St Gregory Minster, Kirkdale
St Gregory Minster, Kirkdale
St Gregory’s Minster is a Grade I Anglo-Saxon church in Kirkdale, North Yorkshire, in the Diocese of York, famous for its mid-eleventh-century sundial over the south door.
- Location
- Kirkdale, Yorkshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Yorkshire
- City / town
- Kirkdale
- Address
- Kirkdale, Yorkshire, YO62 7TZ
- Postcode
- YO62 7TZ
- Built
- Nave c.1060; C13 aisle; porch 1800; tower 1827; chancel 1881; restored 1907–09
- Architect
- Temple Moore (1907–09 restoration)
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Gregory
- Diocese
- York
- Parish
- Kirkdale
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Anglo-Saxon, with later medieval and C19 work
- Materials
- Limestone rubble nave and porch; dressed limestone to the tower, aisle, chapel and chancel
- Grid reference
- SE 677 858
- Opening hours
- Sorry, there are no regular opening times for this church.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
Historic England dates the nave to about 1060, the arcade and north wall to the thirteenth century (raised in the fifteenth), a late thirteenth-century north chapel now the vestry, a porch of 1800, a tower of 1827 and a chancel rebuilt in 1881. Temple Moore restored the church in 1907–09. The nave and porch are limestone rubble; the tower, aisle, chapel and chancel are dressed limestone. The Saxon west doorway, now the tower arch, is narrow and round-arched, with quoined jambs and rough block capitals.
Over the doorway within the porch a Saxon sundial survives almost intact. Historic England translates its Old English inscription: Orm Gamal’s son bought St Gregory’s Minster when it was all broken down and fallen and he let it be made anew from the ground to Christ and St Gregory, in Edward’s days the king and in Tosti’s days the Earl. Stone benches remain along the north and south walls. Fittings include a thirteenth-century octagonal font, altar rails of 1635, two Saxon grave slabs between the arcade columns, and bells of about 1300 and 1400–50.