The Parish Church of St.Cuthbert - Sessay
In 875 AD the monastery at Lindisfarne was threatened by Danish invasion. The monks feared that the body of St.Cuthbert, the bishop there between 685-7, might be desecrated by the Pagans and so decided to flee taking the body with them. For 8 years they wandered and, everywhere they stopped in their flight, errected a church named St.Cuthbert. Thus we can trace the origins of Sessay church to the period between 875-873 close to its present site.
The first rector was Andre Crathall in 1283 but little is known about the church during this period except that it came in the property of the Darrel family, who owned most of the land in the area. After an interlude when the church was given to the Abbey of St.Mary, York, it passed to the Dawneys, successors to the Darrells, after the dissolution in 1536. More recently it passed to the Downe family untill the Sessay estate was sold off in 1918.
The present church of St. Cuthbert is modern, having been rebuilt on an old site in 1847–8 and restored in 1883. It consists of a chancel measuring internally 18 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft. 2 in., nave 45 ft. by 21 ft. 8 in. with a south aisle 10 ft. 7 in. wide, west tower 8 ft. square and a south porch. In the centre of the chancel floor is a brass inscription to Master Thomas Magnus, Archdeacon of the East Riding, parson of the church, who died in 1550. Above is the figure of a priest in surplice, stole and a cope which has the word 'iesvs' on the morse. A scroll contains the prayer 'Jesu fili dei miserere mei.' A shield below the inscription contains the arms of Magnus: Bendy a fesse with a leopard passant between two cinquefoils thereon. In the chief are the words 'As God wyll' in black letter. In the corners of the stone are small brasses containing alternately the Paschal Lamb and a spray of columbine. The tiles on the floor of the chancel contain a D with a viscount's coronet and a shield of Dawnay impaling Bagot, apparently for William Henry seventh Viscount Downe (1846–57), who married Mary Isabel daughter of Richard Bagot, Bishop of Bath and Wells. On the threshold of the porch is a slab containing the matrices of an inscription and a small figure. In the churchyard are the stem and base of an old cross, with a restored top. There are three bells, the tenor of which contains the inscription 'Laudationem loquetur os meum' in Lombardic characters. The second is inscribed 'Renovatur 1720 Thomas Dawney Armiger,' with a (reversed) shield of Dawnay, and in a foliated band below is the maker's name, E. Seller, Ebor. The treble bears the inscription ihc : edmund : darel : et : 1 : ux(or) : ei(us) : g : d : scs : cuthbertus. The communion plate is modern, given by Viscount Downe in 1847, and consists of chalice, paten and flagon, all of silver-gilt.
Go to N 54 09. K (B-A) (E-L) W 001 17.(C+J+G) (D-F) M
To find the values for the final co-ords you need to locate the Ormston family gravestone which is situated near the north west corner of the church.
Robert Ormston was born on the ABth July CDEF And died on the GHst December JKLM
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