page_title: St Peter's Church, Wallsend
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: St Peter's Church, Wallsend / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The Nave of St Peter's Church, Wallsend, facing East.
context_page_description: The Church of St Peter is a Church of England Grade II* listed church located on the east side of Wallsend, North Tyneside. It was constructed to replace Holy Cross Church, which had been built c. 1150 but had fallen into disrepair by the end of the eighteenth century. The building was extensively remodeled in 1892 in the Perpendicular style to give it its present form.
context_section_description: By the 1790s the local authorities agreed a new church needed to be constructed, since Holy Cross Church, which had served the Wallsend community for centuries, had fallen into disrepair. With the only local church both roofless and unusable, services were instead being conducted in the local schoolroom. 
  Progress was slow, however, with disagreements between Church and local property owners as to who should finance the construction, stalling the project until 1804. The matter was eventually resolved by a solicitor who suggested the money could be raised by means of a tontine. This unusual solution proved popular and ensured the necessary funds became available.
  No work was undertaken however until 1806, when it was realised that the schoolroom being used for public worship was neither consecrated nor licensed —meaning that marriages were not legal, the offspring of the unions illegitimate and the perpetual curate subject to serious legal penalties. A Bill was passed in the House of Commons in August 1807 in order to legitimise the marriages and their offspring, and to authorise the construction of a new church. The foundation stone of what would be a Georgian 'preaching box' was laid in November 1807 and the burial ground was consecrated in 1809. Major alterations were made in 1892 to give the church its current form.
  It was clear by the 1980s that the Victorian chancel had serious structural problems, and questions were raised with regard to the feasibility of making the necessary repairs. At one point the church was threatened with closure. But during Fr Alan Clements's tenure (1995-2001) substantial grants were secured from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund. These enabled the chancel to be given robust foundations and all the attendant repairs to be made. The scheme entailed turning the chancel into a church hall, the Lady Chapel into a sacristy, and the vestries into a kitchen and cloakrooms.
  In 2001 The parish was amalgamated with that of St Luke, Wallsend into a single parish.
caption: The Nave of St Peter's Church, Wallsend, facing East.
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