All Saints' Church, Newcastle upon Tyne

All Saints' Church, on Lower Pilgrim Street in Newcastle upon Tyne, is one of the most distinctive churches in England — for it is the only elliptical, or oval, church building in the country. A graceful neoclassical church of the late eighteenth century, crowned by a tall and elegant steeple, it is one of the tallest religious buildings in Newcastle and a prominent landmark on its hilltop site above the River Tyne. A Grade I listed building, it replaced a medieval church on the same ancient site, and remains one of the architectural treasures of the city.

A Christian church stood on this hilltop site by 1286, and the medieval church of All Saints — or All Hallows — continued here, undergoing many changes over the centuries, until the end of the eighteenth century. The old church was built in the Gothic style, seated on its hill above the town, with a square tower and a single spire; its bells, founded in 1696, were famously cast from the metal of a statue of King James II that had once stood on the Sandhill in Newcastle. The medieval church also contained one of the great treasures of English funerary art — the brass of the merchant Roger Thornton, the largest medieval brass in the country — which was later moved to St Nicholas' Cathedral.

By the later eighteenth century the old church had decayed, and it was decided to replace it. The present All Saints' Church was built between 1786 and 1796 to the designs of the local architect David Stephenson, in the elegant neoclassical style of the Georgian age — and Stephenson gave it its most remarkable feature: an elliptical, oval-shaped nave, unique among the churches of England. The church is crowned by a tall and graceful steeple, rising above the surrounding streets, and the whole composition, on its commanding hilltop site, is one of the finest pieces of Georgian architecture in the north of England.

In the changed circumstances of the twentieth century, the church's congregation dwindled, and All Saints' was declared redundant for a time in the twentieth century. The building has since been used for various purposes, and steps have been taken to preserve this important and unusual building. Its Grade I listing recognises its exceptional architectural interest, and it remains one of the most admired buildings in Newcastle.

Today All Saints' stands as a much-loved landmark of Newcastle, a rare and beautiful example of an oval church, and a monument to the elegance of Georgian Newcastle. Its hilltop position gives it a prominence out of proportion to its size, and its graceful steeple is a familiar feature of the city's skyline.

The church stands on its hill on Lower Pilgrim Street, near the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, above the River Tyne. The historic Quayside, with its famous bridges — including the Tyne Bridge and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge — lies below, along with the medieval St Nicholas' Cathedral and the castle from which the city takes its name, the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Sage music centre across the river in Gateshead, the shopping streets of the city centre, and the wider attractions of Tyneside and the Northumberland coast and countryside, all within easy reach.

From the medieval church recorded in 1286, with its Gothic tower and its famous bells cast from a royal statue, to the building of David Stephenson's unique elliptical church between 1786 and 1796, All Saints' Church gathers the history of Newcastle into one building. A Grade I listed Georgian masterpiece and the only oval church in England, it remains one of the architectural glories of the city — a graceful landmark on its hill above the Tyne.