Development of the Anglican Church in Newcastle The ground on which Christ Church Cathedral stands has been the site of at least one other church: Christ Church, built in 1817–18. Unlike the rushed construction of Christ Church, the building of Christ Church Cathedral was a long and complicated process; it was exactly one hundred years from the beginning of construction to its consecration.
John Horbury Hunt was the principal architect involved in the project, with other prominent Newcastle architects also contributing to its design. In 1895, the relationship between Hunt, A. E. Selwyn, Dean of Newcastle, and the builder, John Straub, had become so bad that both Hunt and Straub were dismissed. By this stage, 27 years after Hunt had sketched the original design for the cathedral, it was far from complete. The full extent of Hunt's designs was not realised until 1979 with the addition of the tower, albeit without the spire Hunt had intended. There was great consternation in 1906-7 when severe mine "creep" in The Hill area of Newcastle damaged the foundations and brickwork of the western end of the newly occupied cathedral. For a time it was feared that this part of the building might have to be demolished. Repairs were required and the cost had to be met by parishioners. By contrast, in the whole of England the largest remaining collection of stained glass windows from the Kempe studio, in the
Church of St Mary Magdalene, Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, has just 20 examples.
Frederick George Castleden as architect The next architect assigned to work on the project was Frederick George Castleden, prominent in Newcastle as the designer of many houses and commercial buildings in the region. Castleden's firm supervised the completion of the cathedral between 1909 and 1928. In 1911, the ambulatory around the east end of the church and the Tyrrell Chapel was built and in 1912 the eastern walls were completed and roofed and the east window finished with yet more stained glass from the firm of Kempe & Co. the inclusion of St Martha, representing Home Service, was unusual. All forms of war service were, however, idealised in the standard Gothic Revival imagery found in ecclesiastical stained glass at the time. Realistic local and battle scenes in small, grey-coloured medallions inserted into several of the windows could not present an effective counterbalance to the much larger, idealised and brightly coloured depictions but are nevertheless important. On the whole, the stained glass windows in the Warriors' chapel were very much of their time in the manner chosen to depict war effort and in this they provide a striking contrast to the realism displayed in World War II memorials such as the cathedral's Zusters panels elsewhere described. Among the most poignant items, now displayed in the cathedral's treasure case, were the illuminated Book of Remembrance (known as the Book of Gold) recording on a parish-by-parish basis the names of the fallen from the Diocese of Newcastle, and the chalice and paten. The covers of the Book of Gold and the chalice and paten were made from the melted down gold and gemstones of the rings and other jewellery given by the women of the diocese who had lost a family member or friend in the Great War. Nearby, at the eastern end of the Tyrrell Chapel, the Jeffries Chair originally placed in Holy Trinity Church,
Abermain, by his aunt and uncle in 1919 was entrusted to the cathedral after the 1994 closure of the Abermain church. However, there were some slight departures from Hunt's designs, these being the omission of the spire and the addition of a castellated parapet. There is also a visible change in the colour and quality of brickwork at the height of the
clerestory window sills completed after Hunt's departure. The "voice of God" was provided by Brin Newton-John, father of singer
Olivia Newton-John. In 1979 the transepts and the bell tower were raised by John Sara, of Castleden & Sara, returning to Hunt's original concept for the tower. In July 2019 Graeme Lawrence, who served as dean of the cathedral between 1984 and 2008, was convicted of raping a 15-year-old boy at the deanery in 1991. He was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in September 2019. The Anglican Bishop of Newcastle apologised to the victim following Lawrence's conviction.
Cemetery The Christ Church burial ground, located on the northern side of the church and now a rest park, is the first known European burial ground in Newcastle and one of the first burial grounds established in Australia. The earliest recorded European burials at this site began with the construction of Christ Church in 1817. Although burials were under the authority of the Church of England, the burial site was initially used for people of all denominations. Following a Church of England act in 1836, Christ Church could no longer bury people of other denominations. As a result of this act, cemeteries were established for Roman Catholics and Presbyterians during the 1840s. During the 19th century, new notions of hygiene led to the belief that there were significant health risks involved with having a cemetery in the heart of a city. This led to the relocation of cemeteries as well as gaols and isolation wards. In 1881 a new cemetery was opened at
Sandgate, outside of central Newcastle, and Christ Church Cemetery was officially closed. There were several burials in the Christ Church burial site after the opening of the site at Sandgate resulting in legal action by the council. The last time a burial occurred at the Christ Church burial ground was in 1884. During the 20th century, however, the interment of ashes was made possible in cathedral grounds, first in the Columbarium built in 1955 and later in the memorial garden created on land abutting the Columbarium in 2006. The area covered by the cemetery had originally been and unfenced, extending beyond King Street, but by 1884, it comprised just . King Street formed its northern border, with a retaining wall between the street and the cemetery. With Christ Church no longer being used as a burial ground, the site was not well maintained. During the 1930s and 1940s there were attempts by the neighbouring landowners to use the area for other purposes. In the 1950s, debates about the burial ground intensified. The adjoining Newcastle Club wished to acquire it but had no success. The Newcastle City Council also wished to acquire the land and intended to develop it into a carpark. Dismissing all these offers, Christ Church Cathedral arranged for the area to be re-fenced and to be cleared of weeds. The idea of making the area a rest park had been in existence since the 1870s and had been proposed again in 1951 by local historian William Goold. In 1966 the Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle, Cemetery Act was passed, giving the majority of land to the council to be made into a public rest park. It also granted permission to remove headstones. Areas along the east, south and west boundaries of the ground were to remain the property of Christ Church Cathedral. In 1966, all legible tombstones were relocated to the eastern boundary of the park. The monument to
James Hannell (the first Mayor of Newcastle) and his wife remained in its original location. == Description ==