Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

A Grade I listed church of late 12th to early 13th century date, with significant restoration and rebuilding undertaken in 1873 by J H Walton. The church was originally the priory church of a Benedictine nunnery founded around 1153 by William de Arches.

The building is constructed in limestone ashlar with a plain tile roof. It comprises a seven-bay continuous nave and chancel, with a north vestry serving the two easternmost bays. A central tower with a steeply pitched roof interrupts the west front.

The west elevation is dominated by a round-headed portal of five orders supported on slim shafts with stylised foliate capitals. The two inner orders and the outermost order carry zigzag enrichment, with a hoodmould featuring head stops. Above the doorway rises a triangular gable with pellet decoration on miniature shafts with waterleaf capitals, enclosing a trefoiled niche. Flanking the doorway are pairs of round-headed niches with roll-moulded arches on shafts with waterleaf capitals; the outer pair are set into flat buttresses at the angles of the facade, with the rightmost niche containing a weathered, headless figure. A group of three stepped lancets with banded shafts is positioned above the doorway on a continuous sill, decorated with nailhead enrichment and hoodmoulds. A narrow staircase window sits to the right of the central lancet. The tower features shouldered belfry openings on each face, with a corbel table above and a pyramidal roof.

The south side of the nave contains three round-headed doorways: the westernmost has three chamfered orders, the central one (now blocked) has two plain orders, and the easternmost is largely a 19th-century reconstruction that incorporates surviving original sections. This easternmost doorway consists of three orders with zigzag enrichment to the outer one, held on shafts with stiff-leaf capitals. Pellet and nailhead enrichment decorates the jambs, with a plain hoodmould featuring decorative stops. The upper storey features lancets with hoodmoulds on a continuous string course, separated by flat buttresses.

The north side of the nave has a blind lower storey with full-height flat buttresses and a 19th-century vestry to the east. The upper storey carries lancets with hoodmoulds.

The 1873 east end features a band bearing an inscription: "To the glory of God and the Memory of Anne, wife of Isaac Crawhall, this chancel is rebuilt and dedicated AD 1873". The inscription is flanked by flat triangular-headed buttresses. Three stepped lancets with banded shafts carry nailhead and dogtooth enrichment. Above these sits a vesica with a cross at the apex.

The interior contains three tall arches carrying the tower at the west end. The nave walls feature an ornate triforium and wall passage. Vaulting shafts divide the walls into wide and narrow bays. The wide bays contain deeply splayed pointed windows with banded shafts, hoodmoulds with headstops, and nailhead enrichment. The narrow bays are filled with paired pointed arches with banded shafts, with sunk trefoil panels and roses on the cusps between their heads. Above these are trefoil-headed openings ornamented with roses, creating an exceptionally fine triforium arcade. The 1873 east end continues this style using polished marble shafts.

The south wall of the chancel carries memorial brasses including those to George Payler (died 1689), Elizabeth Payler (died 1724/25), George Payler (died 1678), Lady Maria Carey (died 1679), and Bethia Darcie (died 1671). An elaborate font with polished coloured marble shafts and inlay, along with wrought-iron altar rails, date to the 1873 restoration. The east window contains stained glass probably designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, which Pevsner considered to be the finest in the West Riding. The glass is by Morris and Company.