Warksburn Old Church Marks 150th Anniversary, Linking 19th Century Clean Energy Visionary to 21st Century Low Carbon Living.
Warksburn Old Church, a luxury Net Zero guest accommodation created by converting a former Presbyterian church in rural Northumberland, celebrated a remarkable double milestone on May 27, 2025. A formal reopening event marked precisely 150 years to the day since the building’s original opening, funded by a pioneering 19th Century clean energy visionary. The reopening event also marked the completion of the building’s transformation into a globally unique landmark: the first church-to-home conversion in the world certified to the ultra-demanding Passivhaus standard.
Commissioned by Wark residents Drs Anne and Alan James, designed by Northumberland-based Insight Architectural Design, advised by Passivhaus experts Ecospheric and built with extraordinary attention to detail by local builder David Reed, Warksburn Old Church is now one of the most energy efficient buildings in Europe, generating more energy from renewables than it uses over the course of a year.
The original church, located in Wark-on-Tyne just north of Hadrian’s Wall, opened on May 27, 1875. Its construction was funded by Sir George Barclay Bruce, a prominent Newcastle-born railway engineer, who began his career apprenticed to Robert Stephenson, the engineering colossus whose ‘Rocket’ locomotive ignited the coal-powered Industrial Revolution.
Sir George became President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), to whom he delivered a remarkably prescient Presidential Address in 1887. At the height of the carbon-intensive Steam Age, he envisioned a future powered by clean electricity – from sources like wind, streams, and tides, plus the energy storage technologies which ideally complement renewable generation – anticipating today’s Net Zero Carbon technologies by over a century.
The highlight of the event was the unveiling of a Victorian portrait of Sir George Barclay Bruce by Meshi Taka, today’s Chair of the North East Region of the Institution of Civil Engineers. This act symbolised the continuity between Sir George’s pioneering vision of sustainable energy and its realisation in the very building he funded.
Eminent railway engineer Clive Burrows, Group Engineering Director First Group, marked the historic connection to Sir George, given added significance by 2025 also marking the 200th anniversary of the railways.
Neil Carney, Head of Destination at Visit Northumberland also attended, and kindly highlighted Warksburn Old Church as a showcase of the very highest standards of sustainability in visitor accommodation.
Media Coverage
Thank you to our local newspaper, The Hexham Courant, for their feature on the event: Unique Warksburn Old Church celebrates double milestone.
Thanks also to Jules Harrison ITV Tyne Tees News for covering the event and to Dave Nells for filming the piece. We’ll post the link to their feature on itvX when it goes live. Meanwhile, here’s a few ‘making of’ photos…
Our thanks also go to the Institution of Civil Engineers for spreading the word, and to Visit Northumberland for featuring the event in their partner newsletter and on their socials.
Quotes
Sir George Barclay Bruce said (in his Presidential Address to the ICE on 08 November 1887):
“Electricity is to us now light, heat, and power. Our streets and beacons shine with it, it signs and speaks for us around the world, across the desert, and beneath the ocean. When we shall have learnt the way of storing up in a more efficient and financially successful manner, the unemployed forces of nature such as the winds and streams and tides, which can be so readily converted into electrical energy at trifling cost, then will it become a factor in the world’s life compared with which the present is as nothing.”
These words are believed to be the world’s first documented reference to the renewable generation and storage of electricity.
Meshi Taka, North East Regional Chair, Institution of Civil Engineers, CEng FICE MWES said: “I am delighted to represent the Institution of Civil Engineers at the formal reopening of Warksburn Old Church. Today is genuinely a once-in-a-century opportunity to celebrate the link back Sir George Barclay Bruce, whose 1887 Presidential Address to my own Institution is truly remarkable for its vision of the renewable generation and storage of electricity. And it’s all the more remarkable that Anne and Alan have brought his vision to life, by creating an ultra-efficient building incorporating the very technologies which Sir George foresaw, well over a Century ago. This really is history coming full circle. The reborn Warksburn Old Church is an important and significant building. Not only is its radical energy efficiency a demonstration that Net Zero is an achievable reality in 2025, but it is also a fitting tribute to the remarkable foresight of my illustrious ICE forebear, Sir George Barclay Bruce. In 1875 he funded this building. In 1887 he envisioned zero carbon energy. In 2025, the renovation of his building makes his vision a reality. The Institution of Civil Engineers continues to improve lives by ensuring the world has the engineering capacity and infrastructure systems it needs to enable our planet and our people to thrive.”
Clive Burrows, Group Engineering Director, First Group, FREng BSc CEng FIET FIMechE FIRSE FCILT said: “As a railway engineer, it is a pleasure to be stood today exactly where one of the great early railway engineers, George Barclay Bruce, was standing 150 years ago to the day. With 2025 also marking the 200th anniversary of railways, it is remarkable that Sir George Barclay Bruce links us back directly to George and Robert Stephenson, the great pioneers of the Railway Age. For me, history is coming full circle when today’s electrically-powered trains cross the Royal Border Bridge in Berwick-on-Tweed: it was none other than Robert Stephenson who appointed George Barclay Bruce as Engineer in Charge of that magnificent structure. It’s also notable that trains incorporating the energy storage batteries Barclay Bruce envisioned are now entering service on Britain’s railways. Today we’re marking the ultra low carbon transformation of a much smaller building than the Royal Border Bridge, but one which Barclay Bruce himself funded in 1875. It is inspiring to think that he, the very first engineer to envision the clean energy technologies now embodied in Warksburn Old Church, personally knew George and Robert Stephenson. Truly a link to the past as we celebrate the reopening of a building which now clearly shows the way to a sustainable future.”
Neil Carney, Head of Destination at Visit Northumberland, said: “Warksburn Old Church is a magnificent asset for the Northumberland visitor economy, and a real showcase of how the very highest standards of sustainability can be delivered in accommodation of the utmost quality. As the rare and highly demanding Green Tourism Gold Award they achieved at the first attempt shows, Anne and Alan James have proved that it is possible to combine ultra low energy consumption with ultra high levels of comfort, creating stylish, attractive and welcoming visitor accommodation. It is all the more remarkable that they have delivered this whilst preserving the magnificent stained glass and other heritage features of the original Victorian building. Northumberland and the wider North East can be truly proud that the first church conversion in the world to achieve Passivhaus certification is in Wark, and we can also celebrate the historical connection back to the ‘Geordie Genius’, Sir George Barclay Bruce, who, well over a Century ago, first envisioned the clean energy technologies now incorporated into this extraordinary and exemplary property.”
Dr Alan James said: “It is great that we now have the 21st Century Net Zero technologies which enable us to realise Sir George Barclay Bruce’s 19th Century vision of clean energy, and to achieve that by radically updating the very building he funded 150 years ago. It is astonishing that he was able to foresee zero carbon energy at the height of the Age of Coal. Now we hope that our transformation of the Victorian church he constructed, into an energy efficient home for the Age of Renewables, will inspire guests staying here along their own journey to Net Zero.”
Dr Anne James said: “We were inspired by the history of this building to create a new kind of place when we renovated Warksburn Old Church. Of course, my key design objective was to build a stylish and welcoming home for guests to enjoy whilst they’re visiting our wonderful corner of rural Northumberland, but also to create a place with purpose. A place that might inspire some of our guests to ‘take the plunge’ with transforming the way their own homes use energy. For me, it was not only about respecting and conserving the historic 19th Century building, but letting its history inspire our 21st Century renovation.