Two Burials and a Wedding: A History of St Andrew’s Church
19th century image of St Andrew’s Church
First let’s take a brief look at the history of St. Andrew’s Church. Whilst the majority of the church dates from the 1200 and 1300s, the oldest parts of the church date back to the 1100s, with some of the stones in the tower dating back to the Roman era. Restoration work was carried out in 1726 and 1866.
The first of the two burials we’re going to look at is rather unusual. That of the ‘witches’ executed during the trials of 1650. A spill over from the Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1649-50, Newcastle’s witch hunt began when the town’s Puritan authorities sent to Scotland for a witch finder. Once the unidentified witch finder arrived, the town crier was sent out to encourage people to turn in so called witches. After a devesting plague outbreak and years of war, Newcastle’s citizens were only too happy to turn on each other. 30 people, mostly women, were accused of witchcraft and brought in for examination. Of these 27 were found guilty and 15 were sentenced to death. After being hanged on the Town Moor in August 1650 the 15 so called witches were buried in unmarked graves in St. Andrew’s churchyard. This was unusual as people executed for witchcraft were not normally buried on consecrated ground. The story doesn’t end there though, in 2008 whilst renovation work was being carried out at St. Andrew’s, workers dug up some human remains. The Newcastle Chronicle reported that one worker had come out in boils and blisters after touching the bones, with claims made that these were the bones of the Newcastle Witches and that a curse had been laid upon them.
Now let’s take a look at our second burial. Composer Charles Avison was buried at St. Andrew’s in May 1770. Born in 1709, he was baptised at St. John’s Church and likely educated at the charity school attached to it. He was taught to play the flute, violin and harpsichord by his father and went to London in his twenties, where he studied under Italian composer Francesco Germiniano. He returned to Newcastle in 1734 and became the organist of St. John’s Church in 1735. In late 1736 he became the organist at St. Nicholas’s Church and stayed in this position until he died. Whilst Avison made most of his income from subscription concerts performed at the Old Assembly Rooms, he also gave private music lessons and wrote, some of the first music criticism published in English including his, ‘Essay on Musical Expression.’ Avison is probably most famous for composing twelve concerti grossi. In concerti grossi the music is passed between a full orchestra and a small group of soloists. In Newcastle where concerts where mostly performed by amateurs along with a few professionals it was easier to play concerti grossi, as opposed to concertos in which the music is played by an orchestra and a soloist, as fewer professionals were required. As well as working as the organist of St. Nicholas’s Church until his death, Avison also held the position, again to his death, of director of the Newcastle Musical Society. In his will he asked for a simple funeral and made a request to be buried next to his wife Catherine, near the north porch of the church.
Infamous poisoner Mary Ann Cotton
We’ve taken a look at two burials, so let’s now look at a wedding. On 17th September 1870, serial killer Mary Ann Cotton got married at St. Andrew’s Church. This bigamous marriage was her fourth and didn’t last long. Frederick Cotton died of what was recorded as gastric fever in December 1871. Sometime after her fourth husband’s death Mary Ann Cotton tried to have her stepson Charles Edward sent to the workhouse. When she was told by West Auckland parish official Thomas Riley that she would have to go with her stepson she responded with,
“I won’t be troubled long. He’ll go like the rest of the Cottons.”
A few days later the previously healthy Charles Edward had died from what was claimed to be gastric fever. It was eventually discovered that Charles Edward had traces of arsenic in his stomach. Some local newspapers did some digging on Mary Ann Cotton and discovered that she had lost a string of people close to her. They had all died from what was recorded as gastric fever. Arsenic poisoning and gastric fever have similar symptoms to each other, without testing doctors were unable to distinguish one from the other and this coupled with the high mortality rates of the time meant that she was able to get away with it for years. Mary Ann Cotton was found guilty of Charles Edward Cotton’s murder and hanged at Durham Gaol on 24th March 1873. Although she was only ever convicted of her stepson’s murder, it is believed that Mary Ann Cotton killed up to 21 people including 11 children, 3 husbands, her mother, a lover, and a friend.
So as you can see St. Andrew’s is not only the oldest church in Newcastle, it has some close links to the famous and infamous of the north east.