St. Andrews Church

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The Church of St Andrew's

Normanby

 

Church Records

 

St Andrews is a small bellcote church facing what used to be the Smithy.  The church dates from 1150.  It was under the patronage of St. Mary's Abbey at York until the dissolution of the monasteries.  The Abbey also owned land to the north.  The Abbey presented the living until 1513 when the Abbot and canons conveyed the advowson (patronage) to Thomas Flintoff, who presented until the dissolution.

 

The chancel measures 19'-9'' by 17'-6''. The nave is 34'-9'' by 19'-2''.  It is built of coursed rubble and in the present day has a tiled roof.  The doorway, nave plan, chevron fragments and the later north arcade are 12th century.  Other stones in the porch have chevron marks carved in them.  There is a 12th century corbel built into the west wall.  The seat in the porch is the base of the old original pillars.  The chancel arch is 14th century and shows dragons, leaves and a face.  On the north there are grotesque snake tailed birds while the south is decorated with ivy leaves.  There is a 17th century communion rail.

 

The word ‘nave’ is from the Latin ‘nexis’, ship, holding the souls of men in the storm of life.

 

There is a stained glass window in memory of the Rev E. H. M. Jackson who was rector 1897 to 1926.  The stone under the altar table may be the old altar slab.  The bottom stone of the pulpit window on the west side is part of an old stone coffin.  The silver plate is a cup and cover dated 1662, made by Marmaduke Best of York.  A communion chalice dating back to the 1600s was taken out of general use in 1958. Hannah Foxton paid for a new one.  A new doorway was also added in the chancel. From the 12th century onwards-church walls were consecrated with oil and marked with a cross.  At Normanby there are three for each wall inside and out. Traces can still be seen.

 

The present organ dates from 1851 and was installed in 1990.  It came from a Methodist chapel in Norfolk.  There was an electric organ blower was installed in 1959 at a cost of £103-19s-11d.  There are medieval gravestones.  Fragments of medieval gravestones have been built into the walls of nave and porch.

 

Any changes to the church have to be authorised especially near the old graves.  Even by the church wall there could be 'walled graves' where such as still born children were placed in unmarked burials, hence the expression ‘to go to the wall’.  On the 13th November 1917 the first confirmation service was held with the Bishop of Beverley officiating.

 

A memorial tablet records Private Albert Thomas Walton who died in the Great War.  He was in the Northumberland Fusiliers and was killed on the 22nd of March 1918.  The tablet was made in London and is of Respousse copper on a black marble background.

 

http://www.cwgc.org

 

A memorial tablet records:

Private Albert Thomas Walton

who died in the Great War

He was in the Northumberland Fusiliers and was Killed-In-Action;

22nd of March 1918.

Son of Robert & Kate Walton

 

The crucifix brought from the Somme battlefield in 1916 hangs over the pulpit.

 

Canon A. S. Harnby brought the crucifix back.

 

To the East of the church was a fishpond - probably only wet at certain times of the year.  Sometimes the children could be found there boating in large wooden pig-scalding troughs.  Not far from the Church is a mineral spring.  The small stone building to the South of the church is the old coke house.  There used to be two coke fires to heat the church.

 

The church has been repaired and re-furbished a number of times.  Some work was done on the Church in 1718.  The chancel of the Church used to be 6' longer.  Some sepulchre slabs were found built into a wall.  They were placed in the floor of the north aisle.  There was also some restoration work in 1771. Thomas Mears of London cast a bell in 1795 for the Church.

 

The Church was rebuilt for John Hill and restored by T. Moore in 1893-1895 with rebuilt chancel and north isle.  In the isle there are two 13th century coffin slabs with roughly cut Maltese crosses.  The roof had been in a sorry state.  A 15th century window was reset in the north wall and a 13th century arcade was opened out.  The chancel arch was rebuilt.  It is two chamfered orders on semi octagonal responds with capitals.

