Churches of the British Isles

In the fifteenth century the church was rebuilt, with aisles being added to the nave and the two stage tower with spire being added. The chancel arch may have been widened at the same time, while the south porch dates from a period not long afterwards. The font at the back of the church bears the date 1662, while the building itself is now Grade I listed. Most of the seating dates from 1627, with carved upper panels and turned finials at each end.

The Church of All Saints, Pickhill, lies on the eastern side of Swainby Lane at the junction with Lowfields Lane, in Pickhill with Roxby. The church was built around 1150, in coursed squared stone and ashlar, with a graduated stone slate roof. Only the chancel and nave existed at first, with the north aisle and chapel being added around 1200. There were additions in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, with the chancel being enlarged in the second phase.

The last of these additions saw the three stage west tower erected, late in the fifteenth century, with offset diagonal buttresses and a wide angle buttress to the east of the south front which forms a stair tower with three slit openings. The Victorians restored and enlarged the building in 1877 under the direction of G E Street, although some of the original Norman work survived. Until 2002 the tower contained a ring of three bells, with three more being added in that year.

Swainby Abbey lay on the northern side of Swainby Lane, as it turns sharply towards the south. It may have been founded before 1168 as the Abbey of Saint Mary de Caritate. Confusingly, it was also founded in 1188 as the Premonstratensian Abbey of Swainby, suggesting a re-founding or re-use of abandoned buildings. Today nothing remains of the abbey except a series of mounds covering a wide area, and the crumbling remains of East House Farm.

Maunby Methodist Church is a tiny building on the eastern side of Pickeringmoor Lane, immediately north of Green Lane in Maunby, near Hambleton, and about nine kilometres (six miles) south of Hambleton and the River Swale. This pocket-sized red brick Methodist Church was built in 1855, but in 1857 it became part of the United Methodist Free Church. It continues in service today, lying on a quiet lane with a border of neat iron railings around the front yard.

Five photos on this page kindly contributed by Colin Hinson, and one copyright © Chris Heaton, and reused under a cc licence.