Church of St Mary, Lastingham, North Yorkshire

Description

LASTINGHAM ANSERDALE LANE
NORTH YORKSHIRE
RYEDALE
5340
SE 7290
(south-west side, off)
12/94 Church of St Mary
14.7.55
- I
Church. Founded in 1078 as the church of a Benedictine monastery by Stephen
of Whitby. Became parochial in 1228 when the unfinished fabric of the
original church was adapted and incorporated into the new church. Crypt,
chancel and apse date from 1078-85; early C13 west wall and nave arcades
incorporate crossing piers from the originally-planned cruciform church with
crossing tower and transepts; C14 tower; porch largely of 1879. Some
restoration of 1828 by John Jackson; clerestory and vault of 1879 by J L
Pearson. Coursed squared sandstone, raised in dressed sandstone, with
sandstone ashlar dressings. Lead roofs with stone flagged tower roof. West
tower; aisled nave with clerestory, of 2 double bays on either side of
original crossing piers; south porch; chancel and apse. Tower: 2-stage,
embattled tower on double chamfered plinth with diagonal offset buttresses.
To lower stage, west window of 2 trefoil-headed lights beneath panel tracery
in square-headed surround. Bell stage openings are paired louvred lights
with trefoil heads beneath flat hoodmoulds. Moulded string courses between
stages and beneath parapet. Saddleback roof. In the nave west wall on
either side of the tower triple responds with cushion capitals incorporated
from the original church. West end of south aisle has a window of paired
foiled lights beneath a flat hoodmould with floral stops. South side:
gabled porch with dwarf diagonal offset buttresses has round-arched opening
on slim shafts beneath crocketed hoodmould. Chamfered south doorway with
plain imposts, chamfered on lower side. On porch west return is an oval
sandstone plaque by J Flintoft commemorating its earlier restoration by J
Jackson in 1838-39. To east of porch are 2 windows of paired cusped lights
with mouchettes above, in square-headed chamfered surrounds, separated by
dwarf offset buttress. Faint remains of a mass clock are visible on the
buttress. Single light with quatrefoil tracery further to east. East end
of aisle has a pointed window of 3 trefoil-headed lights beneath curvilinear
tracery and corbel-stopped hoodmould. Embattled parapet to aisle.
Clerestory has C19 lancets beneath rolled hoodmoulds on headstops, on either
side of a gabled buttress. Corbel table and plain parapet. North side: 5
offset buttresses, the easternmost adapted to a chimney stack. 2-centred
chamfered doorway to west. To east, 2 windows of paired foiled lights in
square-headed surrounds, the easternmost with a flat hoodmould to which one
head-stop survives. East end of aisle has a single round-headed chamfered
window. Plain coped parapet to aisle. Clerestory repeats details of south
side. Chancel, both sides: round-arched niches with plain imposts at crypt
level. Round-headed windows in quoined openings further to west, with
arched motif sill band on south side, and plait motif to north. Restored
corbel table of masks, fleurons, dogtooth and other mouldings. West end: 3-
bay apse with stepped-back round-arched windows separated by full-height
pilaster buttresses. Centre bay contains a trefoil-headed window at crypt
level. Billet-moulded sill band to apse windows. Corbel table continuing
from chancel. Half-conical roof. Coped gables and gable crosses to porch,
nave and chancel. Interior. Crypt: 3-bay aisled nave, chancel and apse.
Nave: round-arched, groin-vaults spring from 4 squat cylindrical columns on
square stepped bases. Columns have plain imposts, chamfered on lower side,
and varied capitals. One has a plain cushion capital; 3 have volutes, and 2
have bands of moulding - one a band of interlaced arcading and one a form of
upright leaf. Round chancel arch springs from half cylindrical responds
with voluted cushion capitals and plain imposts. Unmoulded apse arch
springs from the ground. Single rounded light in deep splay to east end.
Similar small lights to east end of each aisle. Sculpture: 2 carved cross
heads, one of late C8 or early C9, the other of early C9. Two C8 or C9
pieces of a carved doorway, one with a stylised grape and scroll motif. C10
cross shaft carved with interlace and key motifs. C10 hogback gravestone
carved with a bear. Cll cross shaft with key carvings. Medieval moorland
cross known as Ain Howe Cross which preceeded the replacement Ana Cross
which stands on Spaunton Moor close to the Lastingham-Spaunton parish
boundary. Nave: terminated to west by tall, narrow tower arch of 2
chamfered orders springing from quoined jambs. 2-bay north and south
arcades of double-chamfered pointed arches on keeled quatrefoil piers with
plain capitals. The west responds form the inner parts of the piers for the
original crossing tower, the outer parts of which are visible in the
exterior of the west wall. Base of south-west respond has faintly-visible
plait moulding. Similar piers with voluted cushion capitals form the
intermediate piers to arcades. Impost to east face of south-east pier
retains traces of interlace, plait and foliate moulding. A tall round arch
of 2 orders springs from these piers. 2 similar bays of arcading are
repeated to east of the intermediate piers, the end bays now blocked by the
vestry to the north and the organ chamber to the south. Round chancel arch
of 2 orders, the inner order springing from half cylindrical responds with
voluted cushion capitals. Chancel and apse: tall round arch of 2 orders,
the outer roll-moulded, separates the chancel from the apse. Round-headed
single lights, stepped back, flanked by nook-shafts with voluted cushion
capitals and impost band. Moulded capitals to the arch piers continue to
form a cornice to the apse. Groin vaulted roof to nave, choir and chancel.
Semi-hemispherical roof to apse. Painting: at west end of north aisle, 'The
Agony in the Garden', after Correggio, by John Jackson, RA, born in
Lastingham 1778. Monuments: 2 wall tablets by Bennet and Flintoft in the
north aisle, to members of the Shepherd family of Douthwaite, dated
respectively c1820 and c1827. Wall monument by J Flintoft to John Jackson,
RA., died 1831, in the south aisle. Behind the south-east pier is a
beautifully carved Calvary captured from a Spanish warship, the 'Salvador
del Mundi', and subsequently donated to the church. A monastery was founded
at Lastingham by St Cedd in 654, and subsequently destroyed by invading
Danes. In 1078 Stephen of Whitby refounded the monastery and began building
the abbey church, substantial portions of which were standing when the site
was abandoned about 1085. The church stood incomplete until c1228 when it
was adopted as the parish church of the village of Lastingham.
N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire, The North Riding, 1966: pp
224-6; pl 10 (a). L Stone, Sculpture in Britain in the Middle Ages, 1955, p
53. Introductory Guide to the Church The Ancient Crypt Church of St Mary
Lastingham, 1982

Listing NGR: SE7280990455

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Church of St Mary

A Grade I Listed Building in Lastingham, North Yorkshire

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