A Brief History of St. Mary's by Stan Pope

Welcome to this ancient and beautiful church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, the Virgin

Origins

We know that on this site, in the reign of King Stephen, a single-aisle church with nave and chancel stood here in 1150, it is reasonable therefore to accept that it was built before that date. The first major building project commenced in 1180 when the nave was widened, the chancel extended, and building of the three towers began.

Background

Shortly after King Richard the Lionheart came to the throne in 1189, he embarked on a crusade and whilst waiting at Dover to board ship prior to leaving, he granted the revenues of the Church of St. Mary to the Abbot of Citeaux - a Cistercian order of white robed monks based in Burgundy and known as White Monks. For the next 150 years the abbot appointed the incumbent of St. Mary's and presented him to the Archbishop of York for institution. Richard's grant to the Cistercians discharged Scarborough from the jurisdiction of the Archdeaconry of Cleveland and passed it to that of the East Riding.

The second stage

The second major building phase commenced in 1200 when King John was on the throne. The plan was to enlarge the church by the addition of aisles to the north and south of the nave. Removal of the north wall of the nave resulted in the arcade of massive Norman piers separating the nave from the north aisle. The style of the south aisle piers of the arcade change after the second pier, and are followed by one with eight shafts with shaft- rings, one octagonal in shape and the last quatrefoil. Another difference is that the spacing of the two westernmost pillars differs from the others. You will notice that the arch between the second and third pillar is thicker on one of side than on the other. Records indicate that the south aisle was not completed until 1225, so it would seem that there must have been an interruption in the work. Is it possible that the delay in completion of the south aisle and the difference in the piers could be due to the conflict between Church and Crown which was caused by a disagreement between King John and Pope Innocent 111? The discord arose in 1205 after the death of Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury. The king's nominee, de Gray, Bishop of Norwich, was refused by the pope who ordered the deputation of Canterbury monks to elect Cardinal Stephen Langton, an Englishman resident in Rome and a friend of the pope. On hearing of the consecration of Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury by Innocent on 17th June 1207, King John burst into a fit of rage. He drove the monks of Christ Church over the sea to Flanders, and threatened to send the clergy after them. On 24th March 1208, Innocent put the whole of England under an interdict. The churches were closed, the celebration of mass, the public recitation of the daily offices, the Christian burial of the dead ceased, only baptism and private ministrations were permitted. In 1209, having steadfastly refused to accept Stephen Langton, King John was excommunicated. No one dared to publish the bull in England, but the king and the ecclesiastical authorities were aware of the judgement. In 1211 Innocent threatened to issue a bull of deposition, which would absolve his subjects from their allegiance to the King and called upon Philip of France to carry out the sentence. In the spring of 1213 King John capitulated, agreed to accept Stephen Langton, make restitution to the clergy, and surrender the kingdoms of England and Ireland to the pope. At the commencement of the interdict all building in St. Mary's would have ceased, the itinerant masons dispersed, and much of the church's parochial revenue would have dried up. When building was resumed after the five years of the interdict, other masons would have been employed, and the project recommenced with a much more slender budget. So, one result of that Church/Crown conflict could be the architectural curiosity which is apparent here in St. Mary's.

The next stage

Over one hundred and fifteen years were to elapse before the next major building project was undertaken. In 1340, when Edward 111 was king and John Belter the vicar, work commenced on the north and south transepts, which were built in the early Perpendicular architectural style. Only the south transept now remains; fortunately, the five-light south window containing some of the original reticulated tracery has survived. Beneath the window are two moulded arches under which were buried the founders of the chantries, which were probably endowed some years after the transepts were completed. 1350 saw the start of the far north aisle, known as the fishermen's aisle, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas the patron saint of seafarers. It is certain that at one time the great north aisle contained a number of chantry altars. Construction of the aisle caused the roof of the small north aisle to be raised, which brought the north side clerestory within the church, and so no longer able to allow daylight into the north side of the nave.

The Chantry Chapels & The St. James Chapel

1380 saw the commencement of another major development - the founding of chantry chapels on the south side of the church. The first, at the east end, next to the south transept, is dedicated to St. James, licensed on 13th July 1380, and founded on 28th June 1391, to pray for the soul of Robert Galon - a wealthy burgher of Scarborough who endowed it in the sum of six pounds per annum. In 1381, the year of the 'Peasants' Revolt' led by Wat Tyler and John Ball, Robert de Galon was involved with other local people in extensive rioting against the corruption of the local government and its officials. When he died, he left his gold and sapphire ring to his wife and on her death to his daughter and on her death to the chantry priest for ever, that it might benefit all who seek the healing of the said ring.

The St. Nicholas Chapel

The second chapel is dedicated to St. Nicholas, licensed and probably completed on 26th March 1390, founded by one Agnes Burn to pray for her soul after death. The endowment was to be provided from the rents of five houses and five acres of land. v The St. Stephen Chapel The third chapel is dedicated to St. Stephen, begun in 1380 and licensed on 4th September 1381. Its endowment was three pounds per annum. Prayers were to be said for the souls of Robert de Rillington, Emma his wife, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland and William de Rillington. Its founder, Robert de Rillington, was one of the most colourful ruffians ever to grace the history of Scarborough and he probably needed all the prayers he could procure. He was a wealthy local shipowner, who in 1382, during the one hundred years war with France, was convicted with: "having dealt with the king's enemies, bought of them ships and goods captured from the king's subjects, conveyed victuals and money to their ships, led them by night to inspect the town and the castle of Scarborough." Robert, by his will proved ten years later, left two ships - the St. Mary and St. Katerine, to be sold and the proceeds to be spent on prayers "for the health of our souls". He was buried in his own chantry before the altar of Stephen.

