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Church of St Mary, Nun Monkton
The priory of Benedictine nuns at Nun Monkton was founded before 1154 by Ivetta of the Arches and the church was constructed soon after this date. The architecture of the remaining part of the church shows that it remained essentially unaltered until the dissolution in 1536. At this point the east end of the church was demolished leaving the western end of the nave serving as the parish church. It is the only part of the conventual buildings to survive, a completely new house being built in about 1660.
Although the nave and west front are essentially Early English Gothic with lancet windows, the west doorway is Romanesque in style, being semicircular not pointed. It is a large doorway of 5 orders, 3 of which (1, 2, 5) have typically Romanesque chevron mouldings, the other two (3,4) being roll moulding. The capitals have decorative foliate decoration which place the doorway in the Transitional period. Pevsner considers that the sequence of building of the church, rather than progression from west to east, involved the lower walls as first stage during the transitional period, followed by the windows and arcading in full Early English Gothic. This would explain the Romanesque doorway in an otherwise Gothic facade.
A short tower rising above the nave roof ridge is built integrally with the west front. Internally it is supported on two buttress-like walls. Facing the nave these combine to form a lancet arch close to the ridge line.
Externally the nave shows relatively plain single lancets, but internally the scheme is more ornate with the deeply recessed windows separated by 2-bay arcades with pointed arches, surmounted by tall niches with cusped heads. There is an ambulatory at the level of the arcades.
The east end of the church is the result of major reconstruction in 1873. It follows the style of the medieval work and includes triple stepped lancets in the east wall and an ornate canopied reredos. This work also includes the ornate pulpit in multicoloured Italian marble, and the very fine stained glass of the triplet east windows. The latter by Morris & Co shows Morris’s typical Arts-and-Crafts leaf-based patterning and has figures by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones.
Of other fittings, the font is at least partly old, possibly dating from the construction of the church.
The church is Listed Grade I
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Although the nave and west front are essentially Early English Gothic with lancet windows, the west doorway is Romanesque in style, being semicircular not pointed. It is a large doorway of 5 orders, 3 of which (1, 2, 5) have typically Romanesque chevron mouldings, the other two (3,4) being roll moulding. The capitals have decorative foliate decoration which place the doorway in the Transitional period. Pevsner considers that the sequence of building of the church, rather than progression from west to east, involved the lower walls as first stage during the transitional period, followed by the windows and arcading in full Early English Gothic. This would explain the Romanesque doorway in an otherwise Gothic facade.
A short tower rising above the nave roof ridge is built integrally with the west front. Internally it is supported on two buttress-like walls. Facing the nave these combine to form a lancet arch close to the ridge line.
Externally the nave shows relatively plain single lancets, but internally the scheme is more ornate with the deeply recessed windows separated by 2-bay arcades with pointed arches, surmounted by tall niches with cusped heads. There is an ambulatory at the level of the arcades.
The east end of the church is the result of major reconstruction in 1873. It follows the style of the medieval work and includes triple stepped lancets in the east wall and an ornate canopied reredos. This work also includes the ornate pulpit in multicoloured Italian marble, and the very fine stained glass of the triplet east windows. The latter by Morris & Co shows Morris’s typical Arts-and-Crafts leaf-based patterning and has figures by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones.
Of other fittings, the font is at least partly old, possibly dating from the construction of the church.
The church is Listed Grade I
Link
Created: Sun, 9 Nov 2025, Updated: Sun, 9 Nov 2025
10 images use this description: (all images taken in 2025)
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