christ church was the first church to be built in north shields, originally a small fishing village created by prior germanus of tynemouth priory in the thirteenth century. after the dissolution of the monasteries, the priory's decaying church had been used for worship by tynemouth and north shields residents, but in the mid-seventeenth century a replacement was needed, and christ church was begun in 1654. the original architect of the church is not known, but in 1663 the yorkshire architect robert trollope was engaged to complete it, and it was consecrated on 5 july 1668 by john cosin, bishop of durham.