Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a Grade II* listed building located in Askham Richard, North Yorkshire. It dates from the late 12th century, with earlier origins, and was restored in 1879. The church is constructed of magnesian limestone ashlar and sandstone, topped with a plain tile roof.

The structure features a continuous nave without a chancel, a south porch, and a north vestry. On the south side of the nave, which retains its Norman character, there are three irregularly spaced round-headed windows with hood-moulds. To the east, there is a buttress and a round-arched doorway. The south porch, added in 1879, has two orders of eroded nook shafts and contains a late Norman doorway with two orders of nook shafts. Most of the capitals are water-leaf, except for one that is scalloped. The arch is decorated with roll-moulding and is set under a hood-mould with mask stops, including a mask at the apex. The first two bays have a chamfered eaves band.

The north side was restored in the 19th century and features two similar windows without hood-moulds. The vestry, also from the 19th century, has a catslide roof, a late Victorian chimney, and an inserted round-arched Saxon doorway at the west end. The west gable, restored in the 19th century, includes a tall, single-light, round-headed window and a slightly projecting bell-turret supported by a modillion band, with a round-headed bell-opening under a hood-mould and a cross at the apex.

The east end was restored in the 19th century and has an ashlar plinth. It features a group of three stepped round-arched windows under a continuous hood-mould, with a round window above. All the architraves and hood-moulds have been renewed. Inside, the church was renewed in the 19th century, and the base of the cross is decorated with a serpent design discovered during restoration in 1879. The Saxon doorway, now located in the vestry, was found in the north wall during restoration and has been re-assembled.