List entry

This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

SE 36 NE NEWBY WITH MULWITH MAIN STREET (west side, off) Skelton

2/23 Church of Christ the Consoler, with Eleanor cross to east (formerly listed 6.3.67 as Church of Christ the Consoler)

GV I

Church and cross to east. 1871-76 by William Burges for Lady Mary Vyner, early C20 cross. Church: grey Catraig stone, with Morcar stone from nearby Markenfield Hall for the exterior facings and mouldings, white limestone from Lord Ripon's quarries near Studley Royal for the interior; grey slate roof. Cross of grey limestone. Nave of 4 bays with north and south aisles, south porch, partly enclosed massive tower with spire on north side, square 3-bay chancel with priest's door, left of centre. In an early English style of c1270, with French detailing. Porch: richly moulded outer doorway with foliate order below continuous hoodmould; carving of the Good Shepherd in stepped niche in the gable. Stone copings with ridge cross. Within the porch: 2 female heads - left crowned head representing the Christian Church; right blindfolded head representing the synagogue. Inner board door with elaborate wrought scrolled ironwork and hinges. Paired trefoil-headed lancets to aisles, triple lancet clerestory windows with quatrefoil tracery to nave, all with banded attached columns. Chancel: paired trefoil-headed lancets as aisle under cusped quatrefoils, and in elaborate pointed arches. Stepped buttresses to aisles and chancel, pilaster buttresses to cleretory. Tower on north side of 4 stages has angle buttresses and corner pinnacles to banded spire with lucarne windows; paired belfry windows to fourth stage with corbel table above. The chancel east end: wide pointed 5-light window with central rose; figure of Christ the Consoler in mandola to gable. The window is flanked by 2 massive buttresses surmounted by helmeted animals. Buttresses with the armorial bearings of families connected with the Vyners on the north and south sides of the chancel. West end: huge rose window with 4 sculptures on the outer circle, representing the 4 Ages of Man, blind trefoiled arcade below. Stone copings to gables. Interior: extravagant use of coloured marbles throughout; the nave has 4-bay arcades of moulded pointed arches on quatrefoil columns with attached black marble shafts of which the inner ones rise to roof level, black marble shafts terminating in sculptured corbels representing 6 stages in the ageing of man from infancy to old age. The corbels carry the tie beam of a king-post type roof, with barrel vault above. The aisle walls have a trefoiled arcade along the entire length, also with black marble shafts. Above the chancel arch a dramatic sculpture by Nichol of the Ascension; the arch has clustered columns and soffit is deeply moulded with carving of angels on Jacob's Ladder. Chancel has ribbed limestone vault carried by shafts of red, green and black marble, with carved bosses. The low screen is of white marble, with panels of porphyry, mosaic and alabaster, the double gates of brass, elaborately scrolled, with flowers and leaves. The chancel has an inner tracery, of cusped lights with cinquefoils; the east window inner arch has angels holding censers carved in the spandrels. The base of the tower houses the vestry through which the red and white marble pulpit is reached. The organ loft and chamber is over the vestry and overhangs the nave set on large corbel sculptured with foliage and grotesque animals in relief. Fittings: Norman-style font at the south-west end of the nave, of Tennessee marble with short columns, inscription to the daughter of Lord Ripon, and open crocketed oak cover containing painted figures of Christ and John the Baptist. The pulpit and organ are part of the structure of the tower; the altar reredos is of stone, inset with alabaster and mosaic medallions carved with figures of the Madonna and Child with Magus, and the prophets. The stained glass, by Weekes and Saunders, provides a band of decoration to the unpainted interior. The blind arcade below the west window, with family memorial plaques below, has an inscription in Gothic letters: "There is one God and one mediator between God and Man, the man Jesus Christ who gave himself a ransom for all". The inscription provides the inspiration for the dedication of the church which was built in memory of Lady Mary Vyners youngest son, Frederick. He was travelling in Greece in April 1870 when his party was captured by Brigands. A ransom of £32,000 was demanded, but before the money was delivered Greek soldiers opened fire and 4 members of the British party were shot. Using either her contribution to the ransom money, or compensation from the Greek Government, Frederick's mother decided to build a church near to her home at Newby Hall (qv) as a memorial. Frederick's sister had married Lord Ripon of Studley Royal, and she also built a memorial church, All Saints, also by Burges. The Eleanor cross is linked to the east end by moulded stone curbs inscribed to the memory of Eleanor Vyner (d1913) and Robert Vyner (d1915). It has 5 stages with figures in recesses to stage 2 and a short spire. J Mordaunt Crook, 'William Burges and the High Victorian Dream', 1981, p 229.

Listing NGR: SE3599467948