Saint Mary's Church (Lastingham)

Church from the south

The Saint Mary's Church, Lastingham is an Anglo-Saxon Church in Lastingham in the county of North Yorkshire in the region of Yorkshire and the Humber in England . It was built from 1250 in place of a previous building. The church is one of the Most Important Buildings with Grade I status on the UK Official List of Monuments .

location

inner space

The village of Lastingham is set in green hills south on the edge of the North York Moors . The church is located on the western outskirts on the slope in an elevated position above the village. The church is surrounded by a cemetery.

history

The missionary St. Cedd sent from the monastery of Lindisfarne founded a monastery around 654 at a place where, according to legend, a dragon should have lived. After the turmoil of the Danelag and the Norman conquest of England, the monastery was re-established from 1078 to 1088 as a Benedictine monastery by Stephen of Whitby on the site where the tomb of St. Cedd was believed to be. However, within the following decade the monks moved to York and the unfinished church was left to decay.

In 1228 the parish church of Lastingham was converted from the former monastery church and the north aisle was added to the church. The southern one followed in the 14th century and the tower in the 15th century. In the 17th century, the church, which was in poor condition, was renovated by Thomas Ferres. In the 18th century a curate was appointed by a pastor who did not live on site. He had 13 children to look after and increased his income with fish. His wife ran the nearby pub "Blacksmith's Arms", which still exists today, where the curate often entertained guests with his violin playing.

description

Today's three-aisled church is east- facing and has a choir and apse in the east . A tower is attached to the ship in the west. Under the tower with three bells is the bell-room, which is at ground level on the ship. The building stock is largely from the 13th to 15th centuries. The unusual vaulted stone ceiling, the glass windows and various other pieces of equipment come from Victorian times, mostly from the renovation in 1879. The crypt, the choir and the apse, all of which have been preserved from the Norman church building from 1078, are particularly noteworthy.

Interior

The Norman font today stands in the west of the ship in front of the bell chamber and dates from the 13th century. There are also medieval tombstones and a free-standing holy water font from the 15th century.

Baptismal font
Norman columns in the apse
Ionic capitals
pulpit
Stained glass window
Stained glass window

crypt

The three-aisled crypt is the main attraction and the oldest component of the church, which was built from 1078 using components from the Anglo-Saxon construction. The crypt was originally accessed through its own entrance on the north side of the church. It was not until Victorian times that today's stairs were laid down from the middle of the nave to the crypt. The stone altar that stands in front of the only window in the crypt in the apse is remarkable. The capitals of the thick columns between the main and side aisles have either cube capitals or Ionic capitals, which either rest on arkantus leaves or on intertwined arches. In the crypt there are several stone fragments such as cross shafts and a sarcophagus lid from the Anglo-Saxon era.