Tynemouth Congregational Church.
A brief history of the building.
The rapid growth of Tynemouth as a residential place necessitated increased
accommodation for the resident. Nonconformists and the numerous visitors who
frequented this popular resort. This present site was purchased in 1865 and
the building completed and publicly opened on the 3rd June 1868, however the
building did not gain a spire until the winter of 1873. In about 1884 the
two houses next to the church were bought and the church hall was opened in
1886. This building was the location for one of the early examples of the
joint use of a church building, even before the Sharing of Churches Act became
law. The Tynemouth Methodist Church became part of the worshipping body in
the nineteen-fifties the combined congregation being known as the Covenant
Church. The two churches had worked closely together for a number of years
before coming together as a single worshipping body. By all accounts this
was a very happy arrangement and considerable work was done to ensure that
the church maintained its links with both the Methodist and Congregational
Churches one the Methodist Circuit ministers and the Rev. John Patton a Congregational
Minister then employed by the Mission to Seamen shared oversight of the congregation.
Later the Rev. Janet Webber of Whitley Bay Congregational Church was given
oversight of the congregation and remained until after the formation of the
United Reform Church. A decline in numbers gradually developed during the
later years of the nineteen-sixties and by the nineteen-seventies only small
congregation composed largely of elderly ladies remained. Those who had been
Methodists joined the Broadway Methodist Church in Cullercoats; the few remaining
members joined St Columba's in North Shields from 1973 onwards. The Church
was converted into "The Land of Green Ginger" shopping Mall in 1980. Later
the Hall was converted into an antique showroom and restaurant.
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