Church Of St Helen And The Holy Cross

The Church of St Helen and the Holy Cross is a substantial church, largely dating from the 12th to 16th centuries, with later 18th-century alterations. It is situated on Main Street in Sheriff Hutton, originally listed under "Church End". The church is constructed from limestone and sandstone rubble and ashlar, with Welsh slate and lead roofs.

The church comprises a 12th-century nave and the lower part of the tower, a chancel significantly rebuilt in the 15th century, 14th-century aisles, 15th-century chapels, a vestry, the upper part of the tower, an early 16th-century clerestory, and a late 18th-century porch. The west front features a porch containing a pointed doorway with three roll-moulded orders and headstops. The tower has a small round-headed window and blocked central round-headed window. The upper stage displays twin belfry openings on a string course to each face and a battlemented parapet with pinnacles and gargoyles. Aisle windows are pointed doorways to the first bay and two-light square-headed windows elsewhere. The clerestory features two-light basket-arched windows. One north chapel window is two-light square-headed, while another incorporates reused three-light windows with Reticulated tracery. The south chapel has two three-light cusped windows. The east end has a five-light window with Perpendicular tracery in the chancel, flanked by reused three-light windows with Reticulated tracery in the chapels.

Inside, there is a 14th-century tower arch, 14th-century foliate capitals, and a single lancet window in the north wall of the chancel. Notable brasses include one in the north-east end of the nave, commemorating Dorothea and John Ffenys, dated 1491, depicting two swaddled children, and a brass in the north chapel to Thomas Wytham, who died in 1481. An alabaster tomb, originally thought to represent Edward, Prince of Wales, who died in 1484, is now believed to depict Ralph Neville, died c1436. There’s a stone effigy of Sir Edmund Thweng of Cornborough Manor, who died in 1344. A probable 15th-century door leads into the vestry, and a 17th-century altar rail is present. Box pews, from the 17th to 19th centuries, are also features. Some 14th-century stained glass remains in a north aisle window.

References: Pevsner, "Yorkshire: The North Riding" (1966); Routh P. and Knowles R., "The Sheriff Hutton Alabaster Reconsidered" (1982).