 

A new east window with three lights was inserted, the work of artist Henry Victor Milner of London.  It was dedicated to James Hill who was rector from 1847 to 1893. A new west window was also made depicting St. Andrew, St. Phillip and St. James.  The subjects are the crucifixion; the Holy Virgin and St. John. A bell was recast.

 

A stone font, probably 17th century work, was installed in 1894 with an eight-sided stone pedestal, replacing a wooden one, which was put at the south door as an alms box.  However, this older container is more probably a Holy Water Stoup as it is lined in lead.

 

Six iron and copper lamps were installed, Mr. Yearsley, a builder from Malton, did most of the work helped by Mr. Barnes, a stonemason from Malton.  The cost was £1270 plus £18-18s for the American organ. Mrs Surr contributed £101-13s-2d.  She owned Bridge farm, Eastfield farm and Willow house and lived at Keldholme Priory.

 

The Earl of Feversham gave £100.  An inscription on the West window says 'dedicated by William Earnest, Earl of Feversham to the glory of God and in memory of his dear friend the Rev J. Hill, MA, Rector. An arcade circa 1150 was uncovered in the north wall.

 

The church accounts of 1870 mention 2 days walling (6s), a bill from the railway for gravel and bricks bought from Amotherby.  The clerk's wages were £3 in 1799. They were £7 by 1811.  By 1898 they were £8. They were still only £12 in 1939. The 1828 records say the schoolhouse and parish stable was rebuilt at a cost of £58.

 

In 1965 Hill and Jackson installed heating equipment.

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There are two bells in the gable.  They have ancient uses as a means of banishing evil, and are rung in emergencies. The larger bell was cast by Thomas Mears of London in 1795 and weighs 126 lbs.  The smaller bell weighs 112lbs and was recast by Mallaby of Masham in 1895.  In recent years the bells have been re-hung with the help of a donation from Margaret Wood.  Traditional techniques were used including some original nails.  Metal parts were made locally but some are built in stainless steel to last even longer than the originals.  The bell ropes were finished in natural fibres but after some time water seeping from the roof caused rotting.  Peter Smith has now handsomely finished the ends of the ropes in American oak.

 

In the late 1980's a quinquennial (5 years) report showed that the Church roof  and stonework was in urgent need of  repair, at that time there was a congregation of perhaps 14, and virtually all the money would have to be raised locally  because English Heritage was unable to offer grants, the task seemed formidable.  The money was achieved in five years by fund raising, an appeal and by David Crummack the treasurer running a tight ship.  Memorable fund raising events were: Peter Woodall's auction of gifts held at Mr. & Mrs Reg Marton's Rise Farm, a very successful Savoury & Cheese evening at Normanby Hill by kind permission of Mr. & Mrs Phillip Bell and the remaining contents of the Schoolroom were put in an Auction at Willow House.  The large oil painting given to the Church by Mrs Tweedie, once of Riseborough Hall was sold at a London Auction House.  A Pedestal was put in the Church in memory of Mrs Tweedie.  Amongst a host of other valuable individual efforts a collection in Church at the wedding of Sally Tillotson of Great Barugh was for the Roof Appeal Fund.

 

The Appeal brought donations from some who had had Normanby connections previously.

"Proof that a village is part of one's life, and is thought of as "home" Eighty years on."

 

Fortunately the roof timbers on exposure were in good condition and not the worry they might have been.  Consequently there were sufficient funds to purchase a new organ as well, at a cost of less than £2,000.

 

The parish register records church officers over the centuries. These included curates Mat Hodgson (1731), Philip Bainbridge (1725), Phil   Dowkes (1738), Church wardens Richard Bowes. (1723), George Sparling (1724), Thos Wilcox (1733), John Sparnel (1734), Will Ward  (1735), John Tinsdale (1735), John Wilcox (1737), Richard Gorwood (1749),   The  Rector Christopher Bowes (1719), Thomas Longstaff  (1751), the minister Will Ward (1733).  The dates are the year seen in the register the full term of office is not shown.

 

John Wood's Church records

 

Church Records

 

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