Church Of St. Cuthbert

Church of St. Cuthbert

This church stands at Marton on the west side of Stokesley Road. It is a 12th-century building that was largely rebuilt in 1843–48, possibly by J.B. Rudd of Tollesby, with a vestry added around 1920. The building is constructed in dressed sandstone with Lakeland slate roofs.

The church follows a cruciform plan with an aisled nave, south and west porches, and a north vestry. The architectural style combines Neo-Norman with Early English elements. It features a continuous chamfered plinth, slender clasping buttresses, and buttresses between bays.

The south aisle comprises four bays. A gabled porch stands in the second bay, with boarded double doors fitted with scrolled strap hinges beneath a double chevron-moulded head on nook shafts. Above runs a chevron-moulded eaves cornice. The aisle windows have roll-moulded heads, nook shafts, and continuous impost and sill strings. A corbel table sits beneath a shallow parapet. Between the third and fourth bays, a tablet bearing worn heraldic arms sits on the parapet. The north aisle largely survives from the 12th century with renewed windows and an embattled parapet. A similar slightly-projecting west porch stands beneath a paired west window set in a deep segment-headed recess and flanked by slender buttresses. The west bellcote contains two round-headed openings holding 17th-century bells, sheltered by a continuous hoodmould and paired gables. The nave has a crow-stepped east gable.

The south transept features paired and single windows with chevron-moulded surrounds and chevron-moulded gable copings. The largely medieval north transept has mid-19th-century Caernarvon-headed windows in hollow-chamfered surrounds and a crow-stepped gable. The lower three-bay chancel contains lancets and a boarded south door within a nailhead-moulded arch on nook shafts; the hoodmoulds terminate in carved stops. A corbel table beneath the eaves includes seven medieval corbels carved with stars, shields, and masks. A low parapet with chamfered roll-moulded copings runs along the roofline. The east window displays intersecting tracery. Cross finials crown the porches, transepts, and chancel. The two-bay vestry resembles the north transept in style.

Inside, the north arcade features re-cut 12th-century stonework with piers that alternate between octagonal and compound forms. The capitals bear flat leaves, grotesques, and dragons, while the bases display scrolled leaves. An original shaped base survives at the west end. A similar mid-19th-century south arcade and transept arches are present. The chancel arch is moulded with chevron and lozenge patterns. The nave and transept roofs are low-pitched with kingpost trusses, moulded purlins, and block corbels. The chancel roof features arch-braced collar-beam trusses with moulded purlins resting on stone corbels; the east truss sits on shafts. A 13th-century trefoil-arched piscina with dogtooth moulding stands in the south wall. A pair of mid-20th-century Vicar's stalls by Thompson of Kilburn are installed. Good wainscoting of 1914 lines the sanctuary. A mid-19th-century carved octagonal font is present.

The west window of the south aisle contains stained glass by W.E. Towers depicting St. Nicholas of Myra. Four windows in the south transept, made in 1903–05 by C.E. Kempe, depict Saints Hilda, Elfleda, Cuthbert, and Aidan. A north transept window of 1911 by W.E. Towers shows St. Christopher. The east window, depicting the Crucifixion with saints, was made in 1908 by Wailes of Newcastle. A benefaction board hangs in the porch. A medieval grave cover lies in the floor of the north transept, carved with a Calvary cross and sword.

Captain James Cook R.N., F.R.S., the celebrated circumnavigator, was baptised in this church on 3rd November 1728.