Photographs Of Newcastle: Gosforth - St Charles Catholic Church

This church replaced an 1896 corrugated-iron church constructed on the same plot of land donated by George Dunn Junior. The foundation stone of the present church was laid by Bishop Collins on 14 August 1910 and the church opened on 3 December 1911. The architect, Charles Menart was Belgian by birth but was trained and practiced in Glasgow and is a notable early-C20 church architect.

With the exception of the sanctuary, the church was originally quite bare internally and was enriched over time, with additional marble cladding to the sanctuary, stained glass to the apse in 1919, a W gallery to accommodate an organ in the 1920s (enlarged in 1983), and after 1932 the remaining bare walls were clad in Italian marble. After the Second World War three fine stained glass windows by Harry Clarke Studios were installed. Harry Clarke is an important early-C20 Irish stained glass artist and a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement, whose work is famous for its intricate detail and vivid colours. In 1970 a wide glass porch was added to the west end enclosing the entrance and in 1983 the west organ and choir gallery was enlarged and a new full width partition inserted.

The interior was reordered in 1985-6, when the altar rails and the ornate baldacchino over the high altar were removed; the rails were relocated against the side chapel walls and parts of the baldacchino were incorporated into a new lectern and font and into supports for uplighters in the apse. The sanctuary dais was extended forward into the nave, with a new forward altar.

Description courtesy of Historic England.