St Andrew's Church, Haughton-le-Skerne
# St Andrew's Church, Haughton-le-Skerne

St Andrew's Church is a Church of England parish church in Haughton-le-Skerne, Darlington. The church is a Grade I listed building.

## History

The church was originally built in the 12th century and restored in the 15th century. In 1795, it was expanded with the addition of transepts, a vestry and a south porch. Notable original features include Norman windows, pews, a pulpit and lectern that date to 1662 (the year of the Act of Uniformity), and a 15th-century font cover. It is the oldest church in Darlington.

### Present day

On 28 April 1952, the church was designated a Grade I listed building.

From 1993 to 2009, St Andrew's was associated with a church plant in a local school: having been closed because of a lack of leadership, the plant merged back into St Andrew's. The church stands in the Open Evangelical tradition of the Church of England.

## Notable clergy

* Bulkeley Bandinel, Bodley's Librarian, was rector from 1822 to 1855.
* Eleazar Duncon served as rector from 1633 until stripped of his church appointments during the English Civil War.
* Thomas Le Mesurier, noted polemicist, was rector from 1812 to 1822.
* Joanna Penberthy, the first female bishop in the Church in Wales, served as a deaconess in this parish from 1984 to 1985.
* Noel Proctor, chaplain to HM Prison Manchester during the 1990 Strangeways Prison riot, served his curacy here from 1964 to 1967.
* John Wallis, antiquary and local historian, was a temporary curate in 1775.
