St Dominic's Church

About St Dominic's Church

St Dominic's is listed Grade II and was built between 1869 and 1873 to designs by A. M. Dunn, opening on 11 September 1873 at the hands of Cardinal Manning. Its oddity is one you can check from the door: the church is aligned north to south rather than the conventional east to west, a consequence of the site rather than a statement. Inside are choir stalls of 1826 brought here from Peterborough Cathedral, an alabaster pulpit of 1879, and Frosterley marble, the dark fossil-rich limestone quarried in Weardale that turns up throughout County Durham and Northumberland church furnishing.

The Dominican connection that gives the church its name and that links it to the medieval Blackfriars friary across the city centre has now ended. The Dominicans left in 2020, Jesuits served the church from 2021 to 2026, and it is now a diocesan parish of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. Anyone still writing that Dominican friars live in Newcastle is working from stale copy. The church sits on New Bridge Street a short walk east of Northumberland Street, close to the Laing Art Gallery and the northern end of the Ouseburn walk, and Manors Metro is the nearest station.

Featured in These Guides

Blog posts and guides that feature St Dominic's Church.

Historic Churches and Places of Worship in Newcastle City Centre

Newcastle has two cathedrals within ten minutes of each other, three medieval parish churches, an oval Georgian church above the Quayside and the cloister of a Dominican friary. A guide to the city centre's places of worship, and the honest truth about their opening hours.