East Marton
(North Yorkshire)
OS Grid Ref: SD 90780 50725
53º57’09.09”N 002º08’31.16”W
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East Marton (North Yorkshire) |
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OS Grid Ref: SD 90780 50725 |
There are many small villages strung out along the length of the A59 between the more major settlements. Many of them are old farming communities that have evolved into commuter settlements for those larger towns. The twin villages of East and West Marton nestle comfortably in the hills, and share a parish church between them, whose name reflects the sharing - St. Peter's Martons Both - though it stands in East Marton, on a site which seems to have been sacred long before the tower of the present building started to be raised during the reign of Henry II. From the outside, this looks a comfortable and solid church, likely to last another thousand years without too much difficulty.
There is a strong sense of the importance of tradition here - in 2002, all services were advertised as being from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and the ordination of women to the priesthood is not recognised - so, although this church is within the diocese of Bradford, it is under the care of the Bishop of Beverley - one of the Anglican Church's Provincial Episcopal Visitors (a.k.a. "flying bishops"). On the day I visited, the weather was very dull, and there wasn't a sun to cast a shadow on the Hartley sundial on the south face of the tower; all one could see was a date (1714) carved into the face of the sundial - is that, one wonders mischievously, meant to convey to those who pass it which year the clock stopped? (I'm only half joking. Be it far from me to criticise the forms and manner of worship in this community. I just happen to believe that there isn't a lot of virtue in attempting in the twenty-first century to worship God using language that was current in the seventeenth; I suspect few of the folk in this community in need of dental treatment would seek out a dentist who still practices in the seventeenth century style. Similarly, I find evidence in the Gospels that Jesus went out of his way to include women, even telling Martha and Mary directly which path to prefer, given the choice of religious commitment or domestic subservience; I therefore conclude it is inappropriate to decree that God does not call women into ministerial service.)
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The interior of the church is light and spacious (though the rows of
pews would seem a little less cramped if a couple of them were taken out
and the rest redistributed) and the walls are pleasantly free, for the
most part, of the memorial encrustations that are often found in
churches with as long a history as this one.
A cross shaft fragment that was discovered recently in the vicinity of the church is mounted in a corner next to the west wall of the nave. (This makes it slightly difficult to see two of the faces, but the sides that are out of sight seem to be more worn than those on show.) |
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The face of the shaft shown on the left may well originally have been
the front of the cross. At the top, a figure can be seen, dressed in a
loin cloth and brandishing a weapon, which could be either a sword or a
club of some kind, possibly even a firebrand.. All around this figure are
the writhing coils of the beast he is fighting.
The carved beast displays the double outline that is characteristic of "Jellinge" style, as indeed is the subject itself. These features allow this cross shaft to be assigned to the Anglo-Danish school of carving, and suggests a date somewhere around 950. Having said that, this church lies somewhat outside the normal locale for Anglo-Danish work (though it isn't the only piece for which that comment is true) - a mildly ambiguous note in the local leaflet suggests the stone came from Knaresborough, but it is left to the reader to decide whether this suggestion should be taken as applicable to the quarrying of the stone or to its carving.
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| The local leaflet also suggests this may have been the preaching cross
of the initial Christian meeting place, but its relatively small size
would tend to count against that idea. Moreover, it is hard to see a
distinctively Christian content in the imagery on this particular
monument, unless the weapon that the hero is holding is interpreted as a
cross (but in the context of such a precise and well-executed carving, why
would the cross-shape be so distorted?)
The carving on this cross continues around all the faces off the cross. This is a work of art and craft, and, more than a thousand years after it was created, it testifies to the skill of the person who designed and executed the work. |
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The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is visible from the church.
If you have time, you may like to look around the churchyard
for the memorials of some of the navvies who died building it.
(October 2002)
The Church of St. Peter Martons Both is found at the end of Church
Lane,
a turning off the periodically busy A59.
The blue line that passes nearby
on the map is the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
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Related locations |
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The sites detailed below are places where one can find related
artefacts.
In some cases, these artefacts are from the same cultural period(s)/group(s) as in this location; in others, these artefacts are of the same or related form(s). |
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Anglo-Danish sites |
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East Marton, Hickling, Iken, Middleton (North Yorkshire), Nunnington*, Oswaldkirk, Sinnington, Stonegrave, Staveley (North Yorkshire) |
Nunnington: The cross fragments were not on display when I last visited the church. I do not know their present whereabouts.
Click here if you would like to see a bibliography Click here
if you would like to download the freeware "Mordred" font (in
True-type for Windows)
Locality maps at this web-site have been developed using Microsoft AutoRoute Express 2000 (and later editions). |
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This page is a part of Chris Tolley's web-site. Latest update: Friday, February 28, 2003 10:08 |
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