This image shows the organ’s pipes.
Set in the south of the suburb is Jesmond United Reformed Church, a protestant church that bookends this trail with St George’s to the north. Both churches were built in the year 1888 to serve a rapidly growing industrial population. Since then, they have stood at the heart of a changing community – a collage of the different people who have called Jesmond home.
Jesmond United Reformed church was designed in the Gothic style by another local architect, William Lister Newcombe – best known for the Crown Posada on the Quayside. If the church is open you can go inside to see the recently refurbished interior.
The church also houses a historic organ by TC Lewis. Installed in 1893, it is framed by a unique collection of stained glass windows. Many artists contributed to the creation of the church’s windows, from Morris & Co — the firm founded by Arts and Crafts pioneer William Morris — to the distinguished Edwardian designers Kempe & Co.
At the back of the church stands Walter Gilbert’s 1920 war memorial, a bronze sculpture showing Christ on the cross. Unusually for a war memorial, it includes no weapons. Instead, two angels kneel at Christ’s feet, and on either side stand a soldier, a nurse, St George, St Michael, a sailor, and a seated mother and child. Each figure looks inward towards Christ, separated by decorative twisted columns. The local newspaper reported this when the memorial was unveiled in 1921:
“A deep note of pathos was struck by the actual unveiling, performed by Mr. J.T. Young, and leader of the church, whose son is numbered among the fallen. The sight of the white-haired father, the cord of the flag which veiled the bronze trembling in his fingers, and his lips quivering as he laid the laurel wreath in its place at the foot of the tablet, brought home to the younger members of the congregation the sorrow and grief which have been the portion of so many parents who loved and gave – their all”