Newton-by-the-Sea

This is the lovely little church of St Mary the Virgin in Northumberland, a tin tabernacle built as a mission room towards the end of the 19C. Nationally, the church found portable buildings useful as they could be installed rapidly, where congregations were growing, to meet needs while a permanent church building was erected. Several of these mission halls were later moved to new sites or had other uses such as village halls. St Mary remains a church but is also used as Newton's village hall.