History & Heritage
Bringing a 19th Century vision of Net Zero to life.
History of Warksburn Old Church
Warksburn Old Church combines comfort and luxury with cutting edge smart energy technologies. By an extraordinary twist of history, its original construction was funded by the very first engineer on Earth to articulate the concept of renewable generation and storage of electricity. That eminent Victorian was Sir George Barclay Bruce, who became President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1887.
The portrait below shows Sir George holding the original 1870s architect's sketch for this very building in his hand. Click the portrait to zoom in to this detail.
Connection with the Institution of Civil Engineers
A memorial stone commemorates the original opening of the church
by
"Mrs George Barclay Bruce
29 May 1875
The church and adjoining Manse being
the gift of her esteemed husband"
Although he learned his engineering as apprentice to none other than Robert Stephenson (of Stephenson's Rocket fame), the veritable high priest of the Age of Carbon, his ICE Presidential Address on 8th November 1887 contains the world's first recorded reference to the renewable generation and storage of electricity.
"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."
In 2024, Sir George's vision came to life in the very building he funded a century and a half earlier: the completed Warksburn Old Church Passivhaus now produces more energy than it consumes over the course of a year.
Recognising the historical importance of the connection with Sir George Barclay Bruce, and the astonishing foresight of his vision of renewable energy in his ICE Presidential Address on 08 November 1887, the ICE and other dignitaries attended the formal reopening of Warksburn Old Church precisely 150 years later, on 29 May 2025.
Read the Institution of Civil Engineers feature article on Warksburn Old Church.
Read Sir George's Obituary'The Engineer'August 1908Read Sir George's Obituary from 'The Engineer', August 1908
A fascinating contemporary account of his life, his remarkable engineering triumphs around the world, and his lasting legacy.
Built Heritage and Memorials at Warksburn Old Church
Archive photographs illustrate the Presbyterian Church and Manse at Wark in times gone by. Given Sir George's foresight about new forms of power, it is no surprise to see electric lanterns on both the gateposts. Although the lights themselves had long since disappeared, the original copper electrical connection to the gateposts was unearthed during the renovation work.
Presbyterian Church & Manse, Wark, circa 1890
Presbyterian Church & Manse, Wark, circa 1920
The Kempe Windows
Sir George's wife Helen Norah, and their only daughter, Annie Louisa, are commemorated in two spectacular windows by the renowned Victorian stained glass master, Charles Eamer Kempe. Both women predeceased Sir George himself, and these two windows were installed at some point between their deaths and Sir George's own death several years later. These images of the Kempe windows were taken during the renovation work, during restoration by the specialist firm, Iona Art Glass.
Helen Norah and Annie Louisa now reside behind triple glazed, airtight Passivhaus windows, supplied by Gaulhofer of Austria. These windows were selected because they offered the tallest possible single pane of glass in a Passivhaus window obtainable in Europe. This has enabled uninterrupted line of sight to be preserved on to the Kempe originals.
Both these feature windows now form the architectural focal point of Warksburn Old Church, and the circular stained glass, high up towards the roof apex, is believed to be the only Passivhaus certified rose window in the world.
TV documentary about Warksburn Old Church
An in-depth documentary film about Warksburn Old Church was shot during the rebuilding and renovation programme in 2023-24. It shows how Warksburn Old Church was created - transforming an empty, decaying, draughty and damp Victorian building into the first church-to-home conversion in the world to achieve the ultra-demanding Passivhaus standard for energy efficiency, insulation, and airtightness.
Watch on Discovery+
See the TV documentary about the construction of Warksburn Old Church
Postscript
Sir George Barclay Bruce was certainly an extraordinary man. Although he was born in 1821, before the founding event of the global industrial revolution, the 1825 opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway, his astonishingly prescient vision of today's renewable energy makes him a figure of immense contemporary relevance. Although he started his career in Robert Stephenson's locomotive works in Newcastle, whilst Robert's own father George Stephenson, the 'Father of the Railways', was still alive, he is also a man of our own time. Nothing brings that home with the immediacy of a photograph of Sir George as an old man, taken by the renowned early female photographer Olive Edis in about 1902.
But although Sir George achieved a massive amount in life, the final, very poignant, historical irony is where he ended up in death. Click the video below to find out, as Alan James, owner of the renovated Warksburn Old Church that brings Sir George's vision of a renewably powered future to life, explains.
