During our recent trip to Malton we looked in on two local churches. The parish church which dominates the town’s large market square is St Michael’s, originally built in 1190.
Malton is home to a second medieval church. St Leonard’s was build about the same time as St Michael’s and today is the town’s Catholic parish church, having been gifted to the Catholic Church by the Church of England in 1971. Thanks to this unusual act, St Leonard’s is the oldest Catholic church in the country.
As we left Malton, we stopped off at St Mary’s Priory Church, in Old Malton. Originally part of Malton Priory, and dating from 1150, the present building is all that remained after the Dissolution. Since then, the church has undergone repeated remodelling and partial demolition, resulting in an odd, asymmetric appearance with many filled-in windows.
What remains is only about a quarter of the original building, which would have been similar in size and style to Ripon Cathedral. Originally the church had two west towers but one collapsed following a fire in the 16th century. Over the years it has lost its aisles, transepts and chancel. The roof has been lowered, leading to a number of windows being filled in, further disfiguring the once fine building and creating a gloomy interior.
Finally, our return journey took us past Byland Abbey and on such a lovely day we had to stop and soak up the ambience. Yet another fabulous building, built with passion in the 12th century and destroyed in the 16th century.
