Photographs Of Newcastle

Sailors’ Bethel was built at a cost of £2,000 to the design of Thomas Oliver Junior and was opened on the 12th of April 1877. The word “Beth-el” is Hebrew for “House of God”, and in the 130 years of its existence this building has served as a nonconformist chapel, a community centre, a Danish seamen’s church and now, finally, offices.

In the late 19th century regular trade between Newcastle and Danish ports resulted in cargoes of butter, eggs and fresh meat arriving at the mouth of the Ouseburn, and the Sailors’ Bethel was the ideal place for the Danish seamen to stay overnight whilst their cargo was unloaded.