Roman Catholic Church Of St Edward The Confessor, Sanday

The Roman Catholic Church of St Edward the Confessor was built in 1885-89 by William Frame, with sculpture by Thos. Nicholls. It is a Neo-Romanesque church, oriented to face east. The main rectangular structure is elongated, with a semi-circular apse at the east gable, a three-storey tower to the southwest, and a projecting gabled porch to the northwest. The church is constructed from dark grey, bull-faced sneck rubble, with contrasting tooled sandstone dressings.

The flanks of the church have four bays, featuring small round-headed windows linked by a moulded string course; five similar windows illuminate the apse. The west gable has a similar arrangement of three lancet windows, topped by a wheel window. Shallow angle buttresses are present on the west side. A deep porch obscures a round-headed entrance with a moulded doorpiece, flanked by paired nook shafts with waterleaf or scalloped capitals, and small incised Greek dedication crosses. A double-leaf plank door is fitted with long, cast-iron hinges.

The rectangular, three-storey tower has a round-headed entrance in its east elevation, leading to a sacristy. Small lancet windows are situated above each other on the west and south elevations. The first floor features blind round-headed arches filled with contrasting dark rubble, some laid in a herring-bone pattern. The second and third storeys have louvred openings on all elevations; the east and west elevations have a single centre column, while the north and south elevations have paired columns, all with cushion or waterleaf capitals. The church has a slated, gabled roof with a centre ridge finial topped with a cast-iron cross and decorative red pottery ridge. The remaining roofs are also slated, with red pottery ridge details and gable apex cross finials.

Inside, the apse is framed by a round-headed arch with two orders of moulding: the inner a simple roll and hollow, and the outer with a chevron pattern. Paired engaged columns flank the entrance, featuring crocketed or waterleaf capitals. Shallow steps lead to the apse which has a coloured tiled floor. A round-headed entrance leads to the sacristy, positioned below an open balustraded balcony within the tower. A round-headed arch frames the balcony, supported by paired pilasters with capitals matching those elsewhere in the building. The wallhead is decorated by a plain bandcourse with regularly spaced carved stone heads, five on each side, depicting knights, priests, youths, etc. The original altar and font remain; the rest of the interior is empty.