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
