Triptych 1914-18 Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church (demolished)

The west porch of Christ Church, North Shields.

1914-18

March 1917

Oak, brass, from H.M.S. “Britannia”.

For God, King and Country.
Greater love hath no man than this.
The Heroic Dead.

Triptych with pedimented top containing the words “For God, King and Country” in gilded shadowed letters.

At centre back is a brass cross covering the whole back.

The quotation is above the arms.

Below each arm is an oval shape containing the names of those who fell.

The words “The Heroic Dead” are below this is in cursive lower case, gilded and shadowed.

The names are continued on two inside doors, below the words “Roll of Honour”, the lettering hand painted using sans serif capitals.

A card has been affixed at the bottom bearing the legend “Holy Trinity Church / Coach Lane, North Shields”.

Below this is a brass plaque bearing more names of the fallen from 1914-18 listed in two columns. This looks as though it has been added later.

Below this, a shelf pierced to carry flower pots.

1. The shrine is one of several made from timbers from H.M.S. Britannia which was broken up in the Hughes Bolckow shipyard at Blyth.

2. In a booklet presented by Hughes Bolckow to their staff when the firm was taken over in 1961, there is a long piece about the break-up of the “Britannia”. The salvaged material went to making up all kinds of things. A sentence reads “Folding chairs on offer were designed with wounded soldiers in mind (‘their high back is very restful, but does not interfere with the hat when seated’); tea trolleys were advertised (‘in hospitals and nursing homes they ease the extra work brought by the war’); and there were three patterns of memorial shrine with space for names of up to 150 dead; the names could be added ‘in black at a halfpenny a letter, or in gold at a penny a letter'”.

3. Morpeth Herald 30/03/1917 reports:- A war shrine made out of wood of the battleship Britannia which is being broken up at Blyth, has been placed in Holy Trinity to the memory of parishioners who have fallen in the war. The wood is the gift of Messrs Bolckow Hughes and Co and the carving and lettering has been done by the local branch of the Church of England Men’s Society (C.E.M.S).

4. Holy Trinity Church closed in 1982 and was demolished.

5. The pierced shelf to hold vases or flower pots on the memorial was removed as part of the restoration, as it appeared to be a later addition and obstructed the view of the lower plaque which was also added at a later date.

6. A Faculty 1244 dated 19/12/1933 grants permission “To furnish the north aisle of the said Church as a memorial chapel.” and “To place on the north wall of the proposed chapel the two brass tablets erected as a war memorial in St.Peter’s Church (Tynemouth) . .”

Photos: Janet Brown; photo of restored memorial: Michael Scott

Morpeth Herald
30/03/1917 reports detail in Note 3.
(Available on The British Newspaper Archive)

Newcastle Daily Journal
10/04/1920 reports that a faculty had been applied for.

Diocese of Newcastle
Faculty No.672, (no date on index card).

Sally Bird;
Michael Newrick;
Eric Hollerton;
Janet Brown;
James Pasby;
Michael Scott (Christ Church)

The names on the North Shields memorials are being researched by the Tynemouth WW1 group.

Contact info@tynemouthworldwarone.org