Gateshead - Religion

Religion

Christianity has been present in the town since at least the 7th century, when Bede mentioned a monastery in Gateshead. A church in the town was burned down in 1080 with the Bishop of Durham inside. St. Mary's Church was built near to the site of that building, and was the only church in the town until the 1820s. Undoubtedly the oldest building on the Quayside, St Mary's has now re-opened to the public as the town's first heritage centre, Gateshead Heritage @ St Mary's.

Many of the Anglican churches in the town date from the 19th century, when the population of the town grew dramatically and expanded into new areas. The town presently has a number of notable and large churches of many denominations.

The Bensham district is home to a community of Haredi Jews consisting of 259 families and is referred to as Little Jerusalem by its non-Jewish residents. Within the community is the Gateshead Yeshiva, the largest Yeshiva in Europe, and other Jewish educational institutions with international enrolments. Following the holocaust, the area became home to the largest Orthodox Jewish education complex in postwar Europe and the most significant outside of the United States and Israel.

Islam is practiced by a small minority of people in Gateshead and there is a Kurdish Mosque located in the Bensham area.

In the 2001 Census, more than 10% of people residing in the wider Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead stated that they practiced no religion.