The glebe is an area of church land which provided part of the vicar’s income. Since the 18th Century, there have been at least three vicarages, two schools, two stables and one coach house on St Maurice’s glebe. All these buildings have a unique and fascinating history.

The Church of St Maurice

The turbulent history of the Borders has been decisive in defining the character of the churches in north Northumberland. The Scots showed no compunction about attacking ecclesiastical buildings. This instability in medieval times meant that without security and prosperity, the complexities of design and execution found in so many southern churches were absent. Also, the comparative ruggedness of the county and climate produced more utilitarian and severe designs. Apart from the imposing tower, which survived the Scottish raids, the body of St Maurice’s church is basically the 17 th century reconstruction with later additions and alterations made in Victorian times. This important church was listed by Historic England in 1969.

The mid-13 th century Tower may have been a safe retreat during the time of the Border raids. In the 1640s, during Cromwell’s time, virtually all the church except the tower was destroyed by the Scottish army. There are many scars on the tower from the impact of the ammunition from the soldiers’ muskets. The belfry has two ancient bells – the one named Anthony, which came originally from Old Bewick’s Chapel of Ease, has a German inscription and is dated 1489. It is one of only two foreign bells in Northumberland. The tenor bell is older and was cast in England in 1460. In the early 19 th century, a staircase in the tower accessed a gallery which provided extra seating when nearly everyone went to church and there was a need to accommodate a congregation of around 600. A steeple was added to the tower in 1870 as a memorial to local man Oswald Carr, who was killed in action in New Zealand. The blue enamelled clocks were added in 1910 and financed with funds raised locally. The numbers and dial are finished in 23 carat gold leaf. The manual winding system was automated in 2017.

The Porch was built in 1866 as a memorial to Archdeacon Coxe whose designs had been found posthumously in his library. Ecclesiastical architect F. R. Wilson, developed these plans and gave his services gratuitously. Victorian restorers often placed interesting stones they had found in church porches and here at St Maurice is the 12 th century font from the now ruinous Bandon Chapel plus two earlier memorials: the top of a medieval cross slab and a magnificently carved 18th century gravestone displaying many symbolic images of death and resurrection.

The octagonal Restoration Font is dated 1663 and is one of the oldest and most unusual features of the church. The eight sandstone faces of the bowl are carved with symbolic pictorial images with the words WASH AND BE CLEAN and the name of the mason, WILLIAM BUTEMENT. On one face there is an inscription ‘CR’ Carolus Rex or King Charles II. His initials are carved either side of a crowned thistle, rather than an English rose, suggesting the mason or sponsor may have had Scottish connections. Before being repositioned close to the tower and opposite the main door, the font had at least four other locations in the church. Above the font is the portrait and memorial to the Reverend Hugh Hodgson (1737-1810), who was the vicar of St Maurice’s for 40 years.

The aisleless Nave was largely rebuilt in the 17 th century reconstruction. The two early 20 th century stained-glass memorial windows depict the Celtic saints Aidan and Cuthbert. The Reverend Baker Tristram added the Vestry in 1826. The two wall plaques record his family’s support for children’s education before it became compulsory. His grandson commissioned the St Cuthbert window from the Newcastle workshops of Wailes and Strang. It is in memory of his father who was a Canon at Durham Cathedral and also, like his father, a promoter of girl’s education.

The oldest transept, the Ogle Chapel, is built over the Ogle family vault and has been much altered over the years. The intricately decorated medieval cross-slab dates from the early 16 th century. It is thought to have been damaged and removed from the church during the Reformation not long after it had been carved. In the late 19 th century, it was found broken in the churchyard, recovered and set in the floor of this chapel with only the image of St Michael missing – a likely target of the iconoclasts. It is the gravestone of Henry Ogle, the first Ogle of the Manor of Eglingham. In Victorian times, Squire Ogle had the luxury of his own fireplace in the chapel, when the rest of the church was unheated. The earliest of the church’s stained-glass windows depicts St John and Christ at the tomb of St Lazarus. It was designed by Winfred & Co. Birmingham and was fitted here in 1884 as a memorial to Robert Ogle, the last in the 400-year line of Eglingham Ogles. The glazed wooden screen was installed in 2009, and the Lindisfarne Legacy exhibition in 2023.
The South Transept is Victorian and still has the original box pews. Wall plaques and a fine modern stained-glass window, illustrating a naturalistic interpretation of the local countryside, are memorials to the Carr-Ellison family. They are longtime benefactors of the church, who live at nearby Hedgeley Hall.
The Lady Chapel was installed and dedicated in the 1970s as a memorial to friends Archdeacons Pawson and Foreman. Below the south window is the gravestone of the Reverend James Somerville, a Presbyterian minister from Branton Chapel. In 1808, dissenters could be buried in their local parish church regardless of their differing beliefs.
The Chancel Arch looks Norman but is probably 17th or 18 th century, possibly reusing older materials, and it was altered again in the 19 th century. Beneath the chancel floor is the vault of the Collingwood Family of East Ditchburn and Lilburn Towers. They are the ancestors of Admiral Lord Collingwood who was with Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. One of the two 1970s mosaic stained- glass windows, by master Scottish glazier Gordon Webster, is a memorial to members of their family, the other is Archdeacon Hawkes’ memorial. The 1909 East window depicting the Transfiguration is by Clayton and Bell of London. The plaque commemorates Edward Bigge, the first Archdeacon of Lindisfarne in Eglingham. The Organ was made by Nicholson & Son of Newcastle. Francis Nicholson came to play at its ceremonial opening on Sunday 5 April 1874.

