Presbyterian Church, Great Bavington

Image: © Andrew Curtis Taken: 12 Nov 2020

It is the oldest former Presbyterian church still used for worship in Northumberland, and the second oldest in England. A date stone above the porch door reads 'DB EB 1725'. The porch was added, and the church altered to a Gothic style in 1869 (date below lintel). Meeting-room and kitchen were added on the north side in 1975. The Church is a Grade II Listed Building (List Entry Number: 1155038): https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1155038 A stained glass west window was added in 1962 to mark the 300th anniversary of the Great Ejectment. Then, anyone who did not agree to follow the Book of Common Prayer was ejected from the Church of England and faced fines, restrictions on employment, possible imprisonment and even execution. Robert Blunt, the vicar of Kirkharle was ejected, and he set up this Presbyterian congregation, who were able to build the church following the Act of Toleration in 1689. The stained glass in the window was made by Hartley Woods of Sunderland. The house on the lane opposite the church (with the Victorian letterbox in the wall) was originally the school, first set up by the church, which educated local children until 1946. After that it became a popular youth hostel. Kathleen Raine, poet, lived in the manse when she was a six year old child, evacuated here during World War I. Although here for a short time, she maintained a lot of fond memories of the village. She commented, 'I loved everything about it.' For her it was an idyllic world and is the declared foundation of all her poetry. Raine always remembered Northumberland as Eden: 'In Northumberland I knew myself in my own place; and I never 'adjusted' myself to any other or forgot what I had so briefly but clearly seen and understood and experienced.' This period is described in the first book of her autobiography, Farewell Happy Fields (1973) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Raine "The snowdrops in the Manse garden were countless, there were always more, giving a kind of knowledge that nature is inexhaustible, that multitude is her secret, her deep mystery. There could be no end to snowdrops." KATHLEEN RAINE quoted in No End to Snowdrops: A Biography of Kathleen Raine by Philippa Bernard (2009)

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