England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Ryton Holy Cross

The Parish

The parish of Ryton lies in the extreme north of County Durham forming an extensive part of the border, here formed by the River Tyne, with neighbouring Northumberland. Ryton is located on the southern banks of the Tyne roughly 6 miles west of Gateshead. Whilst the village of Ryton gives its name to the parish, the wider parish was extensive and included a series of townships along the southern banks of the river. Ryton village sits between the A695 and the Tyne, the A695 connects Newcastle upon Tyne with Hexham via the southern side of the Tyne. Whilst Ryton would have once been a small village the growing metropolis that is Tyneside has spread westwards and is now almost contiguous with the eastern edge of Ryton's properties. Sitting within the valley of the Tyne Ryton parish had a varied economy, the river provided rich pastures along its banks while higher ground grew cereals; extractive industries, however, dominate this area and the parish contained coal mines as well as limestone quarries supported the majority of the population. Modern developments have come to the area as a consequence, the Newcastle upon Tyne to Carlisle railway hugs the southern bank of the Tyne below the village whilst the A1 sits to the east on its newer route around the urban areas of Gateshead & Newcastle upon Tyne. The Tyne drains the parish eastwards through the conurbation to the North Sea. Ryton village has a sloping site, the lower parts of the village sitting at 40 metres above the sea whilst the higher parts, close to the A695 are at 80 metres, the village sits on a river cliff forming a bluff above the river; the higher parts of the parish rise to the southwest reaching a little over 250 metres in places. Durham parishes are often extensive and Ryton parish was one of those, unusually for this county it had no chapelries, covering just over 6,500 acres the parish would have supported a distributed population of just over 2,500 parishioners of whom roughly 1/4 resided in Ryton village. In common with most of northern England north of the Tees, Ryton is not mentioned in Domesday Book which did not cover this area.

The Church

Holy Cross church sits perched on the lip of the river cliff towards the north of the village and reached off the Barmoor Lane via the dead-end lane of Station Bank. The church is a rare example of a church built and relatively unchanged from its inception in a single architectural style. The majority of the church is in the Early English Gothic style of the first half of the 13th century. The church follows the standard layout of nave & chancel, here augmented by aisles and aracdes, together with a western tower. It is that western tower topped with a spire equal in height which is the most impressive feature of the church, a landmark for much of the area. The aisles are also unusual as they spread beyond the limits of the nave to encompass the faces of the tower base too. Some later changes have been made, Perpendicular style windows replace many of the original lancets and a light and sensitive restoration of 1844 refreshed much of the fabric to leave a good example of its period. Parking can be found in both Barfoot Lane and Station Banks from where a leafy lane leads to the churchyard, the site is sadly well-wooded limiting the angles available to the photographer and making for a challenging subject to adequately capture.