Old Durham Road, St Edmund's Church

The earliest reference to St. Edmund's Church is in 1315 but it was probably founded in the 13th century. In 1535 it owned 80 acres of land and a close at Shotley Bridge. Since it was not dependent on a religious house it survived the Dissolution and was refounded in 1611 as the Hospital of St James. In 1810 a new chapel (in 1865 to become St Edmund's Church) was built to the south of the old one along with 3 cottages. St. Edmund's Church was demolished in the 1960s and today the only evidence for its existence is a plaque in the wall of a house on the site.