The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN consists of a chancel 17 ft. 6 in. by 13 ft. 8 in., nave 36 ft. by 18 ft. 6 in. and small south porch, these measurements being internal. There is a turret containing one bell over the west gable. The chancel arch is of 12th-century date, and a great portion of the north and south walls may belong to the same period, but the building has been so much altered from time to time that the actual extent of the early masonry is difficult to determine. The width and beauty of the chancel arch, however, point to a church of some size and importance in the 12th century. There are diagonal buttresses of three stages at the west end of the nave, probably of 14th-century date or later, and other parts of the walling may be of this time. All the windows, however, are modern with the exception of one on the north side of the nave—a square-headed opening 9 in. in width with wide internal splay and inner shouldered arch. In 1760 the north door of the nave was walled up, and in 1802 the church was reroofed and a new gallery and pews were erected. A tumble-down vestry on the north side of the chancel and the south porch are apparently of this date. There was a restoration in 1875, when the roof was again renewed, the chancel arch restored, the west gable and bell-turret rebuilt and new windows inserted in the nave. The roofs are eaved and covered with blue slates. The porch is stuccoed, and the south doorway, which has a pointed head, is covered with plaster.
The east window of the chancel is a plain squareheaded opening of three pointed lights probably dating from 1802, and there is a built-up priest's doorway on the south side with a flat-arched head in one stone. The chancel arch is elliptical and consists of two continuous moulded orders towards the nave, the east side being of a single order with plain hood mould. The inner order, which has a small round moulding on each edge and a large halfround on the soffit, springs from semicircular responds with carved capitals and imposts. The outer order is carried on detached angle shafts, the capitals and imposts of which are also richly carved, the height to the springing being 7 ft. The capital below the inner order on the north side is of scalloped pattern with a dragon carved on the square face of the inner side and has a cable mould necking below. On the south side the neck of the corresponding capital is ornamented with intertwined serpents, the square upper part being carved with a series of paterae. The capitals of the shafts are also elaborately carved, the northern one being scalloped and that on the south having a head at the angle with conventional foliage emerging from the mouth. The upper flat surface of the capitals on the north side is mutilated, but has also had an animal's head and foliage. The hollows of the impost mouldings on both sides are studded with pellet ornament and the shafts are covered over their entire surface with lozenge ornament of rather elaborate type. The whole is a very fine piece of 12th-century work.
The interior of the nave is without interest and all the fittings are modern. The pulpit is of stone and the font of plaster. Built into the gable of the porch is part of a mediaeval grave slab with an incised cross, and at the south-east angle of the nave is an incised sundial. The royal arms of George III are over the chancel arch, and on the north wall is a painted board with the inscription 'Mrs. George Rokeby churchwarden 1687.'
The plate consists of a cup of 1673 made by Marmaduke Best of York and a modern set of two chalices, two patens, a flagon and almsdish, presented in 1889 under the will of the late Robert Henry Allan of Blackwell, Darlington. There is also a pewter paten.
The registers begin in 1629.
[From British History Online]
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication
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