A CHURCH built on a site
that has been a place of worship for at least 4000 years has been
presented with a tourism award more usually given to venues such as
Alton Towers.
St Michael and All
Angels, Houghton le Spring, in Co. Durham, dates from the 12th
century, but excavations in the chancel disclosed evidence of a
Roman temple, and whinstone boulders that once formed a Neolithic
stone circle. The building also includes fragments of Saxon and
Norman architecture.
This week, the church's
efforts to open up its history were recognised by the presentation
of a Red Rose award from the national tourist agency Visit
England.
The Rector of St
Michael's, Canon Sue Pinnington, said that developing the church's
attraction as a heritage centre had also allowed them to open it,
outside service times, to a wider population. "It was closed until
18 months ago for the classic reasons," she said. "Now, we have a
team of more than 20 very devoted and loyal stewards who have gone
through a special welcome training-programme.
"It has been about making
the church more accessible . . . but primarily to build on our
ministry of hospitality, and develop the church by actually opening
it. It allows us to have the building open for those who are
seeking a spiritual or emotional connection with God."
Since the Roman and Stone
Age artefacts were discovered in 2008, the Grade I listed church
has had a heritage trail for both adults and children. "We tell
visiting school parties that there was a kind of church here when
the pharaohs lived, and they are just amazed," Canon Pinnington
said. "People here were worshipping their gods when Abraham left to
seek the Promised Land. It's mind-blowing."
The church is also on the Cuthbert Trail, which links churches
where the saint's body is said to have rested when it was carried
around the north-east in the ninth century. "No one really
understood why Cuthbert's body came to Houghton le Spring, because
there wasn't a church, but we now know through these discoveries
that there was," Canon Pinnington said.