1. CLAYPORT SQUARE 5330 Sheraton House NU 1813 SE 1/211 II 2. Set back from street and 'Clayport Square'. Dated 1846, attributed to Smith. Gothick. Two storeys - a gabled centrepiece recessed between 3 storey embattled octagonal side towers. Ashlar built. Pointed windows, glazing bar sashes - 3 in centre, one on outer facets of towers. Pointed labels 1st floor, Tudor labels on ground floor. Foiled oculus in gable with date 1846. Cill strings below 1st and 2nd floor windows. The Sheraton house facia obscures the former inscription 'United Presbyterian Church'. On the towers are set backs half way up, a narrow square headed light 2nd floor with Tudor label and pointed window with moulded head and Tudor label on 1st and ground floors. Two entrances - at sides of tower - 4 centered arch headed doorways with Tudor labels and lodged doors. Interior: adapted to warehouse retaining gallery and hammerbeam roof; fine newel staircase in east tower. At rear; foiled oculus in gable, pointed arch windows on each side one with pointed glazing and a lower projecting gable end with a vesca-shaped window. At south-west end is a lower rubble building with 5 pointed windows and a hipped roof.
Tate: The Rev, John Ker was therefore ordained minister in 1845. Soon after this the Duke of Northumberland gave notice to the congregation to quit the meeting house in which they had worshipped for fifty-three years, and he gave £50 to defray the expense of removing the materials of the structure. The site of a new church was purchased on the south side of Clayport for £100; the building cost £1220 ; and it was opened for worship in February, 1847. The whole amount has been raised by subscriptions and collections, by the sale of a portion of the ground, and by a bequest from George Oliver of £400; so that the congregation is free from debt. This church has sittings for about 700 persons. Though not in the best taste, it is nevertheless, in its architecture, greatly in advance of the barn-like erections in which dissenters were content to worship. It has ecclesiastical features, but with its crenelated towers, somewhat of a church-militant aspect. Some great advantages it posesses over many churches of a purer style and grander appearance; it is well lighted and ventilated, capable of being heated at a moderate cost, comfortable to sit in, and free from obstructions to sound. After the union of the Secession and Relief bodies in May, 1847, this congregation has been called The First United Presbyterian Church of Alnwick.
The church is situated about midway between Clayport and Green Bat, and in order to give full effect to the building the old house was cleared away. From an architectural point of view the church in many respects presents a pleasing aspect.
The pulpit is placed against the south wall; and in addition to the well-arranged pews on the ground floor, there is a boldly designed gallery, which not only gives adiitional space to the congregation, but also adds very materially to the beauty and compactness of the interior. The principal entrance is on the north side, and there between two crenelated towers, are doorways that command the whole of the building.
The cost of erecting the present church was as follows :—
£. S. D.
Purchase of ground £278 0 0
Building, &c £1200 0 0
Total £1479 0 0
Towards liquidating the above the following sums were contributed:
From the member and friends of the congregation. £626 0 0
Mission Tour ,by Rev J. Ker. £183 0 0
Synod Fund £100 0 0
Bazaar £227 0 0
Soiree and Opening Services £109 0 0
Duke of Northumberland £50 0 0
Earl Grey £10 0 0
Total £1200 0 0
The debt which remained was allowed to stand over till 1862, when through the liberality of Mr George Oliver of Ogle Terrace, the trustees inherited legacy of £306, which was at once applied in clearing off the debt.
The Church is capable of seating 700 persons. It was opened for divine worship in February of 1847, by the Rev John Cairns of Berwick, who since then has been raised to the dignity of a professor. June of the same year saw the union of the Secession and Relief Churches which as a matter of fact has assisted greatly in cementing, and extending the bonds of christian love and progression.
The First Secession from the Presbyterian Church was in 1733. This split again in 1747 into the Burghers and the Anti-Burghers. The Burghers were invited to establish a congregation in Alnwick in 1753. Initially they met in Canongate, then built a meeting house in Ogle Terrace. The church prospered, and by 1803 it was too small for a growing congregation. A new meeting house was built in 1803, with about 560 sittings, on a piece of vacant ground on Green Batt, which the Duke Leased at a nominal rent for 40 years (this is where the Vet is now, at the bottom of Percy Street).
The Relief Church (or Presbytery of Relief) was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination founded in 1761 in the Second Secession.It had no presence in Alnwick until 1837 when a congregation began to meet in a room at the bottom of Percy Street. They then built a chapel on Lisburn Street (now the Baptist Chapel), designed by Willim Henderson and Son, and costing £611 10s 0d. The foundation stone was laid on 11 February 1839, and it opened on 22 September 1839.
In 1820 the Burghers and the Ant-Burghers had already rec-merged to form the United Secession Chrch. This and the Relief Church re-merged with the United Secession Church in 1847 to form the United Presbyterian Church.
The Lisburn Street Presbyterian Church merged with St James in 1888, and the Clayport Presbyterian Church merged with St James in 1955. Sheraton hose was used as an Auction House, Warehouse and Showroom until around 1990 when various proposals to convert it to a private members club were rejected before proposals were submitted in 1993 to convert it to dwellings, and accepted.