It is a fine example of the Victorian Gothic architecture. A brief description in A Guide to the Anglican Churches in Newcastle states: ‘This is one of the very best examples of Victorian Gothic buildings, far surpassing many more famous places. It has been sensitively reordered to facilitate the modern catholic liturgical reforms but retain a sense of the numinous for which the passerby seems grateful’. While the exterior stonework, having never been cleaned, may give it a forbidding appearance, the interior surprises and delights the visitor with its blend of space and light. 

The church has fine carvings, World War I memorials, stained and leaded glass windows and reredos by Charles Edgar Buckeridge, the highly esteemed Victorian religious painter, and Christ the King figure suspended over the chancel by renowned church artist Martin Travers.

The church is said to stand on the site of a Civil War fort. A plaque on the green opposite commemorates King Charles's visits to "The Shield Field" when a prisoner at Newcastle - he was permitted recreation time here. It is difficult now to imagine the Victorian Shieldfield that Christ Church was built to serve, let alone the Shieldfield where King Charles played golf! Nothing is left of the old flats and tenements - only the church.

The silver trowel used to lay the church foundation stone in 1859 is in display in the Discovery Museum. 

More information about the history of Christ Church and Shieldfield are on display inside the church. 

The Ouseburn Trust  also has further information on the history of Christ Church and Shieldfield at :

ouseburntrust.org.uk/news/the-history-of-christ-church-and-shieldfield/