56 Bath Lane, meeting house

HER Number:
6866

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
56 Bath Lane, meeting house

Place:
Newcastle

Map Sheet:
NZ26SW

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:
Place of Worship

Site Type: Specific:
Nonconformist Meeting House

General Period:
POST MEDIEVAL

Specific Period:
Victorian 1837 to 1901

Form of Evidence:
Extant Building

Description:
Shown on Ordnance Survey second edition as meeting house for Plymouth Brethren. Later a Christian Science church (Second Church of Christ Scientist). This building was listed Grade II in 1992 with the following description: 'Non-conformist church.1878. By Austin Johnson and Hicks. Timber framed, and brick with brick nogging and large plain tile roof. Gabled street front has high brick plinth and recessed central doorway with three-light glazing bar overlight. Either side are single, large, three-light cross casements, all with glazing bars except the three lower lights of the left windows. Above a continuous row of eight glazing bar windows, with immediately above a further row of six glazing bar windows. In the top gable a single square louvred panel. Rear brick gable front has a later flat roofed extension on the ground floor, and above a large seven-light cross casement with leaded lights, and above a louvred panel. Interior: entrance hall and shop with meeting room above, with exposed framing and arch braces supporting a timber panel ceiling. Main hall has four bay wooden arcades with narrow side aisles. Arcades each have three square wooden posts with arch braces, and above four four-light windows now blind. Northeast end has raised dias with reading desks behind an ornate wooden balustrade with beyond double six-panel doors.' {1} Since 1994 the building has been The People's Kitchen, offering food, friendship and warmth to homeless people. The building is largely unaltered apart from the rear which has changed considerably. The Sunday School on the 1897 plan is no longer present and the yard at the back contains a single storey modern extension. The sandstone boundary wall behind the building is in good condition.

Easting:
424240

Northing:
564300

Grid Reference:
NZ424240564300

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 6866 >> Ordnance Survey second edition map, 1890; Department of National Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 100/02; Maureen Callcott, 2006, The People's Kitchen in Tyneside's Finest, pp 81-82; Peter F Ryder, 2012, Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting Houses in Newcastle and N Tyneside, a survey; Mike Griffiths & Associates, 2014, 2 St James Boulevard, Newcastle - Archaeological Assessment; TWAS T186/8262; https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1024721