Priory Church Of St Mary

Priory Church of St Mary, Old Malton

This is the surviving nave of a Gilbertine priory church, now in use as a parish church. The priory was founded between 1147 and 1154 by Eustace Fitz-John. The church was partly rebuilt in the late 15th and early 16th centuries following a fire, with extensive alterations made around 1732. Later restorations were carried out by Temple Moore and George Pace during the 19th and 20th centuries. It remains the only church of the Gilbertine Order still in regular use.

The building is constructed of ashlar and rubble stone. It comprises a six-bay continuous chancel and nave with a triforium gallery and a south-west tower.

The exterior east end features a 19th-century three-light window of stepped lancets, now blocked, set beneath a hoodmould. The north wall was rebuilt and incorporates four round-headed lights beneath a continuous raised band, with an eaves band and plain parapet above. The south side retains a blocked original south arcade and triforium, also beneath a plain parapet.

The west front contains a striking west doorway with panel-traceried double doors set within five orders of semicircular arches. These arches are roll-moulded and enriched with dogtooth mouldings, supported on detached shafts with waterhold bases, shaft rings, and waterleaf capitals. The moulded hood is carried on foliate stops. Above the doorway is a restored Perpendicular window of five cinquefoiled lights beneath a three-centred panel-traceried head. Original 13th-century jamb shafts from an earlier window survive at each side. The doorway and window are flanked by blind lancets on slender detached shafts with waterleaf capitals, beneath moulded hoods. A crocketed gable cross crowns the composition.

To the north of the west front are the remains of a chamfered plinth belonging to a north-west tower, with two stages of pilaster buttress abutting the west front.

The south-west tower rises in three stages on a double-chamfered plinth, with clasping pilaster buttresses. The south-west buttress has an inset angle shaft that rises the full height of the tower. The two lower stages of the tower's west face contain single lancet windows, each with three roll-moulded orders on detached shafts with waterleaf capitals; the second-stage window also has shaft rings. The inner order of the ground-stage window is enriched with continuous ballflower moulding, whilst the second-stage inner order is chamfered. Both windows have leaf-stopped hoodmoulds. The belfry openings consist of paired lancets of two orders beneath a dogtooth-moulded hood on leaf stops. Above the belfry openings are two roundels of dogtooth moulding, each pierced by a quatrefoil. The north-west buttress features a blind lancet on each stage, similar to those on the west front. Slit openings in the south-west buttress provide access to the vice.

On the south face, the ground stage has a single round-headed light. The second stage features an arcade of three lancets, the outer ones blind, beneath a continuous hoodmould. The belfry arrangement mirrors this, with the centre lancet blind and a dogtooth hoodmould, with pierced roundels repeated above. To the east, the ground stage shows a blocked pointed arch to the former south aisle, positioned between multiple shaft responds; the southern respond bears traces of a leaf capital. The second stage has a single round-headed light, and the belfry contains triple lancets, the outer two blind, beneath a continuous dogtooth hoodmould with pierced roundels above.

On the north face, the second-stage round-headed light is blocked, and the belfry opening is a single lancet fitted with scalloped louvres.

A dogtooth-moulded string course at second-stage level crosses the west front, interrupted by the inserted west window, and continues on the south face. A plain string course at belfry-stage level encircles the tower. The tower is surmounted by a plain parapet over a corbel table, carved as unfurled leaf buds.

Interior

The north arcade comprises three round arches of three orders at the eastern end and two rebuilt two-centred arches of two orders at the western end; the sixth bay is built-up. The inner order of all arches is chamfered. The rebuilt piers are octagonal with moulded capitals, except the westernmost pier, which has clustered shafts with octagonal capitals and bases. The eastern arches have moulded hoods.

The fourth pier from the east is decorated with a double tier of cinquefoiled panelling beneath a crocketed ogee hood. Its abacus bears an inscription reading "Rogerus prior Orata p(ro) bono stat(u) m(agist)ri F." (Prior Roger, pray for the good state of Master F.). This inscription incorporates the Shotton rebus—a tun shot through by an arrow. The second and sixth piers contain inset vaulted niches beneath crocketed canopies. In the fifth bay is a blocked door with a three-centred head.

A 12th-century triforium gallery survives above the three eastern bays. Each triforium bay is arcaded with a semicircular centre arch flanked by narrow pointed arches, springing from detached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The centre arch encloses paired pointed sub-arches on a central shaft with a leaf capital, beneath a quatrefoil pierced through the tympanum. A moulded string course runs at sill level. At the western end, the triforium area was rebuilt, incorporating cusped panelling over a continuous sill string course, stepped up above the rebuilt eastern arches.

The south arcade features round arches corresponding to the eastern bays of the north arcade. From the east, the first four piers are cylindrical; the fifth is keeled with angle shafts; the sixth is clustered with twelve shafts, four bearing fillets. All have waterhold bases and moulded capitals. The west respond is keeled, set between four attached shafts, and has a leaf capital. A 12th-century triforium gallery also survives here.

On each side, stubs of vaulting shafts spring from corbels at triforium sill-string level. The original corbels are carved with either scallop or stiff-leaf foliage; replaced corbels depict angels holding shields inscribed with the Shotton rebus.

The tower is entered through the westernmost arch of the south arcade. A deeply splayed lancet in the west wall stands between corbelled shafts with moulded bases and leaf capitals. A round-headed window is a later insertion. The vaulted ceiling has been reconstructed.

Fittings

Re-used misericords are incorporated in the choir stalls. The east end dossal, tester, sanctuary panelling, and traceried organ case are by Temple Moore. Fine carved screens close off the tower arch and west doorway. In the south-east corner of the sanctuary is a coffin lid carved with a floreated sword.

Historical Context

The church, though greatly reduced in size, is the only surviving building of the Gilbertine Priory of St Mary. The priory site is scheduled as an Ancient Monument (County No. 383). Part of the undercroft of the refectory is incorporated into the adjacent house called Old Abbey (also known as Abbey House).