Church of St Cuthbert and St Mary

Details

BARTON CHURCH LANE NZ 20 NW (east side) 7/1 Church of St Cuthbert and St Mary (formerly listed as 18.3.68 Church of St Cuthbert)

- II

Church. Rebuilt 1840-1. By Ignatius Bonomi. Rubble with ashlar dressings, Welsh slate roof. 4-bay nave and chancel in one, with 3-stage south tower also forming porch. Stepped plinth. Quoins. Tower, east side: chamfered pointed doorway with hoodmould; first-floor 2-light chamfered mullion window; second-floor paired-lancet openings with hoodmoulds in recessed panel above which parapet is corbelled. Tower, south side: ground-floor sundial in traceried quatrefoil; first and second floors as east side. Tower, west side: ground-floor trefoil window; first floor blank; second floor as east side. Tower north side: second floor as east side. Nave and chancel, south side: bays divided by ashlar stepped buttresses. In each bay, paired-lancet windows with hoodmoulds; corbel table supporting ashlar parapet; ashlar coping to right. Lying on ground below second-bay window of nave, a broken stone, possibly an C11 cross-shaft, with indented diaper motif and saltire cross carved on narrow face only; resting on it a stone inscribed "W E MAY 1678" which was formerly built into the wall above the doorway of St Mary's Church at Barton (VCH i, p 154). Chancel, east end: stepped buttresses flanking stepped triple lancet window, the outer bays blind. Nave and chancel, north side: 4 bays as on the south side. Nave, west end: stepped triple lancet window, with trefoil in circle in gable above; lean-to heating chamber. Interior: 6 internal bays to nave and 3 to chancel, with hammerbeam roof trusses with pointed-arched braces, ceiled at the top only in the nave, and more completely in the chancel; at junction of nave and chancel, 3 chamfered ashlar pointed arches with hoodmoulds and impost capitals, the central arch larger. To north side of chancel, organ chamber and vestry, with contemporary organ case almost filling ashlar pointed arch. To south side of chancel, side chapel with shuttered windows and wrought-iron sanctuary lamp. Chancel has panelling and early C20 reredos. Font: Romanesque; squat circular bowl, on short stem on chamfered base, brought from the site of St Mary's Church. The nave has original pews. In the west window, painted glass dated 1841 by Wailes of Newcastle on Tyne, depicting the Commandments, Lord's Prayer, and Creed. Monuments; south side of nave: wall monument to Thomas Dodsworth of Barton St Cuthbert d1680, Robert Dodsworth d1651, and Margaret Chaytor formerly Robert's widow, d1703; with T-shaped brass to Thomas, signed Phin. Briggs Ebor. fecit, set in ashlar bolection-moulded frame, and with painted gilt lettering for Robert and Margaret, below swan-neck pediment; wall monument to Thomas Gyll, a lawyer, d1780, erected by his nephew Leonard Hartley; north side of nave: wall monument to George and Elizabeth Stelling, d1795 and d1810 respectively, with oval copper plates set in black marble with pediment; wall monument to George Robinson d1792 and his brother Peter Robinson d1799, with an oval plaque within an aedicule. In the porch, an elaborate altar tomb to Thomas Gyll d1691, his mother Firs Elizabeth Lister d1688 and his wife Mrs Eliza Gyll d1700, with diagonally projecting corner volutes, fluting above side panels, Gyll coat of arms on end panel, and with hollow- chamfered moulding to inscribed lid. Originally on this site was a chapel of St Cuthert, so dedicated because it was said that the monks who carried the saint's body rested here. A second chapel, to St Mary, was built at the east end of Mary Gate because, it was said, 2 sisters quarrelled and would not worship under the same roof. St Cuthbert's became ruined and St Mary's continued in use, until the 2 curacies were consolidated in 1840, and the present church built at a cost of £900. The chancel of St Mary's was demolished in 1840, and the nave rebuilt as a mortuary chapel, but only its foundations can now be seen in its churchyard. Margaret Chaytor, who is included in the Dodsworth monument, saw three centuries, being born in 1598 and dying in 1703 aged 105. Her second husband, Col Henry Chaytor, defended Bolton Castle during the Civil War. T Bulmer, History, Topography and Directory of North Yorkshire (1890), p 358; H Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, (1978) p 123; VCH i, pp 150-4.

Listing NGR: NZ2305608964

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

322640

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of York: North Riding, (1914), 150-4
Colvin, H M, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, (1978), 123
Bulmer, T, History Topography and Directory of North Yorkshire, (1890), 358

End of official list entry

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