Parish History

The village of Great Lumley, Durham, England, is pleasantly situated two miles east of Chester-le-Street, above the River Wear and on rising ground which commands clear views of the surrounding country. Seven miles to the south is Durham City, seven miles to the east is Sunderland and ten miles to the north is Newcastle-upon Tyne. Before 1859 there was no Anglican church in Great Lumley, as Lumley was then one of the twelve "Constableries" of Chester-le-Street. The parish church of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert was inaccessible during inclement weather, or when the river was in flood, as there was no bridge in those days, only a ford and a ferry, so people were unable to attend church on a regular basis. The population of the area at the time of the 1861 census was Great Lumley 379, Little Lumley 373 and Lambton 150 - all part of the district of Lumley.

In 1858 the Parish of Lumley was created out of Chester-le-Street and Rev. John Dodd, a curate at St. Mary and St. Cuthbert, was made the first curate of the new Lumley Parish. As there was no established church in the village, John Dodd conducted divine service in the National School at the west end of Great Lumley village and occasionally services such as baptisms were held in the chapel of the Sir John Duck's Hospital close by.

Due to the unstinting efforts of Rev. John Dodd, money required for the building of a new church was raised by subscriptions, donations and sales of work. The land for the church and burial ground, previously known as "Smithy Garth", at the east end of the village, was donated by the Earl of Scarborough, the owner of Lumley Castle and much of the surrounding land and collieries. He also donated £120 and the use of Lumley Castle for a fundraising "Grand Soiree". Other notable donors were The Earl of Durham (£120), The Lady Noel Byron (£100), The Bishop of Durham (£20), Diocesan Church Building Society (£100), The Countess of Elgin (£5), T. Richardson Westgarth Ltd. (£10) and The Incorporated Church Building Society (£200) - on condition that a number of seats were reserved for the "Poorer People of the Parish" - in the event, the final seating plan was open! Smaller donations, mainly from the people of Lumley brought the total raised to £1,264 besides the promises of materials from trades people from Lumley and Sunderland. The total cost of the building was around £1,600.

The foundation stone was laid on 24th June 1859 by Viscount Lumley, son and heir of the Earl of Scarborough. He was nine years old at the time and, sadly, died of tuberculosis, aged eighteen. A sealed bottle containing copies of the Chester-le-Street Advertiser and coins of the realm, were placed in the cavity before the stone was laid. This stone has been missing for many years and the only foundation stone still evident is in the north-west wall of the vestry. This simply reads "J.D. 1859" - presumably the initials of John Dodd.

The ornately decorated silver trowel used on the day was given to young Lord Lumley, and in 2002 his great nephew presented it to Jean Rodger, Christ Church verger, who had been his nanny, for safe keeping in the Church. The inscription reads "Presented to Viscount Lumley on the occasion of His Lordship laying the foundation stone of Christ Church Lumley June 24th 1859".