Church Heritage Record 643039

West tower; 4-bay aisled nave and south porch; chancel, organ chamber and vestry.

Nave 16m (50ft) by 8m (25ft).

The earliest visible architectural features would date the present church to the early 12th century, but the existence within the church of many fragments of Anglo-Saxon crosses dating back to the 9th century indicates that the present buildings stands on or near the site of an earlier church.  

The lower stage of tower, nave and chancel arch date to the early 12th century, while the tower arch and north aisle are of the late 12th- early 13th century.  The chancel and the tower were rebuilt in the 14th century.  The south aisle and porch were built and the upper stage of the tower rebuilt during the restoration of 1909-12 by C Hodgson Fowler, the work completed by W H Brierley, paid for Sir Tatton Sykes; this was one of the last schemes of work undertaken by the latter as patron, and cost £20,000.  The furnishings and fittings mostly date to this restoration, with the notable exception of the font. 

The surrounding area is an archaeological site of national importance, with Prehistoric remains and earthworks and underground remains of a substantial Romano-British and Saxon proto-urban settlement. There are also important medieval and post-medieval remains, including the famous medieval and post-medieval site of Wharram Percy, and of course the other medieval churches in the area. The large-scale excavations at these sites have changed our perception of the late Roman, Saxon and Medieval periods.

This is a large and impressive church, now presented externally in a mostly Decorated Gothic guise, though closer inspection reveals a longer and complex development.  To begin at the west end, the elevation presented to the approaching visitor, the 3-stage buttressed tower stands on a chamfered plinth.  The stages are divided by string-courses. The lowest stage has a square-headed Perpendicular west window of two cusped lights with panel tracery beneath a continuous hood-mould.  The south face has a reset corbel head and a restored second-stage 2-light window, with an inset clock-face above (clock by Potts & Sons, Leeds 1911).  The belfry stage is pierced by paired bell openings, recessed in pointed arches beneath hood-moulds.  The cornice above this is carved with text from Psalms interspersed with fleurons and beasts, below an embattled parapet with blind tracery and armorial shields.

Flanking the tower, the restored north aisle west window is of two lights with Decorated tracery beneath a pointed hood-mould and raked parapet, while the restored south aisle west window is a cusped lancet beneath a crow-stepped parapet. The north aisle is buttressed and stands on a chamfered plinth.  It has a shouldered north door and four windows similar to the west window, under an eaves cornice and plain parapet.  The south aisle has one 2-light and two 3-light windows with cusped intersecting tracery and corbel-stopped hood-moulds, under a plain parapet.  Coped gables with terminal gablets and crosses throughout the church.

The western bay is taken up by the gabled south porch, which has a 2-centred chamfered opening with bar stops beneath a hood-mould. Mounted above the doorway is a badly eroded sundial, and there is a reset blind trefoil stone in the west return, probably of the 14th century. The inner doorway is round-arched, of three orders incorporating reset Norman beakhead mouldings, again much eroded. The fine oak double doors are dated 1912 on the lock plate. There are stone benches along the walls of the porch.

The chancel stands on a double-chamfered plinth, into which four fragments of Anglo-Saxon cross shafts, 9th-10th century, have been built.  One of these is pierced by a drainpipe.  The south wall is pierced by a low-side small cusped lancet underneath a 2-light with Decorated tracery in the west bay, adjacent to a blocked original priest’s door beneath a coved hood-mould. To the east of this are two 3-light windows with Decorated tracery, much restored.. The east end has offset angle buttresses and another 3-light Decorated window, with a sill band and hood-mould. On the north side the organ chamber has a projecting gable end with a square-headed 2-light window, and a small vestry in the chancel angle.

The floors are of stone flags, with carpets in most areas. Attention is held immediately by the finely carved Norman font, which stands just inside the door.   Looking beyond this to the west, the high early 13th-century tower arch is 2-centred and of three orders, the inner two carried on slender shafts with moulded capitals, all under a coved hood-mould.  Within the tower space behind is a huge font dating to the restoration, with a heavy and elaborately carved cover suspended by a chain from the ceiling.  Piled against the walls are several fragments of Anglo-Saxon churchyard crosses with truncated figures and interlace, with some information on the wall above about them and similar examples elsewhere.

The north arcade would appear to be mostly original early 13th-century work, with double-chamfered pointed arches carried on round columns with octagonal moulded capitals and tall plinths.  The south arcade is wholly Hodgson Fowler and executed in the style of the late 13th century, with pointed, double-chamfered arches under a continuous corbelled hood-mould, carried on quatrefoil piers with moulded capitals. The richly decorated nave roof has arch-braced collars and traceried spandrels, carried on moulded and embattled wall plates and tie-beams.

The east end of the north aisle clearly once housed an altar, as there is a piscina on the north side of the respond and a doorway for the entrance to the rood stair, now blocked above and giving access instead to the guts of the organ. Access to the organ chamber to the east is possible through a simple pointed doorway in the inserted low stone wall, which has an arched opening above.

The large round-headed Norman chancel arch is of three orders, carried on triple responds with primitive voluted north capitals and scalloped south capitals incorporating carvings.  The outer arch has lobed chevrons interrupted by a defaced head at the centre. The splendidly carved furniture dates mostly to the 1909-12 restoration and includes the pewing, the pulpit, the altar and a fine seven-bay Decorated rood screen with a heavy coved cornice, elaborately carved with figures and foliage.  The choir stalls are also superb, carved with animal and birds in flowers and foliage.