St. Andrews Church - Preston Village

St. Andrews Court stands on the site of the only known house of worship to have existed within the village.

The brick-built St. Andrews Mission Church, one of the missions of Tynemouth Parish was completed in 1903 to a design submitted to the local planning authority in July, 1902.

In November 1903, the Reverand Canon Thomas Emmerson Crawhall was granted a licence to perform divine service and, on the 2nd of December in that year, the church was dedicated by the Bishop of Newcastle. If one was to stand on Walton Avenue and look at the building one would probably not recognise it as a church since that elevation was designed to look like the terraced houses to its south. The doors on the side of the building were numbered 9 and 10 and led to the vicarage and the church hall. The main part of the church, designed to accommodate 240 persons was entered from Rosebery Ave.

In 1965, it was decided by the church authorities that St. Andrews Mission had served its purpose and should be disposed of. After many months of negotiations, the buildings were sold and the Bishop of Newcastle and Diocesan Society agreed to use the proceeds for re-building the verger's cottage and to help towards the final payment of the Tynemouth Parish hall and youth centre. The church was demolished shortly afterwards and the construction of the St. Andrews Court flats commenced.

Following the footpath northwards we round the corner to our right and arrive in FRONT STREET

This is the main thoroughfare of the village and our first port of call is a public house known as THE SPORTSMAN