The medieval church has been moved from Eston, Middlesborough. Abandoned, it was taking the worst of treatment by vandals, so was going to be demolished by the local Council. Dismantled, with each stone numbered, it has been carefully rebuilt to fit into the ‘Georgian’ landscape at Beamish. The external work looks complete (many of the stones still carry their individual numbers) and the internal restoration is under way.
—Stephen—
Stephen G Hipperson 
Fantastic that this beautiful piece of history was moved. I suppose the council was demolishing it as that was the most cost effective way to rid themselves of it. What a shameful thing to do.
It’s always a sorry event when the decision needs to be the destruction of our heritage – but perhaps the real shame is in the vandalism that created the necessity, or the lack of attendance to the church that created the vacuum in the first place? These are always multi-layered scenarios – fortunately this one seems to have ended happily. (I have no idea what will have happened to the graveyard that will have been associated with the church).
Nice it could find a new place to “live” in.
Absolutely.
Breath a sigh of relief and 🙂 …..that would have been awful to have lost such a beautiful church.
Indeed it would, and it seems to fit so well in it’s new home.
Yes it looks like it does and lets hope it will make more people interested in churches 🙂
Absolutely! 🙂
I’ll have to go back and revisit Beamish to see what is new besides the church.
🙂 ….interesting thought – to go and see what’s new that’s old. 😉
Nice to see something preserved and restored in such a fitting landscape. A happy outcome.
I’m not sure the attendance will be any greater than it’s previous location, but I’d rather not see the loss of any heritage that can be saved – so as you suggest – happy outcome!
Wow!
🙂
It looks good. I haven’t been to Beamish for many, many years. I would love to go back to see all the additions but it is a long haul from here. There is something similar here, St Fagans open air museum in Cardiff which is also very interesting.
Thanks for the tip on St Fagan’s – I might try to give it a look if we visit Cardiff. (I’ve been there a few times but the missus hasn’t so would like to visit sometime)
You are welcome. The bay is quite nice too if you haven’t been there. There is also a good shopping centre for ladies who like shopping 🙂
🙂 – I like to hear it – a distraction while I’m off doing my photography thing!
A lovely shot. A very worthwhile historic endeavour – here in Canada , too much of our history gets paved over, The invading Europeans cared little for preserving the First Nations’ artifacts & structures. We are only now finding evidence that many of their communities were far larger & more complex than was documented by earlier historians/government, Canadian structures from the late 19th century and into the early 20th century often give way to “progre$$”.
I think the same is true here – though at least we are able to cherry pick the best. Programmes like Time Team have done a lot to bolster the potential of what might be out there. Nowadays, any new development/building has to ensure some consideration is given to archaeological potential – we often see small surveys carried out to assess any impact.