A VICTORIAN church can hold weddings for the first time in its 125-year history.

St James' Church, Romanby, was built in 1882 in response to the rising population of Northallerton Parish.

It is one of two parish churches in Northallerton - along with All Saints - and as a Chapel of Ease it could hold baptisms and funerals, but not weddings.

But after requests from people who wanted to marry there, the parochial church council decided to apply for a licence.

The parish priest, the Reverend Howard Smith, said: "Up to this year, it was only All Saints that could do marriages but we wanted to extend the choice for people.

"It is now legally possible for a full marriage service to take place at St James'.

"There have been requests from people over the years to have marriages there but the answer was 'sorry, we can't because the building has not been licenced for it'."

After the parochial church council approved the move, permission had to be granted from the Church of England Diocese of York.

The council was asked to clarify who would be able to get married in the church and said it should be any Northallerton parishioner.

When the plan was approved by the diocese, the church council contacted the office of the Registrar General.

Mr Smith said: "The situation now is that anybody who lives in the Northallerton Parish and is eligible to get married in church has the choice of either place. We have got the registers and are ready to go."

Another major development for the church is the completion of its new extension, which cost about £250,000.

The extension will be used as a meeting place for local groups and has a meeting room, kitchen and toilet facilities. Before it was built, groups used the old St James' School, which is now the site of a new housing development.

Proceeds from the sale of St James' School paid for the development, which was finished just before Easter.

It will be opened by the Bishop of Whitby on the church's 125th anniversary, May 30.