St Nicholas' Church, Durham

St Nicholas’ Church stands beside Durham’s market place, close to the cathedral and castle. The present building replaced an early-12th-century church founded by Ranulf Flambard, Prince Bishop of Durham, whose work also shaped the marketplace. The old church once had a buttressed nave, a square battlemented tower and two graveyards, one of which lay between the church and the market. Over the centuries the east end was shortened to widen the road, and in the 19th century a market piazza was built against its south wall. By 1803 visitors described the building as very ruinous, though its south porch was still praised as good Perpendicular work. The church was rebuilt in 1858 to designs by James Pigott Pritchett junior after the market piazza was demolished. The new church, in decorated Gothic style, cost £3,600 and was hailed by the Illustrated London News as the finest specimen of church architecture in northern England. Nikolaus Pevsner later counted it among Pritchett’s best works. The incumbent, George Townshend Fox, paid £400 for the spire that crowns the building. Inside, the 17th-century font and the five oldest bells in the diocese survive from the old church, and a sixth bell was added in 1889. Inside, the interior was reordered in the 1970s under Vicar George Carey, who removed most Victorian fittings to allow flexible use for worship and community events. The church continues to host services online as well as in person, and its outreach includes support for mission societies in Uganda, Lesotho and South America. The former Gateway World Shop, once a local Fair trade outlet, reflected the congregation’s long commitment to fair trade before it closed in 2023.