Parish Notes Durham

Hartlepool St Hilda

[Population 1911: 5,137]

Church

ST. HILDA'S CHURCH.- This edifice, the link which unites the Hartlepool of today with the Hartlepool of past ages, occupies an elevated situation, and forms a conspicuous object on the coast. It is supposed to occupy the site of a more ancient structure, and consists of nave with aisles, chancel and aisles, and a massive and lofty western tower. The latter is supported by buttresses of great strength and thickness. The buttresses on the south side of the tower are lower than those on the north and west; but from pinnacles at their extremities, flying buttresses extend to the walls, one of which buttresses, having previously fallen, was restored in 1838. Two tiers of painted arches ornament the tower, which is surmounted by an embattled parapet, with crocketted pinnacles at each corner, and contains three bells. The principal entrance to the church was formerly on the west side of the tower, but it has long been closed up. The southern doorway is a fine specimen of the late Norman or transition period, and is ornamented with chevron moulding. It was long protected by a plain porch, but thanks to the generosity of Mrs. Vollum, widow of the late William Vollum, Esq., of Hartlepool, a more appropriate covering was erecetd in 1852. The interior of the nave and aisles is well proportioned, being eighty-five feet in length by forty-four in breadth within the walls, and each of the aisles is formed by five pillars, supporting pointed arches. The arch which separates the nave and chancel is lofty and of graceful proportions; but the chancel itself was all taken down in 1724, except one compartment, in which the beautiful capitals of the side arches have been fortunately preserved. That on the south side serves as a vestry, and that on the north is enclosed. The whitewash, which covered the greater portion of the church, was removed in 1838 and 1851, so that the magnesian limestone, of which the church is built, is restored to view in all the beauty of its warm buff colour. In October 1838, an organ was placed in the church. There are two defaced and mutilated stone effigies in the north aisle, which have been restored from the churchyard; they are supposed to represent a mayor of Hartlepool and his lady. In the floor beneath the tower is a monumental slab, bearing a cross, and beneath the chancel arch, there is a large slab, inlaid with brass, bearing the effigy of a lady in a high crowned hat, ruff, long waist and stomacher, close gown with long sleeves, and flowered petticoats, and "CASTA FIDES VICTRIX" on a scroll issuing from her mouth. From an inscription on the stone, we learn she represents Jane Bell, wife of Parsavel Bell, mayor of Hartlepool. The font is an elegant basin of Yorkshire marble, and stands under the western gallery. The churchyard contains a tomb belonging to the Bruce family, which formerly occupied the centre of the chancel, but on the curtailment of that part of the church in 1724, it was left outside. It is covered by a slab of black Frosterley marble, nine feet in length by six in breadth, without inscription, but the panels of the supporting sides are charged with the Bruce's badge, a lion rampant. There were several chantries in this church. Bishop Skirlaw, on the 3rd April 1396, granted license to the mayor and commonalty of Hartlepool, to found anew, in honour of St. Helen, a chantry of one chaplain, to pray for the "good estate of the bishop whilst living, of Maude, wife of Roger de Clifford, and their heirs," &c. The chaplain and his successors were to be subject to the rules and orders of the corporation, who were also permitted to grant lands and messuages for the perpetual maintenance of the chantry. Richard Brigge, the last chaplain, had a pension of £4 allowed him at the dissolution. A chantry dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and for two chaplains, was founded at the same time, and for the same purposes as the one just mentioned. It was of the yearly value of £7 13s. 4d. at the dissolution, when its last incumbent received an annual pension of £5. Bishop Skirlaw also granted a license, at the same period, "to refound to the honour of St. Nicholas a third chantry, of one chaplain, to pray at the altar of that saint." The chapelry of St. Hilda, at Hartlepool, though not named in Brus's grant of the churches of Hart and Stranton to Guisborough, is mentioned in the confirmatory charters of Bishop Pudsey, Kirkham, Stichill, and Kellaw; and was also included in the grants of Bishop Beck in 1288 and 1308, by which divine service was to be performed by a canon of that church. In the taxation of 1291, the chapelry of Hartlepool was valued at £23 13s. 4d., a sum equal to about £300 of our present money. The registers of the chapelry commence in 1566. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the vicar of Hart, and the income is about £180 per annum. Curate, Rev. Robert Taylor. [Whellan's History, Topography and Directory of Durham (and Newcastle) (1856), pages 497-99.]

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The Parish Chest

Extracts from the registers 1595-1807 from: Chronichon Mirabile; or Extracts from Parish Registers; principally in the North of England, by Cuthbert Sharp (1841) Available on CD-ROM.

EP Ha.SH 1/15 Burials 1813-1844

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Non-Parochial Records

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Monumental Inscriptions

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