The Minster Church of

THINGS POLITICAL

A Tour of The Minster

( This is a new page, still under construction . The tour intends to point out only the main "artifacts" in the building, leaving the greater detail in other pages. May we refer you to the 'Minster History' and 'Rectors' pages/booklets for more professional and detailed notes)

The church is normally entered, other than for the more popular or important Civic services, from the South Porch, which was built as part of the programme of restoration some seventy years ago. The porch gives access, on the right, to a small room now used as a Fair Trade shop (OACT) : this is a venture that the minster has supported for a number of years now. We strongly suggest that you include this worthy enterprise in your visit to the minster. Opposite this shop and up a couple of steps, a doorway leads to the South Gallery, which is rarely used in recent times.

Still in the porch, the next doorway on the left is the Clocktower Coffee Shop - is a very popular venue with local workers, passers-by and shoppers, as well as other folk visiting the church for a number of reasons: a good range of meals and snacks is served here. This facility was created at the time of the extensive re-ordering of the building ,which commenced in May, 1981 and was concluded in December, 1981, and which resulted in the church seating capacity being reduced from 1200, while allowing the church to extend its ministry and service to the community at large by also enabling the use of the church to include mid-week activities, lunch time forum, concerts, special services, drama and exhibitions.

Normally, access to the church itself is gained via the Coffee Shop, which gives on to the extended Narthex ; our tour will therefore take this route.

Narthex

Formerly the back of the Nave, this area was included as part of the Narthex/West Porch in the re-ordering, by the sympathetic use of the former Choir screen and the construction of two doorways (at the south and north sides) to enclose the two outer aisles. At the same time, the World War 1 memorial doors were moved forward to the east side of the tower, thus completing the line of the newly ordered Nave. This 'new' area contains two fonts. The first we come to, on the south side, next to the memorial doors is one of alabaster , which has no been in use as a font for a considerable time now, but is skillfully and usefully employed by our flower arrangers.

Turning to the left, we come across the plaques mounted to record a very long line of incumbents, many of whom went on to greater preferment - although this parish at one time was known to be a very lucrative living-even though many of those names listed paid few, if any, visits to Bishopwearmouth.

Turning left again, we find the stairs leading to the Minster office, Tower balcony and the belfry and under these stairs is a third font - this time a very old one believed to be Saxon in origin. The only other items in the church of equal age are the three wall-mounted fragments believed to be grave cover discovered during some excavation work in the 1930's . Note also the rack of Sidesmen's staffs - no longer used (regrettably, some would hold), to restore either order or wakefulness to a recalcitrant congregation !

Moving towards the northern side of the Narthex/West Porch, we pass a recent installation, the William Morris window (See the parish History page for a detailed description) which was moved to this church from Christ Church, Ashbrooke - happily, with much of the congregation - on the sad, but necessary, closure of that building as a parish church. (That building is now used, and is apparently the focal point of much good work carried out, by the Sikh community).

We then come to the northern end of the porch, which has been adapted to house the ladies' lavatory, but has also some items of less recent date, including two old settles/pews , whose provenance appears to be largely unknown.

Returning to the centre of the Narthex, we pass into the arch of the Tower and it is well worth taking time to turn left to view a rather magnificent piece of work, a marble font donated by Robert Long, rector of the parish from 1183 to 1907, in memory of his son who died in India in 1902. I well remember, as a choirboy, processing with my colleagues and led by a crucifer to take our part in Baptisms at this font from in the mid to late 1950's. Those services seemed so important, spiritually rather than socially, at that time.

This area also houses access to the new lounges/meeting rooms, which until recently included an Computer centre run by the City of Sunderland College. On their departure, they left all the computer hardware in place. Hopefully, this is a temporary measure and the centre will be re-financed, or the rooms will be restored to their previous condition under the "dilapidations" clause of the contract. We await this decision.

Turning back , we can then head East, but before we pass through the World War II Memorial doors we notice on the right the second of our old fonts. This one is of alabaster and (at least to my untrained eye) is a beautiful piece of work dating from the sixteenth century, and unearthed many years ago in the rectory garden. Not now in use for its original purpose, it still works to the glory of God through the skill of the dedicated flower arrangers who work in and for the Minster.

