Photographs by the author; formatting by the author and Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or to the Victorian Web in a print document. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
The former vicarage of St Andrew's, East Heslerton, N. Yorkshire, by G. E. Street.
The “Old Vicarage” was built in 1876 and is immediately across the lane from the church, part of a functional group. It is of brick, partly tile-hung; the chimneys and porch also employ traditional vernacular features.
Left: The former vicarage and church facing each other. Right: The former vicarage approached through the lych-gate.
If it were not for the incongruous tower, the church would be seen for what it is, small – hardly as large as the vicarage. Adding to the burden, the stone of the tower has weathered darker than the rest of the building. Perhaps, at 34m (105ft) it caught the industrial pollution from the West Riding, or the stone slates of the roof contributed.
Left: Churchyard cross with the former Vicarage in the background. Right: Graves in the older part of the churchyard. Both the east wall of the vestry and the former vicarage can be glimpsed as well.
Heslerton
The lower slopes of the escarpment of the Wolds looking south from the churchyard. This area is in Lower Greensand, not the chalk.
The village of East Heslerton, and the slightly larger West Heslerton, are on the A64 between Malton and the sea. To their south the chalk Wolds rise eventually to 190m (over 500ft). West Heslerton is known for the extensive excavations under Dominic Powlesland of a chiefly early-to-mid Anglo-Saxon site on the Greensand slopes, probably following on from Roman and prehistoric communities. After the ninth-century Viking invasions, settlement seems to have moved downhill to the present position. In Victorian times, there was a railway station on the Malton to Scarborough line known as Heslerton. Presently the two villages have less than 500 inhabitants. All Saints’ church, West Heslerton, was restored, or largely rebuilt retaining medieval features, by C. Hodgson Fowler in 1886; it is a mainstream average small church by comparison to Street’s design, and still in use.
Links to related material
Bibliography
Church of St Andrew, East Heslerton, North Yorkshire. Leaflet by the Churches Conservation Trust, 2011.
Fulton, Moira. “The Sykes Churches of East Yorkshire: the baronets, the architects and the craftsmen.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XtIVcPIs2w
Hull History Centre, with details of Sykes family history: http://catalogue.hullhistorycentre.org.uk/catalogue/U-DDSY?tab=description.
Pevsner, Nikolaus, and David Neave. Yorkshire: York and the East Riding. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002.
Quiney, A. “Sledmere”, Proceedings, Archaeological Journal vol. 141 (1984): 51-54.
Created 19 May 2022