IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Kirkleatham Avenue, REDCAR, TS11 7EP

Only the tower now remains.

Only the old tower remains. Once St Germain's Church was the most significant religious building on this stretch of the North Yorkshire coast drawing churchgoers from as far afield as Redcar and Saltburn.

When St. Germain’s church was demolished in the 1950s the Saxon tower was left standing as an essential navigation aid for boats sailing up and down the coast. Nowadays of course, with the advent of GPS, such landmarks are no longer required. The church had been rebuilt in 1821 when the spire was added to the tower. Until 1867 St. Germain’s was the parish church for both Redcar and Saltburn with the congregation walking along the beach. At high tide, the route would have been up and down the dunes. This was the final route of James Cook senior, the father of Capt. James Cook. He had been living with his daughter in Redcar and died on 1st April 1779 unaware that his son had been killed in Hawaii earlier in February that year. There are rumours of secret tunnels from the churchyard to certain houses in Marske which were used for smuggling. Gin, brandy and lace would have been landed on the beach and hidden in the church. One particular sexton, William Stainton, had such a reputation as a smuggler St. Germain’s became known as the Smuggler’s Church. From my blog http://www.fhithich.uk/?p=20485

At least two, possibly three churches are believed to have been erected on the site, with the church being dedicated to St Germain. The land for building the church upon was given to the village by Earl Tostig. According to contemporary records, the church was consecrated by Egelric, who was Bishop of Durham between 1042 and 1056. In the early 19th century, the Church of St Germain was in a ruinous state, and so was rebuilt between 1820 and 1821, with the rebuilding seeing all of the church bar the tower destroyed by gunpowder. The rebuilt church continued to serve the village until the newer parish church of St Marks, was built in 1867. The village is believed to have migrated westwards in Medieval times, leaving the church isolated from the rest of the village to the east, on the clifftop. The creation of the newer and larger parish church, was driven by an influx of workers who had come to work in the ironstone industry, which had developed in the area from the 1850s. At the same time as the church was abandoned, the newer Parish of Redcar was created from parts of the parishes of Marske-by-the-Sea and Upleatham. The old church of St Germain's, was demolished in 1955, but the church tower was left standing on its own in the churchyard. The tower was a prominent local landmark used by sailors on the North Sea for navigation. (source Wikipedia)