Parking is straight opposite the church entrance where there is several parking spaces although can get full during working hours.
Please read below the church history.
The History of St Marys Magdalene:
Until the growth of the mining industry on the south side of the Tyne, Prudhoe and Mickley were part of the old Parish of Ovingham. In 1823 a “Chapel of Ease” was built at Hall Yards, which was then a hamlet of Mickley. In 1867, Mickley was created as a Parish in its own right and included the whole of Prudhoe as far as Stanley Burn. The need soon arose, however, for services to be held in Prudhoe.
The increase in Prudhoe’s population, due to the opening of West Wylam Colliery in 1866, created the need for a new Parish for the area, and a site for a church was given by the Duke of Northumberland. The original proposal of 1879 was that Prudhoe should become the Parish Church for both Prudhoe and Mickley with the latter ceasing to be a Parish in its own right, but becoming a “Chapel of Ease” to be served by the clergy of Prudhoe - the reverse of the situation which existed at the time. This idea was opposed most strongly by Mr Wrightson who was the Patron of St George’s, Mickley. The scheme was dropped and arrangements went ahead for Prudhoe to be constituted a separate Parish.
“The London Gazette” of 28th October 1881 published the following notice: “We the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England in pursuance of the Act of the 59th year of His Majesty King George III. . . .. have prepared and now humbly lay before your Majesty the following representation, as to the assignment of a district chapelry of St Mary Magdalene, situate at Prudhoe, in the New Parish of Mickley within the original limits of the Parish of Ovingham in the County of Northumberland and in the Diocese of Durham. Whereas it appears to us to be expedient that the district chapelry should be assigned to the said church of St Mary Magdalene situate at Prudhoe. Now, therefore, with the consent of the Right Reverend Joseph Barber, Bishop, we the said Ecclesiastical Commissioners humbly represent that it would, in our opinion, be expedient that part of the said New Parish of Mickley…... should be assigned as a district chapelry to the said church of St Mary Magdalene and should be named The District Chapelry of St Mary Magdalene, Prudhoe……The Ecclesiastical”
The Duke of Northumberland had laid the church’s foundation stone on Wednesday 27th August 1879 and the building, which cost £2151, was paid for by public subscription but mainly due to the financial assistance of the Duke. The church was consecrated in October 1880 by Bishop Lightfoot and finally constituted a separate Parish following the Order of Council described in “The London Gazette”. The Parish remained in the Diocese of Durham for a year, as it was not until 1882 that the Diocese of Newcastle was created. Prudhoe’s first vicar was the Reverend J A Collingwood Maughan who left Mickley, where he was the vicar, to take up the post. The Rev Maughan was succeeded in 1902 by the Reverend W H Ainger who, during his four years as incumbent, was very active in providing extra facilities for the Parish. The organ was transferred from the south transept to a chamber in the chancel and a vestry was built through the generosity of Colonel Swan of Prudhoe Hall. The vicarage, now used as a nursing home, was built in 1884 at a cost of £1625.
The cache can be found at:
N54 AB.BCD W001 AF.ECF
..........
A = The reverends door number
B = The 1st digit of the earliest Holy Communion time held on a Sunday minus 1
C = The 2nd digit of the telephone number
D = The 1st digit of the telephone number
E = The 1st digit of the later Holy Communion time held on a Sunday x 2
F = The last digit of the telephone number minus 8
Check sum for full co-ords is 52.
**************************************
For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
*************************************