Turning to the left, we come across the plaques mounted to record a very long line of incumbents, many of whom went on to greater preferments - although this parish at one time was known to be a very lucrative living. Many of those whose names are listed made few, if any, visits to Bishopwearmouth - they paid a curate to do the work instead !.

Turning left again, we find the stairs leading to the Minster office, Tower balcony and the belfry and under these stairs is a third font - this time a very old one believed to be Saxon in origin. The only other items in the church of equal age are the three wall-mounted fragments, believed to be part of a grave cover, discovered during some excavation work in the 1930's

Re-tracing our steps we pass one of the more recent installations - the William Morris window which was originally placed in Christ Church, Ashbrooke, but on its closure and subsequent sale to the Sikh community was acquired by the Minster, it being seen as appropriate that it should be installed here as so many of the Christ Church congregation had become a part of the 'Minster parish - now 'congregation', since the Minster is no longer a parish church !

Moving further across, we come to two high backed pews which very probably date from aroung 1632, and a selection of Sidesmen's staves - largely designed originally to ensure that worshippers continued to 'watch and pray' rather than fall into slumber (especially during the lengthy sermons which were 'de rigueur' in earlier centuries.

..... And so out towards the memorial doors, passing first the wall-mounted wooden plaque (constructed by Andrew Newton) recording the date when the church became a Minster on 11th January 1998- more of Andy later- before moving left to admire the font donated by a former Rector, Rev Long, in memory of his son. This font was in constant use for a great number of years, when the choirboys (myself included in the 1950's) would process to it, there to sing at the baptism of new members to the church -- a rather private (and perhaps the more meaningful for some) celebration in those days.Sadly, it is never used now.

Beyond the font, a door gives access to the rooms above, used in comparatively recent times for a well-used and appreciated resource - the Minster "Internet cafe" and computer centre, run by the City of Sunderland College to give mainly retired folk the opportunity of acquiring computer skills to equip them more for the exciting development being made in the world of Information technology. I was one of the avid students, who gained the necessary grounding, enabling the production of this website. I regret its loss to the community and remain convinced that, were our former Administrator AnnTodd still with us, so also would be the computer section -- otherwise she would certainly have invoked the 'delapidations' clause in the contract !

But, enough of such 'political matters. Proceeding back into the Nave, the main body of the church, we turn left down the outer aisle, passing the rooms already referred to, including very useful ground floor storage - where much of the Choir's music is kept among other treasures.

Proceeding onwards, we next come to the North Transept, with its array of memorials to former parishioners, included among which is a rather fine lectern - unfortunately also no longer in use at all - dedicated to the memory of Major Robert Hudson, a Churchwarden and bellringer (as was his father before him) who lost his life in the belfry, where he was muffling the bells following a Royal death.

The North Transept gives access to the North Porch, from where steps lead to the Gallery (left at the top of the stairs) and one of the lounge rooms, which contains pictures of some of the Parish's former incumbents. Worth spending a little time putting the faces to some of the names.

And so, returning down the stairs, turn left first to take a look at the Vestry /Choir Vestry, which is a pleasing room constructed in about 1887, with two large safes installed for the safe keeping of such things as registers and the church plate. It also contains some interesting paintings of past incumbents plus one of John Wesley who visited and preached here, plus some old prints of the church and a copy of the seating plan headed "A List of the Seats in Bishopwearmouth Church as they were at first and also in the year 1658", which we might reasonably assume is the first plan drawn up for the newly installed pews, in or about 1632, including, as it implies, any changes which had occurred by 1658. The 233 seats were shared out between 121 parishioners and their families..