The St. Mary Chapel

The fourth and westernmost chapel was dedicated to Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Blessed Virgin Mary and all Saints. Its licence dates from 4th February 1390, but its foundation did not take place until 19th May 1397. The endowment was five pounds per annum. The foundation declared its establishment for the souls of Emily, Edwin and Reginald Mylner, and of the ancestors and benefactors of the founders and all faithful departed, for the healthful estate of the bailiffs and commonality (town council) during life, and their souls after death. These very wide terms ensured that there was a place in the church's prayers for everyone in Scarborough. The chantry is now used as a baptistery, and has been so used since 1971. The South Porch 1396 saw the erection of the south porch with a room above, which was probably a priest's chamber, it possesses a fireplace and so was, perhaps, the only warm place in St. Mary's in cold weather. Such a room above a porch is sometimes called a parvis - a term wrongly applied, according to Pevsner. The chantry chapels and porch are in Decorated style - note the pointed barrel vaults of stone in the chantry chapels with closely spaced ribs or arches, and, outside, the unusual roof coverings of heavy stone slabs - which are more common in Scotland than in England. Chantry chapels lasted for what is a relatively short time in the history of St. Mary's, being in existence for just over one hundred and fifty years. They were abolished at the Reformation by Act of Parliament in 1547. The Government's reason for their abolition was to seize the revenues (endowments) from the chantries. Reformers, however, abolished them on principle viz. - no longer should anyone be under the impression that they could buy prayers to purchase salvation. As the common people came to be educated and could read the bible in English for themselves, they learnt that salvation was the free gift of God's grace and love, and so could not be purchased. There were two further chantries associated with St. Mary's in the adjacent mortuary chapel of St. Mary Magdalene - which presumably stood a little to the north of the church. This chapel was demolished by the Parliamentarian soldiers in 1648 because it was in the way of their cannon trained upon the castle walls. It was here that King Richard 11 founded a chantry in 1396 for the souls of himself and his late queen Anne of Bohemia, and for his grandparents, King Edward 111 and Queen Philipa.

The final building phase

The final building phase, the construction of the 'Great Perpendicular Quire', began sometime after 1400 and was completed in 1450. It was 90 feet long and 52 feet wide, with two aisles and five bays. What was then the eastern tower became the crossing tower, with transepts to the north and south and the quire extending to the east so that the building assumed a cruciform shape. Can you picture the church as was then, with the quire almost as long as the nave, the combined length being 208 feet, the transepts and the three towers? Surely a magnificent house of worship - certainly one of the most impressive churches on this part of the Yorkshire coast. For another two hundred years this magnificent church withstood the ravages of the weather, being battered by winter storms which rage round this part of the coast when north-east gales blow. The weather, however, was not the cause of the destruction of the quire, the north transept, St. Nicholas aisle and the three towers, rather the destruction was due to the civil war, which was responsible for the ruin of the church as it was then. One night in 1645, under cover darkness, Sir John Meldrum's troops transported into St. Mary's church two cannon which were brought up to the east window and trained on the castle. The smaller cannon fired a thirty-six pound shot (16.3kg) and the larger - the Cannon Royal - discharged a huge ball of more than sixty pounds (29.5kg). Then commenced a bombardment which, after three days, resulted in the ruin of the keep of the castle. Return fire by the Royalist defenders of the castle, under Sir Hugh Chomley "did great mischief to St. Mary's". That 'mischief' was such that most of the church was severely damaged. Some records indicate that more damage was done to the church by the powerful blasts of the guns within the church than was caused by fire from the castle guns. It was some years before the church was made habitable and it was not until 1669 that the north aisle was rebuilt, thus leaving the church very much as it is today. The great quire and the north transept were never rebuilt. It may be of interest to note that another church, St. Thomas's, which was badly damaged in a later siege in 1648, and subsequently demolished, provided the octagonal pillars, with their fascinating carved capitals, used to complete the repairs to the St. Nicholas aisle. For the next one hundred and seventy years, or so, the church's exterior remained very much as it was after the restoration. The interior, however, became more and more encumbered with box-pews, galleries, flying- staircases and cupboards. The north transept became a school which was blocked off from the church and the present sanctuary became the belfry, a place where rubbish accumulated and the sexton's tools were kept. So disgraceful was the interior of the church, that in 1846 the vicar, Revd Millar, set up a committee under the chairmanship of Revd William Metcalf, and, together with the churchwardens, William Coulson and William Taylor and a number of influential parishioners, drew up plans to raise money by subscription to refurbish the church. Early in 1848, Revd W. Whiteside became vicar and chaired the subsequent committees. A Faculty for the restoration of St. Mary's was granted on 28th August 1847. Work commenced under the direction of Ewan Christian, a London architect on 11th October 1848. The church remained closed for twenty-two months until 25th July 1850, when it was re-opened by His Grace the Archbishop of York. During the closure, all galleries, flying-stairways and other impedimenta were removed. The north and west walls were rebuilt, the clerestory restored to its 'ancient form', the nave and aisles re-roofed and the floor relaid; the pulpit, reading desk and parish clerk's desk moved. The organ was taken from the west end and set up in the east end of the church. Other than changes in furnishings the church remained very much as it was after the 1850 restoration, until in 1993 plans were drawn up to renew the heating system; install a toilet for the disabled; set up a refreshment point in the SW tower; add new meeting and Sunday School rooms; build a new choir vestry; screen the Lady Chapel and improve the north aisle worship area. Work commenced on this project 27th September 1993, and was completed with a Dedication Service led by the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Habgood, on Sunday 6th February 1994.

January 2000