The Ascension, Whixley
The Ascension, Whixley
The Church of the Ascension is a Grade II* parish church on Church Street, Whixley, North Yorkshire, in the Diocese of Leeds and the parish of Whixley with Green Hammerton. Pevsner noted how unusual it is for a village church to be so consistently Decorated in style.
- Location
- Whixley, Yorkshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Yorkshire
- City / town
- Whixley
- Address
- Church Street, Whixley, Yorkshire, YO26 8AR
- Postcode
- YO26 8AR
- Built
- Mainly early C14; restored 1862
- Architect
- Sir George Gilbert Scott (restoration 1862, possibly)
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- The Ascension
- Diocese
- Leeds
- Parish
- Whixley with Green Hammerton
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Decorated
- Materials
- Ashlar with stone and lead roofs
- Grid reference
- SE 442 582
- Opening hours
- Open from 9am until dusk daily 24/7 seven days per week.
- Access
- Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
Historic England describes a church mainly of the early fourteenth century, with some restoration of 1862 possibly by Sir George Gilbert Scott, in ashlar with stone and lead roofs. The plan is a three-stage west tower, a three-bay nave with north and south aisles enclosing the tower, and a two-bay chancel. The tower has a Perpendicular belfry, an embattled parapet with crocketed finials and a pyramidal roof. Aisle and chancel windows have intersected tracery; the south porch arch has ballflower decoration. The five-light east window has cusping and a six-pointed roundel.
Interior quatrefoil columns carry the arcades under the tower. The south aisle has a piscina and, at the west end, the tomb of Christopher Tancred (d. 1754), moved from the chapel at Whixley Hall in 1905. Wikipedia records that Domesday mentions a church at Whixley, that the building was closed for sixteen months in 1861-62 for Scott's restoration, and that on reopening it was rededicated from St James (or St Mary) to the Ascension.