St Martin's Church, Allerton Mauleverer, is a redundant

Redundant church

A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world...

 Anglican

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

 church in the village of Allerton Mauleverer

Allerton Mauleverer

Allerton Mauleverer is a village in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Allerton Mauleverer with Hopperton parish....

, North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...

, England . It has been designated by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 as a Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust

Churches Conservation Trust

The Churches Conservation Trust, which was initially known as the Redundant Churches Fund, is a charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk, those that have been made redundant by the Church of England. The Trust was established by the Pastoral Measure of 1968...

. It is sited just outside Allerton Park, the grounds of Allerton Castle

Allerton Castle

Allerton Castle, formerly "Allerton Park" is a Grade I listed nineteenth century Gothic or Victorian Gothic house at Allerton Mauleverer in North Yorkshire, England...

, which has been the home of the Mauleverer

Mauleverer Baronets

The Mauleverer Baronetcy, of Allerton in the County of York, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 4 August 1641 for Thomas Mauleverer, Member of Parliament for Boroughbridge. The second and third Baronets also represented this constituency in the House of Commons...

 family for nearly 700 years.

History

A church dedicated

Dedication

Dedication is the act of consecrating an altar, temple, church or other sacred building. It also refers to the inscription of books or other artifacts when these are specifically addressed or presented to a particular person. This practice, which once was used to gain the patronage and support of...

 to Saint Martin was first built on the site by a member of the Mauleverer family in the late 12th or early 13th century. The present church was remodelled in 1745–46 for Richard Arundell, heir to the Mauleverers. St Martin's was declared redundant on 1 December 1971, and was vested

Vesting

In law, vesting is to give an immediately secured right of present or future enjoyment. One has a vested right to an asset that cannot be taken away by any third party, even though one may not yet possess the asset. When the right, interest or title to the present or future possession of a legal...

 in the Trust on 27 July 1973.

Exterior

St Martin's is constructed in ashlar

Ashlar

Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

 on its west front, and in coursed

Course (architecture)

A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...

 limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 elsewhere. It is roofed in stone slates, and the architectural style is Norman revival

Romanesque Revival architecture

Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...

. Its plan consists of a six-bay

Bay (architecture)

A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...

 nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

 with north and south aisle

Aisle

An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...

s and transept

Transept

For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...

s, and a two-bay chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

. Between the nave and chancel is a central tower. At the west front are three gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

s at the ends of the nave and the aisles. The nave has a central round-headed doorway, over which is a circular window. On each side of this window is a round-headed window. The west fronts of the aisles protrude slightly forward from the nave, and each contains a round-headed window between two pilaster

Pilaster

A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....

s. Along the sides of the church are four round-headed windows, and the windows in the transepts have two lights. The east window has five lights and is in Perpendicular style. The tower has three stages; in the top stage are two round-headed bell openings on each side. On the tower is a pyramidal roof with a weather vane

Weather vane

A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....

.

Interior

Inside the church is a vase-shaped font

Baptismal font

A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...

, a two-decker pulpit

Pulpit

Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...

 with a sounding board

Sounding board

A sound board, or soundboard, is the surface of a string instrument that the strings vibrate against, usually via some sort of bridge. The resonant properties of the sound board and the interior of the instrument greatly increase loudness over the string alone.The sound board operates by the...

, and panelled

Panelling

Panelling is a wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials....

 box pew

Box pew

Box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th century.-History in England:...

s. Between the nave and the chancel, and between the nave and the transepts, are iron gates. The church has a hammerbeam roof

Hammerbeam roof

Hammerbeam roof, in architecture, is the name given to an open timber roof, typical of English Gothic architecture, using short beams projecting from the wall.- Design :...

 and on the chancel arch is a painting of Moses

Moses

Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...

 and Aaron

Aaron

In the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, Aaron : Ααρών ), who is often called "'Aaron the Priest"' and once Aaron the Levite , was the older brother of Moses, and a prophet of God. He represented the priestly functions of his tribe, becoming the first High Priest of the Israelites...

. In the north transepts are four effigies

Effigy

An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.The term is usually associated with full-length figures of a deceased person depicted in stone or wood on church monuments. These most often lie supine with hands together in prayer,...

; two of these are in wood depicting knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

s with crossed legs dating from the late 13th or the early 14th century; the other two are in alabaster

Alabaster

Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...

, dated 1475, and represent Sir John Mauleverer and his wife. In the south transept is the large tomb of Mrs Mary Thornton who died in 1800.