Moving out, go towards the Chancel, with its comparatively recent re-ordering which provided a Nave altar and dais. We pass the pulpit, which formed part of the 1930's reconstruction. Sections of the carved woodwork which formerly formed the screen, in line with the front of the pulpit, have been incorporated into the new doorways at the west end of the aisles and also against the back wall of the small gallery beneath the tower. At the same reordering, half of the choir stalls (obviously the front half, with the clergy stalls), were removed to accommodate the dais. Unfortunately, this left only the choir stalls behind the arch and seriously reduced the effectiveness of the choir's efforts, as the resonance /acoustic in the remaining area is rather poor - especially with the outpourings of the organ to contend with. The organ loft is on the north side of the chancel and the consul on the South side. The instrument has been well acclaimed, the work of the well known builders, Harrison & Harrison.

The nave and chancel are in fact not in strict alignment, as the chancel slants slightly to the south; this is sometimes known as a "Weeping Chancel", as it is said to represent the drooping head of Christ on the Cross.

The West window is described more fully elsewhere. Sufficient to say that it dates from the late 1940/50's as it replaced the one which was destroyed by WWII bomb damage. It subject is the Creed - the main tenets of our faith and the words are sympathetically translated into images which very well some up our Anglican tradition.

It is interesting to note that the reduced worship area is restored to the cruciform shape that existed between 1850 and 1932. Hopefully, the church will continue to suit the needs of the community, but especially Anglicans for whom and by whom it has been cared for for over four hundred years

The tour ends with the small Bede Chapel was added to the south of the chancel and the new altar with its Jacobean carved panels. This structure was found in a local chapel, as a pulpit very much the worse for wear but identified as belonging originally to this church. On it were carved the date 1632 and the initials R.P., which possibly referred to Robert Pattison who was a considerable yeoman farmer at the time; he may have been a churchwarden, and as such would have been largely responsible for the installation of the new furnishings. In spite of the pulpit's sorry state it was found possible to restore the four carved hardwood panels, and these were incorporated into a new altar table which can now be seen in the church's Bede Chapel.

Also dating from this time are the four stone figures of the Saints Michael, George, Aidan and Cuthbert, set into the walls at various points, which were modelled by a Mr. Cameron of London.

Finally, our latest installation is the Bede Chapel window, which was was commissioned by the congregation of Sunderland Minster in March 2005 and has been designed and created by Thomas Denny, and fabricated and installed by Thomas Denny and Patrick Costeloe August 2006

The designer explains his work:-

"The Bede Chapel is an intimate space with three windows enveloping the altar. Stained glass in the windows contributes profoundly to the character and atmosphere of the chapel. Unity of colour is important here and I would hope that the windows can be enjoyed as a unified whole, but also explored individually.

The colour, golden with areas of near whites and passages of more intense cooler colours, is intended to work in the particular situation of the Bede Chapel, where much of the daylight is partially obscured by buildings: golden windows will appear to draw light into the Chapel.

The theme is prayer, contemplative and active, as expressed in the lives of Bede and Benedict Biscop and their relationship with the City of Sunderland:

"seek the welfare of the city..... and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare will, you find your welfare" (Jeremiah 29 v 7)

In the southerly window (pictured right) Bede kneels in prayer at the shore of the sea. Above him, an owl moves up towards the moon. His landscape, bounded by the rivers of the Wear and Tyne is suggested, map like behind him. The right hand light contains memories, events, activities of his life - teaching, welcoming, writing; "pages" emerge as one looks down the window, themselves full of fragmentary letters and miniature scenes.

The northerly window (pictured left) is about Biscop, who walks and gestures like a giant sower, scattering his achievements around him; his movement and activity balancing Bede's stillness and contemplativeness. The left hand light contains figures representing aspects of the extraordinary fruitfulness of Benedict Biscop's life.

The central window has areas of intense violet that seem to emanate from the two outer, supporting windows and a structure of nebulous columns of colour. The central window is about the city, with its layers of time, humanity, life and structures: groups of walkers, of onlookers, of workers; half veiled buildings and bridges and pavements; the mouth of the Wear.

The leadlines are unassertive and supportive of the rhythms expressed in the colour and light. The pieces of glass have many colour changes arrived at by way of acid etching, plating and silver staining."

Your opinion on these pages is invited. Please contact me by e-mail:- david.herring@ukonline.co.uk with any queries, comments, criticisms or suggestions - all are equally welcome !

Pages prepared by David Herring 24/05/2008