THE CHURCH
The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, Eryholme, stands back from the road through the village, and is on higher ground. It consists of a chancel 17 ft. by 13 ft. with north vestry, nave 41 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. with north aisle 5 ft. 6 in. wide and south porch, and west tower only 6 ft. square, all measurements being internal. The north arcade dates from c. 1200, and though the chancel and nave probably stand on the foundations of the church which existed at that time and were older than the arcade, they have been entirely rebuilt in the 14th century or later, and the tower is a 16th-century addition.
The chancel has an early 14th-century east window of three cinquefoiled lights under a pointed arch, and in the south wall are two modern two-light trefoiled square-headed windows which are copied from part of an original window now built into the porch. The chancel arch has two chamfered orders and half-octagonal responds with bases of 13th-century detail.
The nave has three modern copies of 14th-century windows in the south wall, a round-headed south doorway with 13th-century mouldings and modern jambs, and a modern window, like those in the south wall of the chancel, to the west of it. The north arcade of the nave is of four bays with arches of two chamfered orders, with chamfered labels, circular columns and bell capitals; one of the capitals has early 13th-century foliage. Traces of a decoration of single roses remain on the columns and capitals. The aisle has a two-light east window with modern tracery copied from one now walled in the porch, and the north doorway has a modern semicircular head.
The tower has no plinth, strings or buttresses, being entirely plain except for an embattled parapet. It has a small single-pointed west window on the ground stage and a round-headed light on each face of the upper stage.
The porch is quite modern; into its walls are built several pieces of 12th-century detail and parts of mediaeval coffin slabs. In the chancel floor is a stone to John Calverley, 1660, and his wife Margaret Jenison, 1671.
There are two bells: the treble inscribed 'Campana Johannis: QWB' in Gothic capitals; on the waist is a swastika, as on a very similar bell of c. 1400 at Terrington, Yorkshire. The second bell bears 'Jesus be our speed, 1616.'
The plate consists of two cups, two patens, a flagon and an almsdish, all presented in 1889 by William Henry Allan.
The registers begin about 1568.
'Parishes: Eryholme (Gilling)', in A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 1, ed. William Page (London, 1914), pp. 71-84.
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