The Church
The church of ST. MICHAEL has a chancel 30 ft. by 16 ft. with a north vestry, nave 62 ft. long and tapering from 16 ft. 3 in. to 14 ft. 3 in. in width, north aisle 7 ft. 6 in. wide, south aisle from 8 ft. to 9 ft. wide, a south porch and a western tower 11 ft. 6 in. square, all interior measurements.
The irregularity of the plan is very marked, and the evidence which has survived modern repairs points to a very interesting process of development. The north arcade of the nave dates from c. 1140, and at that time the nave must have been of the abnormal proportion of 60 ft. by 13 ft. That this was not the earliest condition of the building is suggested by the north-east quoin of the nave, which is probably that of an aisleless nave of the beginning of the 12th century. The normal length of such a nave, given its width of 13 ft., would be about 30 ft., and it is probable that such a one existed here till the addition of a north aisle in 1140, when its length was exactly doubled, bringing it to the usual length of a Romanesque nave of the larger parochial size. That it was not also widened at this time is proved by the fact that the western tower, added in the 13th century, is set centrally with the original narrow nave. In the 13th century the chancel was rebuilt, being as usual widened, and owing to the narrowness of the nave its south wall was built well outside the line of the south wall of the nave. There was probably a south aisle to the nave at the time, but no evidence of it remains. The north aisle walls also seem to have been rebuilt in the 13th century, and in the 14th the present south arcade of the nave was set out to the south of the line of the original south wall abutting at one end against the south wall of the chancel and at the other against that of the tower, the width of the nave being thus increased by 3 ft. at the east and 15 in. at the west. The south wall of the aisle is parallel neither with the old line of the nave nor with the 14th-century arcade, and may be in part earlier than the latter.
Plan of Middleton Tyas Church
In modern times (1868) the chancel was practically rebuilt and lengthened and a north vestry added, the chancel arch heightened and a south porch built to the nave; much of the window tracery is also new.
All the chancel windows but that at the southwest are modern lancets; the south-west window is a 13th-century lancet, its lower part cut off by a transom and forming a rebated low-side window. Close to it on the east is a small blocked 13th-century doorway, and the internal jamb of the window next to it is also old and probably of the same date. The chancel arch has jambs, renewed in parts, with attached shafts and simply moulded capitals and bases; the arch is of two chamfered orders. The nave has a north arcade of six bays with semicircular arches of two square orders, with chamfered labels towards the nave. The central column is octagonal and the rest are circular, with half-round responds at east and west, the former of much less diameter than the latter. All have scalloped capitals with slight differences in detail, the abaci being square with a chamfer beneath, and the bases have triangular spurs, only three of them being old. In the east respond, about 5 ft. 6 in. above the floor, is a stone shelf set askew towards the south; it was probably for an image.
The south arcade is of four bays with pointed arches of two chamfered orders. In the responds the inner orders are carried on moulded corbels and the outer orders die into the walls. The columns are octagonal, the eastern one having a moulded bell capital carved with naturalistic leaves, while the others have small bells, and a greater number of moulded members. The base of the eastern column is rather more carefully treated than the others, and, as the Lady altar was probably at the east end of the south aisle, the more careful ornament of this column may be due to its position.
The north aisle has an east window of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoiled circle in the head, of late 13th-century style and apparently ancient; in the north wall are three two-light windows, of which only the easternmost is old. It has a pair of lancets with their heads in one stone, and a square lintel, the others having similar lancets with a trefoiled piercing over, under a two-centred arch. Further west is the north doorway, of two continuous chamfered orders, apparently 13th-century work, as is a small lancet near it on the west. There is no west window to this aisle.
The east window of the south aisle is of a most unusual form, being quadrant shaped, divided into three lights by vertical mullions; it has no cusping, and seems intended to resist the thrust of the chancel arch. The three south windows are modern, of two lights, and the south doorway is 14th-century work with small shafts in the jambs, under a modern porch. A small piscina occupies the usual position at the east end of the south wall; it has a half-round basin and trefoiled head; to the west of it is a 14th century tomb recess, 7 ft. 4 in. wide, spanned by a trefoiled arch in a crocketed gabled head, the greater part of which has been replaced in plain stonework. In the recess is a beautifully carved coffin lid with a crosshead of eight interlaced trefoils, the surface and the edges of the stone being richly carved with natural foliage. Its date must be c. 1300. The west window of the aisle is modern and like those in the south wall.
The tower is of four stages, each with chamfered offsets; it opens to the nave by a plastered arch of doubtful date, and the west window of the ground stage is modern. On the south side of this stage is a small rectangular light, which is old, and in the second stage are small lancet windows on the west and south. The third stage is lighted on the north by a small rectangular window, and the fourth (or bell chamber) has on the north, west and south a pair of lancets divided by a shaft; the shafts are modern. The east wall shows signs of having once had a similar window. The tower is finished by a modern moulded parapet, above which rises an octagonal leaded spire put up in 1868. In the angle of the tower with the south aisle is a large square block of masonry reaching up to about half the height of the second stage; it seems to be nothing but a buttress.
The octagonal font is modern, of 13th-century style. The pulpit, seats, &c., date from 1868, and the oak chancel screen, which is of good design, is of more recent date.
Besides the coffin lid already mentioned there is another coped stone now standing beside the north doorway. It has a roll edge in the form of a Latin cross, and on the right side a shield with a chief and two gimel bars. There are also the arm of an early cross-head and other fragments. In the churchyard lies a 15th-century slab with the indents of two brass figures with scrolls issuing from their shoulders and a space for an inscription below. Another stone inscription marks the grave of an inhabitant who died in 1783 at the age of 103.
In the chancel is a memorial to a forgotten worthy, the Rev. John Mawer, who died in 1763, the master of twenty-two languages. Frederick Prince of Wales intended to send him to christianize Abyssinia, but died before doing so, 'to the great mortification of this excellent person, whose merits meeting with no reward in this world will, it's to be hoped, receive it in the next, from that Being which Justice only can influence.'
There are three bells in the tower; the second bears in beautiful Gothic capitals of the 14th century '+ Consono quanto sono Michaeli cantica dono. Hinc Michi: de celis fluxit nomen Michaelis.' Over the initial cross is a dragon. The treble bears an inscription set backwards and wrongly divided up, but here given in its correct form:— armigeri laudes resono de kneton ad auras cum voce proclamo mistica sacra dei. 1662, with a shield which seems to bear a pale; the tenor has the inscription 'God savee (sic) his church 1665.'
The plate consists of a cup and large banded paten, together with a small modern plated paten and flagon.
The registers begin in 1539.
A curious relic of the 18th century still preserved in the church is an old wooden pitch pipe, which was used to set the note for chanting and singing hymns.
{'Parishes: Middleton Tyas', in A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 1, ed. William Page (London, 1914), pp. 190-197. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol1/pp190-197.}
The Cache
The church has a fine lytch gate; inside which you will find a dedication plaque, which can be used to determine the location of the cache.
The cache can be found at:-
N 54 26.ABC W 001 38.DEF
Where:-
- A= The third digit;
- B= The number of letters in the first name of the dedicatee;
- C= The twelfth digit;
- D= The third digit minus the fourth digit;
- E= The number of letters in the surname of the dedicatee;
- F= The number of letters in the dedicatee's middle name.
Checksum for (A+B+C+D+E+F) = 29
****************** ********************
For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
****************** *******************