St Giles' Church is the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of Skelton, a village in the rural northern part of the

City of York The City of York is a unitary authority area with city status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The district's main settlement is York, and it extends to the surrounding area including the town of Haxby and the villages of E ...

. The church lies at the northern end of the

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

. Records show that it was completed in or just before 1247, and the entire church is in the style of that period. The ''

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

'' of the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres). From the Restoration it was used as ...

states that "as an example of early 13th century work it is unequalled by any other parish church in the county". Local tradition maintains that the church was built with the stones that remained after the building of the south transept of

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbis ...

, in 1227.

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

states that the church was probably constructed by the same masons as that transept. The church is thus sometimes called "Little St Peter's". The following extract from Archbishop Grey's roll shows that its building took place previous to the year 1247:

"Confirmation of a donation to the chapel of Skelton. To all, etc. The donation which our beloved son in Christ, Master E. Hagitur, treasurer of York, made to John de l'Edes, clerk of the chapel of Skelton, considering it to be agreeable and satisfactory to us, we confirm the same by our Pontifical authority, desiring the said treasurer, and his successors, to pay annually the sum of 20d. to this parson. In witness whereof, &c., &c. Dated at Thorp, on the 6th day of the Ides of December, A.D. 1247."

The church formerly had a small steeple at its west end, which housed two bells, but this was removed in the 18th century. The church was restored between 1810 and 1818 by Henry Graham, who heavily restored the porch as an exact replica of the original design. The church was and again restored in 1863 by

Ewan Christian Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a British architect. He is most frequently noted for the restorations of Southwell Minster and Carlisle Cathedral, and the design of the National Portrait Gallery. He was Architect to the Ecclesiastical Commiss ...

. Despite two restoration schemes, the church has stood "virtually unaltered" since it was built, and is claimed to be "now one of only two complete Early English churches in the country." It is mentioned by

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

in his 1966 ''The Buildings of England: Yorkshire North Riding'', by

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...

in his 1958 ''English Parish Churches'' and by

Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 20 ...

in his 1999 ''England's Thousand Best Churches''. Long dedicated to All Saints, it is now dedicated to

Saint Giles Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly lege ...

. In 1986, it was

grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

St Giles church - the nave and chancel - geograph

The church is small, measuring by . The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is two bays long, and the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

a single bay, separated by a

chancel arch In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Over ...

. There are north and south aisles running the full length of the church. The east window is of three lancets, with a deeply carved surround, while the main west window is a single large lancet. In both aisles are an

aumbry An ambry (or ''almery'', ''aumbry''; from the medieval form ''almarium'', cf. Lat. ''armārium'', "a place for keeping tools"; cf. O. Fr. ''aumoire'' and mod. armoire) is a recessed cabinet in the wall of a Christian church for storing sacred vesse ...

and

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman ...

and original windows; the west window of the north aisle has some ancient stained glass. The whole building is covered by a single, pitched, roof. The

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

is of similar date to the church. There is a worn tablet in the south aisle commemorating Robert and Anne Lovell, who both died in 1421. Other memorials are to Tomlinson Bunting, who died in 1768, and to Joseph and Sarah Hotham, erected in 1791. The register starts in 1538.

References

External links

* {{coord, 54.002, -1.134, display=title Skelton Skelton Skelton, York