to emphasise the importance of preaching and conversation. The earliest of these non-Conformist meeting houses, such as the Quaker meeting house at Coanwood (Northumberland) were very simple in style with little or no architectural elaboration. However, over time, they increasingly embraced contemporary building styles, with, for example, the Methodists building chapels in both neo-Classical and Gothic Revival influenced architecture.

Non-conformist traditions were particularly embraced by the expanding working class and middle class populations, which were rapidly expanding in the 18^th century as the Industrial Revolution swept across the region. This meant that the meeting houses were particularly common in the major urban centres of Teesside, Wearside and Tyneside. They were also commonly found in the East Durham and Northumberland coalfields, as well as the lead mining areas of the North Pennines. However, as these communities have declined economically over the last century or so, the congregations have slipped away leaving these chapels to become redundant; some have been converted to housing or for commercial uses, which whilst leaving the structures intact plays havoc with their internal arrangements.

Church building continued into the 19th century following the Church Building Act of 1818, with architects such as John Green (Earsdon, North Shields, Sugley) and John Dobson (St Thomas, Newcastle) providing new structures. Commissioners’ churches south of the Tyne include Holy Trinity, Seaton Carew (Teesside), though most of the commissions were for colliery villages and of a relatively simple Gothic design. There was a particular increase in the creation of new parishes and consequently church construction from the 1860s following the passing of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act (1860), which freed up the powers of the Durham diocese to increase provision in mining areas, thereby combating the increasing influence of non-conformity. Often these mission churches were constructed from very simple materials such as brick, wood or corrugated iron. North of the Tyne, despite continued church building in the later 19th century, there were few architecturally significant structures, except Pugin’s Roman Catholic cathedral in Newcastle.

For most people, the church or chapel was the centre for many aspects of their lives – baptism, childhood moments, Sunday worship and Sunday school, weddings and funerals. Whilst for rural communities, burial still most commonly took place in the church yard (sometimes expanding over time), in urban areas, the increasing populations meant that the churchyards and chapel burial grounds became overwhelmed. As a result, new, large centralised urban cemeteries were laid out, covering larger populations. In both the rural and urban burial places, gravestones became increasingly common from the 17^th century onwards and were widely used by most sectors of society by the 19^th century. Urban cemeteries often included elaborate burial monuments and mausolea for the expanding urban middle classes.

Another result of the industrial and economic development of the region was an increasing number of groups moving into the area from elsewhere. Some of these came from elsewhere in Britain – such as Welsh miners coming in to work on the coalfields. These left their imprint on the religious landscape; one grave at Escomb (Co Durham) includes a short poem (englyn) in Welsh. However, groups also came in from abroad. Germans and Scandinavian communities could be find, particularly in the major port cities. A Scandinavian Lutheran Church (known as the Norwegian church) and a Swedish Seaman’s Church were built in North Shields. Incoming communities also came from further away; initially arriving as sailors the Yemeni community in South Shields became an important non-Christian group, building the first mosque in the region. Jewish groups were also found in the North-east, initially arriving in the 18^th century, a new influx came in from Eastern Europe in the later 19^th century, and were particularly to be found in the major urban centres. They built synagogues and schools and had their own dedicated burial areas.

The distribution of Sikh gurdwaras in the region reflects that of South Asian immigrant communities (two in Cleveland, one in Darlington, one in Newcastle and two in South Shields). There are also four Hindu temples in Newcastle and one in Cleveland as well as nine mosques in Newcastle, one in County Durham, three in Middlesbrough and one in Stockton. Most of these buildings are converted pre-existing structures, the mosque at Grainger Grammar School, for example, was converted from its original use by the Newcastle Turkish Community Association. There are also some purpose-built structures, such as the Laygate Mosque in South Shields, built in 1973. Many of these communities have separate burial areas, such as the Muslim section of Gateshead cemetery