St Mary the Virgin church, Carlton le Moorland

Image: © J.Hannan-Briggs Taken: 19 Nov 2011

The oldest part of the church is the 13th century chancel with its pitched roof and small 13th century windows in the south wall. The other windows are more recent restorations. The nave and the tower were built in the late Tudor period , at a time when more churches were being dismantled than were being rebuilt. Up to 1540, this church was attached to Thornton Abbey, near Barton-on-Humber. The nave is in a Tudor style with battlements and a low pitched roof and is much wider than the original nave. It is clear that the church originally had north and south aisles. They may have fallen into disrepair as early as the 14th century. Why this happened is a matter of mere conjecture. The massive square embattled tower which may have originally been graced with eight rather than the present four pinnacles is another Tudor curiosity. Externally, its style is late Perpendicular (c1500) but internally the arching above the windows belongs to the Elizabethan period about 1570. The builders incorporated a lot of earlier stonework into the tower. A 12th or 13th century tomb slab forms the lintel above the second window on the tower stairs. The present vestry is all that remains of the north aisle lady chapel. It has embedded in its walls three cross roundels which are maybe 13th or 14th century. Two mutilated corbel heads and fragments of Norman work are embedded in the east wall of the vestry. It seems likely that these items were placed in position during the 1890 restoration. Little of the earlier furnishing of the church has survived. The present altar table rests on the framework of an altar that was in use before the Civil War of 1642-49. The altar rails are 17th century, and the top half of the pulpit is all that remains of a splendid Georgian pannelled pulpit and clerk’s desk. The remains of a rood screen is probably the oldest piece of woodwork in the church. Its upper portion, usually containing a gallery with access by steps or a staircase cut in the wall, was destroyed after the Elizabethan settlement of 1568 when such things were considered idolatrous. The church was restored and refurnished in 1890-91. In the restoration, the western gallery, approached through the tower, was taken down. The barrel organ, installed in 1863 and playing 32 tunes, was sold and a new organ and fixtures installed. The church is not endowed with illustrious memorials. Two wall brasses framed with friezes are to be found, one in the vestry dated 1595 and the other in the north wall of the chancel dated 1612. Both are inscribed in Latin and are in memory of members of the Disney family whose holdings in Carlton were extensive before the Civil War. Information from Church Guide

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