The Methodist Church in Newbiggin by the Sea.

A history of the Methodist Church by: Mr Alan Thompson. Local Author

Wesleyanism, or Wesleyan theology, is a movement of Protestant Christians who seek to follow the "methods" or theology of the eighteenth-century evangelical reformers John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley.

Wesleyan, later became ‘Methodism’ and it started to take root in Newbiggin by the Sea on Christmas Eve 1830 when three young Miners named Andrew Colvin, John Gilgour and Thomas Bird, who belonged to Blyth Methodist Church, banded together to form the ‘Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Institution’ and walked to Newbiggin by the Sea in driving rain and howling wind to conduct a service of prayer and hymn singing on Bridge Street (the Quay Wall).

Methodist Church in Newbiggin by the Sea

In their memoirs at the end of their lives both Andrew and John stated: ”That was the night that Methodism came to Newbiggin by the Sea”.

Every Sunday after that they conducted a service and in inclement weather they were warmly welcomed into the homes of the residents where services were conducted. Their message became so popular that it became necessary to find premises to accommodate the growing congregation of converts and have a Sunday school. They eventually took possession of a disused Blacksmiths shop for an annual rent of £8 pounds on an eight year lease.

With the help of Blyth Methodists and local Fishermen the premises were fitted out with a huge fireplace, deal flooring, timber bench seating and a small timber pulpit all transported from Blyth in the Fishermen’s cobles.

The premises were then opened every day and well used by the fisherfolk who spent their spare time taking advantage of the activities on offer. The building was sited next to the Sea View Inn and a building known as ‘The Barracks’.

In 1835 the ever increasing number of worshippers formed a Wesleyan Society that became the most Northerly group in the North Shields circuit and in 1841 Newbiggin with Blyth formed their own circuit and Newbiggin needed new premises. Waste land was acquired in the centre of the town with a 99 year lease with an annual rental of one shilling and in 1844 the splendid stone chapel, now used by the Salvation Army, was built.

In 1872 the ‘Blyth and Tyne’ and ‘North Eastern’ railway companies laid a rail line to Newbiggin by the Sea which brought increasing numbers of visitors and settlers making a significant increase in the population. This also created increased the size of the congregations and the ‘Fishermen’s Chapel, as it became known, was inadequate.

The growing congregation agreed to build a new and bigger Church to adorn Front Street which was named St Andrew’s Methodist Church and continues in use.

Newbiggin Colliery was opened in 1908 and the new pit attracted Miners from across the country but especially from County Durham where ‘Primitive Methodism’ was practised and they wished to have their own church and in 1909 they moved into their new church building in Simonside Terrace.

As Methodism continued to thrive, in 1912 the ‘schoolroom’ behind St. Andrews Church was built. Then in 1932 the union of Newbiggin by the Sea Methodist Churches took place and it was agreed that St Andrews would be the Methodist Chapel.

In 1941 the Church building in Simonside was severely damaged when a German aircraft dropped a bomb nearby during the Second World War. It was not until 1958 that the Simonside hall was fully repaired and used for a range of community activities.

By 2009 the Presbyterian Church on Gibson Street, St Marks United Reform Church, became financially unsustainable and it was sold. The congregation from St Marks were then welcomed by St Andrews and they now worship together in St Andrews in Front Street.

The Author would like to express gratitude to Mr John Robinson of St Andrews congregation for his record.

Author: James Alan Thompson. † Deceased