ST JOHN’S CHURCH in Darlington was due to be topped by a 160ft spire on its square tower but, although all the materials were bought, the spire was never built as its construction coincided with the collapse of “the railway king”.

Now it looks like the church will never get its enormous finishing touch as on Sunday, after 173 years of worship, it held its last service.

The Northern Echo: Architect John Middleton's sketch showing he envisaged St John's Church, with a 160ft spire and a clock

Architect John Middleton's sketch showing he envisaged St John's Church, with a 160ft spire and a clock

George Hudson, “the railway king” who was the Lord Mayor of York and the MP for Sunderland, laid the church’s foundation stone on September 10, 1847, when he was at the height of his powers. He was the driving force behind the East Coast Main Line which, three years earlier, had opened its first station at Bank Top. A community of railway workers had quickly grown up around and Hudson (below) was wanted their church to be “conspicuous and attractive”.

The Northern Echo: George Hudson (findmypast.co.uk).

A 160ft spire would have made it very conspicuous – St Cuthbert’s spire is 180ft tall but it would have been overshadowed by St John’s which is built on much higher ground.

St John’s was designed by architect John Middleton, who had the railway village at Waskerley plus stations at Redcar, Middlesbrough, Witton le Wear, Frosterley, Harperley and Wolsingham. In Darlington, he had built Central Hall in 1847 – known as “celestial hall” because it was so big – as well as the National Provincial Bank (now NatWest) on High Row in 1849.

The Northern Echo: The committee in charge of building St John's Church in August 1848, headed by George Hudson, the railway king

The committee in charge of fund raising for St John's Church in August 1848, headed by the railway king, George Hudson

But as the church rose from the ground so the railway king’s bubble burst. He was forced out of some of his companies in the spring of 1849, and by the autumn, he was being asked to repay £750,000 that his fellow directors felt was not his.

This seemed to knock the stuffing out of those building the Bank Top church. They bought loads of old heavy stone sleepers from the railway which were intended to be the start of the spire but, perhaps because Mr Hudson’s donations dried up, when the church opened in January 1850, it was without a spire.

The Northern Echo: St John's Church, photographed from outside Mr Walton's chemist shop

“The church has cost £4,000, and it is a matter of regret that the building committee are responsible for a very large debt,” says a contemporary report, which is illustrated with architect Middleton’s sketch of the church with a spire – and also with a clock in the tower, which also never materialised.

The stone sleepers are said to have been used instead to build No 142, Yarm Road – but we have never been able to trace this property (do you live in a house in Yarm Road where it is impossible to bang a nail in the wall?).

Another version of the story says that the spire was not proceeded with because it was feared it would collapse the tower, but that would do a dis-service to Mr Middleton, who had a long and distinguished church-building career.

The Northern Echo: Scaffolding around St John's in 1973

Scaffolding around St John's in 1973

Architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner describes St John’s as “an assured composition with a strong presence” while Historic England gives it a Grade II listing and says: “Although lacking the intended spire, it has a very fine architectural presence and is an important local landmark.”

So what now for the church that reached for the Darlington sky, but never quite made it?

READ MORE: HOW A PIONEERING VICTORIAN STEEPLEJACK PUT THE WEATHERCOCK BACK ON ST CUTHBERT'S CHURCH