Here's some amazing facts about St Mary's Church.
-
The church has been nearly burned down on 3 separate occasions - in 1854, 1979 and 1983 and a previous church in the site was destroyed by fire in 1080. So - no smoking ban!
-
In 1649, 6d was paid by the Churchwardens for 'the burying of a witch'.
-
One of the Victorian rectors invented a 'Penny dinner system' for poor children who were going to school without any breakfast and invented a new oven for the purpose.
-
Parliamentary soldiers were stationed in the rectory during the Civil war. They destroyed that building and severely damaged the church.
-
If you look over the railings towards the quayside, you can still see some of the stones thrown around during the great fire of 1854. During the fire, the sexton and another person were on the roof of the church trying to stamp the fire out with their feet.
-
There are a high number of cholera burials in the north side of the church yard.
-
The large mausoleum - the Trollope mausoleum doesn't actually hold any Trollope's - the people who are listed are a local family called the Greenes who were wine & spirit merchants in Gateshead.