614 - Birth of Princess Hild. She lived at the court of her great uncle Edwin of Northumbria 

627 - Hild and Edwin were baptised at York on Easter Eve by Bishop Paulinus. 

647 - St Hild's Church founded in South Shields by St Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne on 15 acres of land endowed by King Oswin, with Hild, now a nun, in charge of the work. 

649 - Hild transferred to Hartlepool to succeed Abbess Hieu. 

657 - Hild founded a double-monastery (for monks and nuns) at Whitby, a place which became famous for learning and religion. 

680 - Death of Hild on 17th November, aged 66. 

c865 - The Nunnery of St Hild destroyed by the Danes. 

1093 - St Hild first mentioned in the Venerabilibus Patribus Charter. 

c1100 - The rebuilding of the church by the Normans. 

1154 - The church is mentioned in the Charter of that year. 

1204 - A charter of King John mentions the church. 

1256 - Chaplain Walter (a monk from Jarrow) in charge of St Hild's Chapelry. 

1296 - Robert the Clerk (curate) of St Hild's is mentioned in the Halmote Court Rolls of the Prior of Durham. 

1653 - First Extant Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths. 

1688 - The Masters and Mariners of Whitby requested permission to build a gallery at their own expense. The request was granted. 

1784 - The church was extended at great expense to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding population. 

1812 - The chapel of St Hild being greatly dilapidated was rebuilt at a cost of £6,860, a sum which plunged the people of the church into such great difficulty that a special Act of Parliment was passed authorising the levying of church rates until the debt was cleared. 

1819 - The church was consecrated by the Bishop of Oxford on 30th July. 

1845 - The Chapelry of St Hild separated from the Parish of Jarrow, and became a Parish in its own right - the Parish Church of South Shields. 

1881 - The old three decker pulpit was replaced with the present victorian-gothic style pulpit. It is made of oak and scrolled brass, and stands on a pedestal of black and green marble and Caen stone.

1895 - The Song Room was added to the south side of the church, built to drawings by Joseph Hall Morton at the cost of £280. 

1941 - The church was extensively damaged during WWII by enemy planes on an air raid on the town centre. 

1949 - Restoration work completed. 

1978 - The church was extensively re-ordered in line with modern liturgical thinking. The High Altar was brought down from the east wall to form a Nave Altar resting upon a wooden dais. 

1991 - A screen was built at the west end of the church and a visitors' centre was formed, the font being re-positioned in the Lady Chapel. The screen is dedicated to Canon Gordon Berriman - Vicar of St Hilda's from 1958-1976. 

1998 - St Hilda's was awarded £241,800 from Heritage Lottery Funding to enable a major resoration scheme to be carried out to the outside of the building. Matching funding was made available through the Single Regeneration Budget for the re-ordering and upgrading of the church yard. 

1999 - Restoration works were completed and included partial re-roofing, restoration and re-decoration of windows, rebuilding of gate piers with the introduction of new church gates. The bells were also restored with help from the Durham & Newcastle Diocesan Association of Church Bellringers. 

2004 - Restoration of the fine T C Lewis organ by Harrison & Harrison, Durham at a cost £114,000.