Parish of Greenside
History
John Wesley visited Greenside in 1751, where he noted that he had the largest congregation he'd ever seen in the north of England. In 1781 a large house was converted into a place of worship for the Methodists.
St. John’s Church, Greenside
St John 's Church is formally known as St John’s the Evangelist. It was founded by Archdeacon Charles Thorp as a Chapel of Ease to Ryton Parish in memory of his father, the Rector of Ryton, 1795 to 1807, built from stone from the Overstone Quarry. It was consecrated on 18 September 1857, by the Bishop of Durham.
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1857 to 1957 Centenary Magazine, St John the Evangelist
Church of the Holy Spirit, Crawcrook
In 1905 a second church was built in Greenside Parish. The corrugated iron exterior of the new building soon earned for it the local name of the “Tin Church’. The corrugated iron exterior of the new building soon earned for it the local name of the “Tin Church’. By the 60s the “Tin Church” had served its day, and was in need of considerable repair.
The site of the “Garden House” farmhouse and outbuildings had been purchased as early as 1950 and by the mid-60s the new “Church of the Holy Spirit” was taking visible form. The new Church of the Holy Spirit was dedicated by the Bishop of Jarrow in March 1967. This was followed in October 1975 by the dedication of a Clergy Vestry and a Memorial Chapel to two local sisters who had died tragically. Then on the 3rd April, 1977, the new church hall was dedicated, again by the Bishop of Jarrow.
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The Parish of Greenside 90 years on... by Vicar Campbell T. Matthew, Oct 1977
Greenside Church Hall
£1,100 was spent on the construction of a corrugated iron and timber parish hail and this was opened on the 6th January, 1906. Now known as St John’s Community Hall, it underwent a four year major restoration, ending with an opening ceremony celebration in June 2012, at the same time as the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
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