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Dunston, Christ Church
The Parish of Dunston, Christ Church was created in 1872 from part of Whickham Parish. In 1873 Lord Ravensworth laid the Foundation stone for the parish church; it was completed and opened in 1876. Christ Church was demolished due to subsidence in 1976 and the parish added to that of Dunston, St Nicholas.
Christ Church Parish Hall, erected in 1909, lasted until the 1980s and was used a number of time for church services. It was known locally as the Tin Mission because it was built of corrugated steel. The building was bought from St George's Church, Gateshead, for £30. It had to be dismantled, removed from St George's and erected at Dunston which all cost a further £90-10s-0d. The new foundations cost £12 and the fencing around the site cost £22-11s-6d. The building was re-roofed for £77 and gas fittings and plumbing cost £9-15s-10d. All the decorating was done by church workers. The total cost of the Parish Hall came to £300-11s-1d. The Tin Mission quickly became an integral part of village life.
The Board School log book records in 1909 state that there were 1007 pupils on the roll, 150 were housed in the Parish Hall. In 1914, Handley Carr Page, Bishop of Durham, licensed the Hall to serve as a church whilst renovations and extensions to Christ Church took place. In 1926 during the General Strike, hundreds of breakfasts and dinners were served in the Church Hall. A soup kitchen was set up to help the needy during those hard times.
Clergy at Christ Church
The Rev. John Jones was appointed the first Vicar of Dunston in 1872, but, as there was no proper church in Dunston at that time, the Rev. Jones worked from the Church Mission Room on Dunston Road. Although Rev. Jones had watched Lord Ravensworth lay the foundation stone of Christ Church in 1873 after marching with him, villagers and scholars, from the school to the site of the church on Wellington Road, he had to wait a couple of years before the New Church was completed.
On the 26th of April 1876 the Bishop of Durham officiated at the opening ceremony. Rev. John Jones was at Christ Church from 1872 until 1904. The Rev. J.W.D. Macintosh came to Christ Church in 1904 and stayed until 1921. He was instrumental in enlarging both the Church School and Christ Church itself. He was the Vicar who recognised that Dunston needed another church to serve the ever-increasing population of the village, and he would see the first St. Nicholas open in 1929 with his assistant the Rev. C.H. Beaglehole as priest-in- charge. Rev. Talbert 1938
The Rev E. W. Hunt was there in the late thirties until 1943. Rev. Hunt is remembered for his work with the youth of the parish. He established a very successful Youth Club. The Rev. Leslie Forster held the record for the longest serving Vicar in Dunston. He was there for over thirty years, from 1943 to 1974.