St Patrick's Church, Patrington facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St Patrick's Church, Patrington |
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St Patrick's Church, Patrington
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 St Patrick's Church, Patrington
Location in East Riding of Yorkshire
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| 53°40′58″N 00°00′34″W / 53.68278°N 0.00944°W | |
| OS grid reference | TA 31554 22541 |
| Location | Patrington |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Churchmanship | Broad Church |
| Website | stpatrickspatrington.org.uk |
| History | |
| Dedication | St Patrick |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Grade I listed |
| Specifications | |
| Spire height | 175 feet (53 m) |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Patrington |
| Deanery | Holderness (South) |
| Archdeaconry | East Riding |
| Diocese | York |
| Province | York |
St Patrick's Church in Patrington is a beautiful old church in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It's part of the Church of England and is considered a very important building. In fact, it's a Grade I listed building, which means it's one of the most historically and architecturally significant places in the country. People often call it 'The Queen of Holderness' because it's so grand.
Contents
History of St Patrick's Church
This church is very large and beautiful. Many people think it's the prettiest church in the Holderness area. It's named after St Patrick. Long ago, in a book called Liber Regis, it was valued at £22, which would be like £7.7 million today! The church's patron (supporter) was Clare Hall, a college at Cambridge University.
For over 500 years, from 1033 to 1545, the Archbishops of York owned the land (manor) of Patrington. They even got permission in 1223 to hold a market there. Patrington was a rich area, with a small port on the Humber river. It stayed an important market town for South Holderness until the late 1800s.
The wealth from this area helped pay for the church to be completely rebuilt. This happened quite quickly, which is why the church looks so unified and well-designed. Experts like Nikolaus Pevsner and Simon Jenkins have praised its beauty.
How the Church is Shaped
The church is shaped like a cross, which is called cruciform. It is 150 feet long. It has a main area called a nave with aisles on the sides. There are also two side sections called transepts, also with aisles. The chancel is the part near the altar, and it doesn't have aisles. There's a tower where the nave and transepts meet, called a crossing tower. On top of the tower is a tall, pointed spire that reaches 175 feet high!
Building the Church Over Time
Some parts of older churches were found on this spot. For example, pieces of Norman stone are in the nave walls. There are also some older foundations from the early 1200s. Around 1280, a big rebuilding project started, but it didn't get very far.
The church you see today began to be built around 1300. Workers started with the south transept, finishing it by about 1310. Then they built the north transept, which was done by 1320. Next came the crossing tower. From about 1320 to 1340, the main arches of the nave were built.
In the 1340s, the walls of the nave aisles and the chancel were constructed. This meant the church was almost finished! Only the large east window and the spire were left. However, work stopped in the late 1340s because of the Black Death, a terrible plague that affected many parts of England. The east window and spire were finally completed by 1400.
Architecture and Design
The church mostly shows the Decorated style of architecture. This style was popular in England from about 1290 to 1350. The windows have beautiful stone patterns called tracery. The earliest windows in the transepts have simple, geometric shapes. Later windows, like those in the nave aisles, have more flowing, curved patterns.
The north transept has a small doorway with a stone roof. A small, three-sided chapel, called a Lady Chapel, sticks out from the east wall of the south transept. The nave has two porches, one on the south and one on the north. The very large west window has flowing tracery, but it was repaired in 1885. The chancel has four big windows on each side with different patterns. The huge east window is in a later style called Perpendicular.
The church has tall, pointed supports called buttresses all around. Those on the transepts have small statues of strange creatures called grotesques. A cross sits at the top of each pointed roof. The crossing tower has three levels. The top level has four large, empty arches on each side. From this tower, a Perpendicular spire rises up. At its base, the spire is surrounded by an arched, eight-sided screen. Thin flying buttresses connect this screen to corner pinnacles on the tower. Experts praise this design as very delicate and perfectly balanced.
Inside the Church
The inside of the church looks just as unified as the outside. The columns have carved tops called capitals, decorated with stylized leaves. The arches have detailed carvings typical of the time. The aisles of the south transept and nave have stone ceilings called vaults. Only the vault in the east aisle of the south transept is original. The other roofs are made of thin, closely spaced wooden arches, which are simple and beautiful. These are original, though the chancel roof has been repaired.
The Lady Chapel in the south transept aisle has an original stone screen behind the altar, called a reredos. It also has its own stone vault and a lovely statue of the Virgin Mary and Child from the late 1200s. This statue was once outside the east window. It's thought to be made by a group of stonemasons from Beverley who created many sculptures in the area.
An extra section between the crossing and the chancel arch makes the church feel surprisingly deep. In the chancel, there are special seats for clergy called sedilia and a basin called a piscina. They have low, curved gables and many small, hook-like carvings called crockets. Opposite them is a stone Easter Sepulchre with similar decorations.
A very unusual feature is the tower stairway in the south transept. It comes out into the open through doorways above the arches on both the east and west sides. The steps go up both sides of the crossing arch in a bold zigzag pattern. The stones supporting the stairs are beautifully carved.
Church Furnishings
The font, used for baptisms, is in the middle of the west end of the church. It's from the Decorated period, has twelve sides, and is ornately carved with crocketed gables. Two of the wooden benches at the west end are from the 1600s. The other benches are newer. The pulpit, where sermons are given, was heavily repaired and is dated 1612. The screen separating the chancel is from the late 1300s. A large, gilded oak screen with twelve saints and the Virgin Mary fills the space below the east window. This screen was added in 1936.
Church Group
St Patrick's Church is part of a group of churches in the area. This group includes:
- St Nicholas' Church, Keyingham
- St Wilfrid's Church, Ottringham
- St Germain's Church, Winestead
- St Mary's Church, Welwick
- All Saints' Church, Easington with St Helen's Church, Skeffling
Monuments Inside
The church has several monuments to people who lived in the area:
- John Duncalfe, 1637 (on the north wall)
- Mrs Emot Shaw, 1652 (on the south wall)
- Elizabeth and John Featherstone, 1796 and 1802
- Mary Robinson, 1763 (in the south aisle)
- Mary French, 1782 (in the south aisle)
- Robert Robinson, 1783 (in the south aisle)
- Mary Pearson, 1800 (in the north aisle)
- George French, 1802 (on the north wall)
- Susanna and John Featherstone, 1804 and 1805
Organ
The church organ was built in 1891 by a company called Forster and Andrews. You can find more details about this organ on the National Pipe Organ Register website.
Bells
The church has a set of 8 bells. Two of them were made in 1948, and three were made in 1906 by John Taylor of Loughborough. The three largest bells are older: one from 1674, one from 1570 (from Nottingham), and the biggest one (called the tenor) from 1846 by John Taylor.
See also
