Description

NORTH YORKSHIRE
HARROGATE
5338
SE 36 NE ROECLIFFE THE GREEN
(north side, off)

2/49 Church of St Mary

15.3.66

GV II*

Church. 1843 by R H Sharp for Andrew Lawson of Aldborough Manor. In neo-
Norman style. Coursed squared limestone, red tile roof. Single cell
building with 3-bay nave and very shallow chancel, west bellcote and north-
east vestry. The large plank door to bay 1 has a ring handle; the doorway
is of 2 round orders, the attached columns having cushion capitals. 3 large
raking buttresses to south and 2 to north walls. Roll-moulded round-arched
windows throughout, narrow windows to chancel. The west window is flanked
by colonnettes. The bellcote has a pitched roof and single bell. Massive
stone copings to gables. Interior: the barrel-vaulted ashlar roof rises
directly from the side walls. A thick semicircular roll-moulding on nook-
shafts with cushion capitals denotes the shallow sanctuary which is reached
by 5 black and white marble steps. Much reused C16 and C17 black oak: the
octagonal pulpit and reading desk with geometric panels and balusters, 3
carved panels in the squire's pew on the south side, dated 1619, and linen-
fold panelling on the east wall and between nave and vestry. The vestry
doorway is ogee-headed with traceried carved door. More early woodwork in
the vestry: carved friezes in relief with biblical scenes including
nativity, flight into Egypt, David and Goliath and Salome. Other wood
carvings include heads of putti, swags and classical capitals. The vestry
corner fireplace has a round arch, the voussoirs carved with crude
representations of faces and animals. The late C19 brass wall plaques of
the Lawson family and the east window showing the Virgin and Child with
Latin inscription by Barnett of York were being removed at time of resurvey,
as were the original raking pews built against the north, south and west
walls, surrounding a set of benches in the middle. The church is maintained
by the Redundant Churches Fund and undergoing restoration at time of
resurvey. The Jacobean pulpit came from Holy Trinity Hull, the C15 vestry
door and the marble sanctuary steps from York Minster following the 1829
fire there. The church is considered to be a remarkably enterprising essay
in the neo-Norman style for this period, especially in the use of the barrel
vault. R H Sharpe also rebuilt the street frontage of Aldborough Manor for
the Lawson family.

Listing NGR: SE3756266019

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Mary's Church, Roecliffe at Wikipedia
• St Mary's Church, Roecliffe official website
• Wikidata Q7594413

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)