Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum'

Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum'
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St. John's church

Posted by peter cook on 21/5/2025, 6:39 am

Undated postcard photo.

Re: St. John's church

Posted by Stan Wears on 21/5/2025, 9:37 am, in reply to "St. John's church"

Nice photo Peter. It was converted to a church in 1887, a year before St Aloysius church was built. It was part of the old hospital and converted into a church. It is GRII listed. There are remains of a Pele tower dating back to the 14thC. It is steeped in history.

Re: St. John's church

Posted by Norman on 21/5/2025, 11:03 am, in reply to "Re: St. John's church"

Hebburn Hall is more commonly known as Ellison Hall & a ex 17th-century country mansion that was even there when Henry 8th was King in the 1500s.
The estate was acquired by the Ellisons, a family of merchant adventurers in Newcastle. Robert Ellison, Sheriff and Member of Parliament for Newcastle, replaced the 14th-century Tower house with a new manor house in the mid 17th century.
His descendant Henry Ellison ( who was High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1734) rebuilt the property in a somewhat grander style in 1790, creating, it is said with the assistance of architect William Newton, a three-storey, nine-bay mansion house. Improvements were made about 1819 by architect John Dobson.
When Henry's son Cuthbert (High Sheriff in 1808) died without male issue in 1860, the estate passed to his nephew Colonel Cuthbert Ellison, then to the colonel's sister, Mary Ellison, in 1867 & finally, in 1870, to Ralph Carr of Dunston Hill, Gateshead & Hedgeley Hall, Northumberland. After this the house soon fell out of use as a residence. At the request of Cuthbert Ellison, from 1871, Ralph Carr was granted permission to call himself Carr-Ellison even though he wasnt a Ellison by birth.
In 1886 with Carr Ellison's permission the west wing and some outbuildings were converted for use as a rectory & Church of St John the Evangelist.
The east wing as most of us 'oldies' remember served as an infirmary at ground level & Hospital upstairs from 1897 until 1976, and then very briefly the 'Free Mason's' used it for a short while in the later 1900s.
In 1999 new owners refurbished the property and restored it for residential use.

Re: St. John's church

Posted by Sheila on 21/5/2025, 11:03 am, in reply to "Re: St. John's church"

Thank you for the information about the Church Stan, I always thought it was originally built as a Church.

Re: St. John's church

Posted by Stan Wears on 21/5/2025, 12:03 pm, in reply to "Re: St. John's church"

Thank you Norman. I did not know half of that !

Re: St. John's church

Posted by Brian on 21/5/2025, 12:57 pm, in reply to "Re: St. John's church"

We tend to think of Pele towers as being a Northumberland defensive house but I wonder how many were in historic County Durham.

Re: St. John's church

Posted by Stan Wears on 21/5/2025, 2:38 pm, in reply to "Re: St. John's church"

Newcastle has a few Brian as you know but having one in Hebburn is a bit odd and it can only be medieval?

Re: St. John's church

Posted by Norman Dunn on 21/5/2025, 3:59 pm, in reply to "Re: St. John's church"

This piece of historyb is from the very late 1800s and is talking about the 1500s when Henry 8th was on the throne which is what I mentioned earlier.

Re: St. John's church

Posted by Brian on 22/5/2025, 9:31 am, in reply to "Re: St. John's church"

The strange thing for me is that Pele towers seem to stop at the Tyne. We never seem to hear of any any further south of the Tyne, I know the reivers didn't get that far south but we had other incursions from the North that went a lot further South than Durham, did we have fortified farmhouses or homestead? Did they flee to the nearest castle? Was the lack of apparent Pele Towers down to the Prince Bishops? I think I'll have a sniff about.

Re: St. John's church

Posted by Brian on 22/5/2025, 9:52 am, in reply to "Re: St. John's church"

I quickly found out a few things. Firstly there was also significant amount of Pele Towers in Cumberland and Westmorland.
The Scottish borders also had a series of Pele Towers probably for the same reasons as the English Counterparts.
A number of Churches and vicarages had Pele towers built into their construction as a place of sanctuary for the villagers.
There was also Pele towers in Durham and Yorkshire, the most Southern one was in Northampton this was built by a gentleman who'd previously lived in Cumberland.
I'll see what else I can come up with over tge next week or two.

Re: St. John's church

Posted by Stan Wears on 22/5/2025, 11:40 am, in reply to "Re: St. John's church"

Brian, studying church construction, I know that the bell towers often acted as pele towers to warn villages of intruders etc. They often stored weapons like crossbows and longbows and one reason for that was because they were made from Yew. They chose yew as it is springy and the best place to grow it is in a churchyard where no one will suspect it!

Re: St. John's church

Posted by Brian on 22/5/2025, 12:28 pm, in reply to "Re: St. John's church"

In some areas it was obligatory to have a brazier at the top of the tower that could be lit to warn of the approach by enemies

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