History of St Lukes Church Ferryhill
It has been recorded that, in the fourteenth century, there was a church in Ferryhill dedicated to St. Ebbe and St. Nicholas. It had a resident priest, who was paid a salary of 16 shillings and 8 pence (83p) a year by the Abbey at Durham. In the years after the Civil War, this little church disappeared and the village became part of the Parish of Merrington.Nothing further of church history is recorded until the year 1829. In this year a church, dedicated to St. Luke, was built by subscriptions from the Bishop of Durham, the Dean and Chapter of Durham and various church societies and individuals. It was consecrated on 19th October by Bishop Van Mildert who, it is recorded, "arrived at 11 o-clock at the Manor House of Mr. Arrowsmith, whence, after being robed, he proceeded to perform the solemn ceremony attended by his chaplains; at the conclusion of which, prayers were read by the Revd. Thomas Ebdon, Vicar of Merrington. The Bishop then preached an excellent sermon from Matthew chapter 13: verses 16 and 17. After the ceremony was over, the Bishop proceeded to Mainsforth to the hospitable mansion of Robert Surtees Esq., where an elegant cold collation awaited his Lordship's arrival".
This church, built on the site of the present Town Hall garden, was a "plain neat structure, built from designs by Ignatius Bonomi, architect to the Bishop, containing three hundred and fifty two sittings". The curate of Merrington preached there every Sunday evening, but there was no endowment or emolument.
On the 15th July, 1843, this Chapel of Ferryhill was separated from the Parish of Merrington by an Order in Council. This new parish consisted of the townships of Ferryhill and Chilton. It was bounded on the north by the parish of Croxdale, on the west by Merrington, on the south by Aycliffe and Shildon and on the east by Bishop Middleham Parish. On the formation of the Tudhoe Parish in 1884, sixty acres of that part of Low Spennymoor in Ferryhill Parish was ceded to Tudhoe.There are records to show that, in the year 1846, a vicarage was built to house the incumbent now that it was a parish in its own right. This Victorian vicarage (now a private dwelling) stands on land to the south of the present church and new vicarage.
In the early part of 1851, a meeting was called, of the parishioners and inhabitants of Ferryhill, to consider the expediency of demolishing and rebuilding the chapel. No reason was given why this was deemed necessary, but a committee was formed to discuss the matter of "taking down the old chapel and building a new one, on the south side of the village, on the ground consecrated as a burial ground".Three weeks later, the plans were approved with the proviso that the materials of the old church be used in the building of the new one. The money required for this venture was raised by subscription. The plans and specification of Mr. Pickering of Durham were to be submitted to the Diocesan authorities for their approval.
The new church was consecrated by the Bishop of Durham, the Rt. Rev. Edward Maltby. Of early English type and design, it consisted of a nave and chancel, a small entrance porch on the north side of the former and a vestry attached to the latter. There was a turret on the west gable housing two bells.
The porch over the entrance, as well as that between the nave and chancel, were supported by corbels sculptured to represent the heads of royal and ecclesiastical personages. The church was well lighted, by single and double windows of the early English style, and designed to accommodate between two hundred and three hundred persons in pews.In 1903 a gale dislodged the bell tower and, in consequence, the tower was altered to hang only one bell.
This photograph shows the new bell when the head stock was replaced on Thursday 20th June 2002.The repair work was carried out by John Gell and Andrew Gibson from Taylor Hastwell Steeplejacks of Lands, Cockfield.
The Bell statistics are:-
Manufacturer: John Warner of London in 1903.
Diameter: 2½ feet (762 mm). Height: 3 feet (914 mm).
Dedicated to "The Honour and Glory of God"