Church of St Hild and St Helen
CHURCH OF ST HILD AND ST HELEN, MELBURY STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1232269
- Date first listed:
- 21-Jun-1950
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Hild and St Helen
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST HILD AND ST HELEN, MELBURY STREET
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Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 1999-08-21
- Reference:
- IOE01/01252/17
- Rights:
- © Mr T W Henderson. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1232269
- Date first listed:
- 21-Jun-1950
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 14-Feb-1985
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Hild and St Helen
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST HILD AND ST HELEN, MELBURY STREET
- Statutory Address 2:
- CHURCH OF ST HILD AND ST HELEN, MOUNT STEWART STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST HILD AND ST HELEN, MELBURY STREET
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST HILD AND ST HELEN, MOUNT STEWART STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- County Durham (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Seaham
- National Grid Reference:
- NZ 42959 48284
Details
NZ 44 NW SEAHAM MOUNT STEWART STREET (South side)
4/32 Church of St. Hild and 21.6.50 St. Helen (Formerly listed as II Church, of St. Hilda and St. Helen)
Large parish church. 1912 by W.H. Wood. Orange-red industrial brick in English garden wall bond; moderate-pitch green slate roofs.Basilican plan with altar orientated towards south; aisled nave, narthex, Lady Chapel to ritual north of altar and Choir and Vicar's vestries to south. Italian Romanesque style with round-arched openings and Lombard frieze below eaves and gables of nave.
Ritual west end; low projecting narthex with entrances in left and right returns; flanking aisles with lean-to roofs; gabled nave has 4 pilaster buttresses and central rose window. 8-bay aisles, defined by stepped buttresses,have single lancets above sill band; clerestory has round windows in stepped reveals under continuous, chamfered hoodmould. Ritual east end: central semicircular apse; projecting single- storey Lady Chapel to right has smaller apse and 2-bay right return with 2 paired lancets and entrance porch; single-storey Choir vestry to left has 3 small lancets and canted corner with doorway to right. Gabled, 2-storey Vicar's vestry to rear of Choir vestry projects from nave and has square bellcote with louvred belfry, pyramidal roof and vane.
Interior: Baptistry in narthex has Romanesque-style font with cylindrical shaft and deeply carved bowl. Rose window above baptistry installed 1915 in memory of 6th Marquess of Londonderry. Arcade on square brick piers has 7 arches of 2 orders with a smaller arch towards baptistry. The two eastern bays form the chancel. Carved arches and pulpits at either side form part of projected choir side screens which were never completed (source: signed designs which are kept in the church). Clerestory has continuous hoodmould over windows. Aisles have brick transverse arches. Sanctuary and Lady Chapel have hemispherical domed apses. Organ loft to right defined by single tall arch breaking into clerestory. Roof has 7 trusses with arch-braced beams and arcading above.
Low area walls of brick with chamfered sandstone coping, plain cast-iron railings and 2 pairs of gate piers with scalloped pyramidal caps to north and east of church.
Listing NGR: NZ4295948284
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 407590
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 20-Jun-2026 at 10:36:20.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.