'First' station and 800-year-old church at risk

An 800-year-old church and what is considered to be the world's first railway station are among sites deemed to be at risk by Historic England.

Seven sites in the North East and Cumbria have been added to the conservation body's list of those at risk of "neglect, decay or inappropriate development".

They include the Grade I listed Holy Trinity Church in Kendal, Cumbria, the Heighington & Aycliffe Railway Station in County Durham, and a 270-year-old former school site in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland.

Sites removed from the list include the Gatehouse at Carlisle's Tullie museum and the curving medieval streets of Priestpopple, Cattle Market and Battle Hill, in Hexham Conservation Area, Northumberland.

This is the 26th year Historic England has made a list of "at risk" properties, with about three-quarters of those added since 1998 later removed after being renovated.

Dating from 1826, the Heighington & Aycliffe Railway Station in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, is considered to be the world's first railway station.

Originally designed as a public house, it was where the Locomotion No 1 steam train was first placed on the railway.

In 1984, the building became a pub but closed in 2017 and is now derelict. The Friends of the Stockton and Darlington Railway have started a campaign to save the station.

The Grade I listed site's nave is 800 years old. Other aisles were added over the centuries so that, in its heyday, a congregation of 1,100 was regularly accommodated.

While the current building dates back to 1201, The Domesday Book refers to a church on the site during the Anglo-Saxon period, and a shaft of an Anglian cross is dated at about 850AD.

The lightness of the building's interior is due to the unusual construction of five aisles, separated by columns, allowing generous window areas.

A Georgian mansion house dating back to 1754, with a rear wing built at the turn of the 19th Century.

It became a grammar school in 1866 and was extended again before the school relocated in 1939.

The building has been vacant since 2015 with its condition deteriorating. It was acquired by Berwick Youth Project in 2020 and there is current planning and listed building consent to convert it for residential use.

Other sites added to the list in 2024:

• Grade II listed St Paul’s church in Hartlepool, County Durham

• Grade II* listed Columbia House, in Church Road, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham

• Bowl barrow 850m north west of High Court Green, Guisborough, Redcar and Cleveland

• Bowl barrow 450m north west of High Court Green, Guisborough, Redcar and Cleveland

Sites removed from the list include:

• Grade II* listed Coal Drops, 110 metres east of Soho Engine Shed, Soho, Shildon, County Durham

• Grange and Chapel, Bear Park / Beaurepaire - Scheduled Monument and manor house ruins, near Bearpark, County Durham

• Grade II* listed former Goods Shed at North Road Station, Darlington, County Durham

• Grade I listed Gatehouse, Tullie House Museum in Carlisle City's Historic Quarter, Cumbria

• The curving medieval streets of Priestpopple, Cattle Market and Battle Hill, Hexham Conservation Area, Northumberland

• Glead's Cleugh Iron Age promontory fort, Akeld, Northumberland

• Three Roman period native settlements and later droveway 750m south west of Torleehouse, Kirknewton, Northumberland

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England said heritage "plays a vital role in our society and boosts the regional economy".

"Together, we can save our places and find new ways to enjoy the heritage that people value so much."

You can search the full register here.

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