Description: For some reason, best known to myself, I believed Whitley to be one of the prettiest seaside villages in the North-East. Well it just proves how wrong you can be! Perhaps it’s the fact that Whitley Bay sounds picturesque, or was it that I was confusing it with Whitby and the nearby Yorkshire fishing village of Robin’s Hood Bay.

The town does have history stretching back to the 12th Century and with the Victorian’s interest in train travel, spa town and seaside villages Whitley Bay was really very popular in the 19th century. It is said that Whitley Bay once equalled its West coast rival, Blackpool, although there’s now very little sign of an earlier prosperity.
Of course it was close to the industrialised city of Newcastle upon Tyne and others in the area so it was ideal for holiday makers and day-trippers wanting to get away from the grime of the Victorian industrial towns.

It was known for its bracing sea air (an accolade that was pinned on many of the seaside towns, its magnificent golden sands (again it was unusual for "golden sands" not to be mentioned in an prosperous seaside town), an amusement park, penny arcades, cafés and shops where the holidaying public could forget the stresses and strains of the daily toil. To attract people on the weeks of the factory closure - in the first half of the 20th Century it was customary for factories to close down for a week in the summer and all the worker’s would be off together. Sometimes they would even holiday together as a group. The advent of the seaside landlady made sure that the price of accommodation was competitive

As far as I was concerned the only saving grace was the Victorian Church of St Paul’s. The land was donated to the Church by the Duke of Northumberland and in 1864 the church was consecrated. St Paul’s is a classic town church with a small church yard and, nowadays, busy roads surrounding it.

Unusually there’s a drinking fountain on the outside of the church yard wall and this was "gifted to the inhabitants of the village of Whitley" by the builders of the church and on the opening ceremony the Duchess of Northumberland was heard to say that it was "fine water".

We entered by way of the lych-gate (a roofed gateway to a churchyard used originally as a resting place for a coffin before burial), which was erected in 1894.

Inside the church was designed in the Early English Gothic style with simple pointed arches and doorways. In that respect it’s a typical Victorian Church. Massive columns support the arches that separate the aisles from the central nave and the simple wooden beamed ceiling impressively seems to be supported only by a series of stone plinths high above us.

There’s an interesting note in the north porch which states "all the seats in this church are free". I have to confess that I’d never realised that people ever paid for pew rental in a church! All the stained glass windows are very late 19th Century or early 20th century. They are bright and simple in design. From a distance I initially thought that the design in the east window was of Grace Darling (heroine of the North East) but it turned out to be Jesus with his disciples on a boat in the Sea of Galilee.

Although I wouldn’t encourage you to travel out of your way to visit Whitley Bay, if you end up there then check out this Parish Church.
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