Alne – St. Mary
St. Mary’s Alne, North Yorkshire, is one of the few churches in my area, that I can recall, where a significant presence of red brick is apparent. There are clearly a lot of phases of construction to bring the church to its present form. I’ve only managed a brief visit so far.
A pre-conquest lintel is located above the priest’s door and the south doorway is Norman.
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- Pre-conquest Lintel
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- Norman Doorway
Her feet resting on a dog, this lady is thought to be a member of the Eliker family.
Effigy of a lady
The pulpit – one of my sources claims Wesley preached from it – is dated at 1626.
Pulpit, dated 1626.
The circular Norman font is decorated with a band of knot-work – (Saxon influence?).
Norman Font
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- Organ
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- Piscina
There be mice in this church! This piece of woodwork is manufactured by ‘The Mouseman’ Robert Thompson. Where it is in the church, I’m not going to reveal – I only saw it by chance myself!
For a fascinating anecdote of a Victorian incumbent visit https://victorianclericalerrors.blogspot.co.uk/ – sounds like a great idea for a script in a Soap to me!
—Stephen—
Ecclesiarum 
Such an interesting church – ancient to modern. I do love The Mouseman!
A wonderful church; I visited it a few years ago. Please see my new entry regarding Alne on the blog http://victorianclericalerrors.blogspot.com
Any comments, corrections, etc are welcome.
Hi Tom! Apologies for delay in replying but my pc has been out of commission while transfer everything to a new one.
Sounds like a fascinating story to me, I can imagine the local scandal must have been marvellous. I’ve taken the liberty of adding a link to your piece from my Alne church page – I’m presuming that’s okay, if not I can take it down, just let me know.