DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0183
SKIRLAW CHAPEL, YORKSHIRE
99
nuns, founded in the reign of King Stephen. The chapel, of which a south-west
view is represented in Plate II. is situated near to, yet detached from, the village,
and its pinnacles, first catching the eye from above the surrounding trees, have a
very pleasing effect, contrasted with the extent of low land on the west. Of the
style of the exterior, the annexed view and the elevations will afford sufficient
information. The base of the tower is surrounded with a series of quatrefoil panels
The lable mouldings of all the windows (except the upper ones of the tower, which
have heads) are finished with a shield, bearing Skirlaw's arms. The interior con-
tains a carved screen, of wood, which, with the pulpit and seats, is coeval with the
building. The screen divides the interior into a body and a chancel, leaving four
bays for the former, and two for the latter; which distinction is not, as usual, made
in the exterior arrangement. On each side of the east window is a bracket or sup-
port, perhaps for tapers or images ; in the south wall is a piscina, and on the north
side a vestry, perfectly plain, and lighted by a small aperture in the wall. The
initials W. S. still remain in a window on the north side, but the arms, said by Wood
to have been set in every window, are all gone ; the winds, which here blow very
strongly over the flat country, having often destroyed the glass, until, to abate their
force, the chapel yard was planted round with trees about half a century ago.
The only regular endowment of the chapel is £3. 6*. 8d. per annum, payable
out of the township of Marton-le-Clay, for service once a month. William Wilber-
force, Esq. M. P. is the present patron, by purchase from the survivor of the family
of Moorhouse, for whom there are some memorials in the chapel. Tradition says
that the Bishop died before he had endowed his building; but in his Will, which,
says AVillis, (Survey Cath. i. p. 251), is in the archives at Lambeth, he gave 200
marks to complete the chantry of Skirlaw. " By an inquisition, held the third of
Henry IV. A. D. 1402, it was found not to be prejudicial if the King should grant
license to Walter, Bishop of Durham, to give a messuage, value per annum Is. two
tofts, each at Ad. twenty-four acres of land, each acre worth 3d. per annum, and
eleven acres of meadow, each acre valued at 5d. in this place, to the prioress and
convent of Swine." * Perhaps this was intended for the support of a priest at
Skirlaw, which was under Swine : it is certainly not probable that the Bishop left
his foundation unprovided for. In the 38th of Henry VIII. the King sold to Sir
Richard Gresham the rectory of Swine, with all its appurtenances, and with all the
tithes in North Skirlaw, &c.
* Burton's Monast. Ebor. p. 253.
99
nuns, founded in the reign of King Stephen. The chapel, of which a south-west
view is represented in Plate II. is situated near to, yet detached from, the village,
and its pinnacles, first catching the eye from above the surrounding trees, have a
very pleasing effect, contrasted with the extent of low land on the west. Of the
style of the exterior, the annexed view and the elevations will afford sufficient
information. The base of the tower is surrounded with a series of quatrefoil panels
The lable mouldings of all the windows (except the upper ones of the tower, which
have heads) are finished with a shield, bearing Skirlaw's arms. The interior con-
tains a carved screen, of wood, which, with the pulpit and seats, is coeval with the
building. The screen divides the interior into a body and a chancel, leaving four
bays for the former, and two for the latter; which distinction is not, as usual, made
in the exterior arrangement. On each side of the east window is a bracket or sup-
port, perhaps for tapers or images ; in the south wall is a piscina, and on the north
side a vestry, perfectly plain, and lighted by a small aperture in the wall. The
initials W. S. still remain in a window on the north side, but the arms, said by Wood
to have been set in every window, are all gone ; the winds, which here blow very
strongly over the flat country, having often destroyed the glass, until, to abate their
force, the chapel yard was planted round with trees about half a century ago.
The only regular endowment of the chapel is £3. 6*. 8d. per annum, payable
out of the township of Marton-le-Clay, for service once a month. William Wilber-
force, Esq. M. P. is the present patron, by purchase from the survivor of the family
of Moorhouse, for whom there are some memorials in the chapel. Tradition says
that the Bishop died before he had endowed his building; but in his Will, which,
says AVillis, (Survey Cath. i. p. 251), is in the archives at Lambeth, he gave 200
marks to complete the chantry of Skirlaw. " By an inquisition, held the third of
Henry IV. A. D. 1402, it was found not to be prejudicial if the King should grant
license to Walter, Bishop of Durham, to give a messuage, value per annum Is. two
tofts, each at Ad. twenty-four acres of land, each acre worth 3d. per annum, and
eleven acres of meadow, each acre valued at 5d. in this place, to the prioress and
convent of Swine." * Perhaps this was intended for the support of a priest at
Skirlaw, which was under Swine : it is certainly not probable that the Bishop left
his foundation unprovided for. In the 38th of Henry VIII. the King sold to Sir
Richard Gresham the rectory of Swine, with all its appurtenances, and with all the
tithes in North Skirlaw, &c.
* Burton's Monast. Ebor. p. 253.