St Mary Magdalene, Yarm

St Mary Magdalene is a Church of England parish church in the town of Yarm, Stockton-on-Tees. Administratively, it is a parish of the Diocese of York. The current rector is the Reverend Simon Gurd, BA.

The current church building is the third to stand on the site. The first was a wooden Saxon building of which no traces remain. A Norman church was built in the late 12th Century and remained until 1728 when it razed by fire. The present Georgian church was built from the remains of the second in 1730.

History

Saxon church

The earliest evidence of a church being present in the town is the Trumbert Shaft. The shaft part of an inscribed sandstone grave cross. It was discovered being used as a mangle weight in Yarm in 1877 by Canon Greenwell of Durham. The shaft is now kept in the library of Durham Cathedral and bears the inscription:Which translates as:Trumbert or Trumberhet was consecrated as Bishop of Hexham in AD 681, he was succeeded in AD 684 by Eata. The date of his death is not known, but clearly he was buried at Yarm late in the 7th or early in the 8th century.

Norman church

The west end and the base of the tower of the present building are part of the original stone church was built by the De Brus family in the latter half of the 12th century. A fortified tower was added in the 13th century and rebuilt during the 17th century.

Georgian Church

In 1728 the Norman church was badly damaged by fire that and had to be rebuilt. The cost of the damage was put at £1,772...
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