Eight of the eleven Eglingham Archdeacons of Lindisfarne, who served at St Maurice’s from 1842-1980, have memorials in the church. Ten are buried in the churchyard.

Church Buildings

The Georgian Vicarage was remodelled in the late 1840s when the Victorian vicarage was built, and the adjacent Tithe barn demolished. The house stands at the corner of the Beanley cross road surrounded by a high 18 th century wall. After its refit, the property was used to accommodate the Archdeacon’s servants, initially his gardener and family (the kitchen garden was adjacent). In 1878, the ecclesiastical architect F. R. Wilson drew up plans to add a laundry extension with a tall chimney. The laundry maids lived in the house. The gap by the main gate is where the railings were removed in 1942 for the County War Salvage Scheme. An old well survives in the garden. In 1940, the property was sold by the diocese of Newcastle to a private buyer.

The Victorian Vicarage was the project of Edward Bigge, the first Archdeacon of Lindisfarne. Brought up at Linden Hall, he complained that the Georgian Vicarage wasn’t up to standard, and in 1843 requested consent to build a new modern parsonage on glebe land to the south side of the church. He raised a mortgage and chose the London ecclesiastical architect Edward Blore to design a house in the popular Tudor revival style. After his early death, the project was completed in 1849 by a relative, his successor, the second Archdeacon of Lindisfarne, George Bland. Ten Archdeacons lived in this grand house until the early 1980s when it was sold by the diocese of Newcastle to a private buyer. The Vicarage was listed by Historic England in 1987.

The most recent Vicarage, built in 1982 in the kitchen garden of the two former vicarages, is owned by the diocese of Newcastle.

The Vicar’s Stable, Coach House and Parish Stable alongside Church Lane, the main access to the church, are three of the most interesting small buildings to survive in Eglingham village. The 18 th century Georgian stable and coach house was in use by the incumbent vicar until cars replaced horse drawn carriages in the early 20 th century. The Parish stable, close to the main road, was added by the church authorities in 1840. Built by William Pringle, it had stabling below with a hay loft above and was purpose built to temporarily stable the horses of local landowners when they attended church. Sold by the diocese of Newcastle in 1940, the buildings were listed by Historic England in 1987. After a period of neglect, they were converted for domestic use in the first decade of the 21 st century.

At a time when there were no government grants for education, country clergymen were often the driving force as founder, manager and occasional teacher in Village Schools. Sometime between 1814 and 1821, Eglingham vicar, the Reverend Robert Caswell, built a school over his coach house which educated both boys and girls. Hartburn village also had an early school over their church’s parish stable, but Archdeacon Singleton when visiting Eglingham in 1824 was recorded as saying he thought this was a most ‘whimsical position’. This school was enlarged in 1834 by the Reverend Baker Tristram to cater for a growing population.

By 1828, the Reverend Baker Tristram had also built a Girl’s School on his glebe land and largely at his own expense. The vicar and his wife were both passionate about education and this purpose-built girl’s school was rare in a small rural village, if not unique in Northumberland. Situated along the Beanley road at the entrance to the Victorian vicarage’s private driveway, the two-story building was built in the neo-gothic style. The large school room on the first floor was airy and well-lit. Downstairs were two rooms designed to accommodate the school mistress. Outside was a walled playground and a gate onto the glebe field. Forty years later, in 1868, the National Church School opened in the village replacing all these former school buildings.

The girl’s school was later converted for domestic use and had various other uses before it became derelict. In 1978, a feasibility study was commissioned by Sir Ralph Carr-Ellison with the intention of converting the dilapidated building into a museum of education. The Reverend Hugh Priestner revived this idea in 1982, but his plan also had to be abandoned. After Alnwick District Council threatened to demolish the old school in 1984, it was sold by the diocese of Newcastle and converted into a family home.

During the 19 th century, curates at the church were boarded in and around the village. In the early 1920’s, there was a proposal to build a dedicated curate’s house. Around the same time, a committee had been formed to fund raise for a memorial to commemorate Archdeacon Ormsby who had died in 1924. The Carr-Ellison family offered to contribute £300 if the memorial could be the new curate’s house. Although their preference was to build a new property, an offer from Colonel Milvain of Eglingham Hall to sell the committee one of his estate houses in the village for £800 was too good to refuse. Funds were raised from donations and a December sale of work. The house was renamed Memorial House and a dedication stone was added above the front door. It reads: In memory of the Rt. Rev. Bishop Ormsby and Col. And Mrs Carr-Ellison 1925. who had both also died. In the early 1980s the house, which is not on the glebe but is located next to the road bridge across the Eglingham Burn, was sold by the church. The new owners reverted to its original name, Bridge House.

Carolyn Brewster 2024