Church Of St Mary And St Alkelda

The Church of St Mary and St Alkelda is a church dating to the 14th and 15th centuries, situated in Middleham. It is constructed of rubble with a roof that is not visible. The church comprises a west tower, a nave and chancel with aisles, and a south porch.

The three-storey embattled tower features stepped diagonal buttresses on its west side. A three-light Perpendicular window is present on the west side. A single-chamfered doorway gives access to the tower stairs, with three-light vents and a small first-floor window with a trefoil head above. Belfry openings, two lights with cinquefoil heads each, are situated on all four sides of the tower. Corner finials adorn the tower. A 19th-century south porch has been added. The south doorway is an altered Decorated style, featuring roll-moulded jambs and a single-chamfered pointed arch with a label. Above this doorway is a 14th-century relief sculpture depicting the Crucifixion with flanking figures. A 19th-century priest’s door also exists.

On the south sides of the nave and chancel aisles are five two- and three-light windows, each with trefoil tracery under flat heads with hoodmoulds. Blank parapets are present, embellished with gargoyles. Clerestory windows have a similar pattern. The north nave aisle features three two-light windows with trefoil tracery under flat heads with hoodmoulds. Parapets and clerestory are consistent with the south side. The north chancel aisle includes a 19th-century doorway leading to a vestry, a four-light window, and a chimney. Two-light Decorated windows are located to the west of both the north and south aisles. The east window of the south aisle is a three-light design with reticulated tracery, while the chancel’s east window contains a four-light window with curvilinear tracery; a 19th-century Decorated window is located in the vestry.

Inside, the church showcases a four-bay Decorated arcade with two chamfered orders, supported by octagonal piers on tall broached bases and simple capitals. Matching tower and chancel arches are present, as is a semicircular arch to the south chancel aisle and a 19th-century arch to the vestry. A 14th-century font with an octagonal coarse gritstone bowl on an octagonal shaft, resting on a round base, is accompanied by a tall Perpendicular canopy. A grave cover belonging to Robert Thornton, Abbot of Jervaulx (died 1510), is set into the north wall of the tower. Early 18th-century benefaction boards and a brass from 1734 are found on the south wall of the tower. Within the north aisle, window lintels comprise re-used medieval grave covers, alongside a circa-1920 Celtic-type cross-head formerly positioned on the Market Cross. Fragments of stained glass depicting the martyrdom of St Alkelda are present in the north aisle’s west window. An 18th-century altar table stands in the south aisle, with a monument to Dean Edward Place (died 1785) located on the south wall. The nave floor contains a section of a Saxon cross-shaft with interlaced carving. The chancel displays a 19th-century stencilled wall painting.

The church was elevated to a collegiate body in 1477 by Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III), becoming a royal foundation. It survived the Dissolution, though prebendal appointments lapsed. An attempt to revive them in 1814 failed, and the post of Dean was replaced by one of Rector in 1840.