Early years
A church has been on the site of the present building for many centuries.
The old 11th century church of St. Peter and St. Paul consisted
of chancel, nave with north aisle and west tower. The two bells
in the tower were cast by John Porter of York in 1388 and dedicated
to St. Paul and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The church registers, which
begin in 1653, are almost complete to the present day. In the 18th
century, there was one service monthly and Holy Communion was administered
three times a year with about 15 communicants in 1743. The services
were conducted with a view to brevity and, so we are told, local
youths played football in the churchyard on Sundays. The pulpit
was a huge three-decker, reaching almost to the roof and more suited
to the Minster than a small country church. The box pews had such
high backs that they virtually concealed their occupants and they
were not infrequently used as sleeping compartments.
Some of the church wardens were not the pillars of society we expect
them to be these days, as the following extract from a book of 1647
shows:
"At York Castle, John Garthwayte, clerk, deposeth that one
Herbert Cook, being churchwarden of Heslington, detayneth the register
book belonging to the sayd towne, insomuch as this that the minister
cannot therein record the names of such persons as are baptized
and buried within that parish. And the sayd Herbert Cook sayd that
he would burn the sayd register before he would deliver it unto
him. The said Herbert Cook is an ordinary frequenter of alehouses
upon the Sabbath and Fasting Dayes, and he hath been seen drunk
several times on those dayes. He is by common fame a babbler and
quarreller. He is such a contentious spirit that his neighbours
stand in awe of him in respect of suites at law, and he hath now
a dozen suites on foot. The parson actually saw him one daye bunching
an old man, and he hath often seen him distempered with drink."
By the mid 19th century, the fabric was in a poor state and the
church was considered to be too small. A new church of St. Paul
was erected on the same site in 1857-8 at a cost of £3,500.
It consisted of chancel, nave, vestry, west tower with spire and
south porch. It is of stone, designed by J. B. and W. Atkinson of
York and paid for by Alicia Lloyd of Stockton Hall, mother of G.
J. Yarburgh of Heslington Hall. Only the bells, the font and two
wall plaques remain of the old church. The churchyard, last extended
in 1921, contains memorials from the early 18th century. In the
north east corner are the graves of the Deramore family, Lords of
the Manor in Heslington. |
Heslington Church in 1848____
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