St Mary Magdalene is a

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

in the town of

Yarm Yarm-on-Tees, or simply Yarm, is a market town in North Yorkshire, England. It lies on a meander of the River Tees, extending south-east to the River Leven, North Yorkshire, River Leven and south to the village of Kirklevington. A civil parish i ...

, in the

Borough of Stockton-on-Tees The Borough of Stockton-on-Tees is a unitary authority area in England with borough status in County Durham and North Yorkshire. In 2021, it had a population of 196,600. Its main settlement and namesake of the borough is Stockton-on-Tees, which ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England, which is dedicated to Jesus' companion

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

. Administratively, it is a parish of the

Diocese of York The Diocese of York is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. It covers the city of York, the eastern part of North Yorkshire, and most of the East Riding of Yorkshire. The diocese is headed by the ar ...

. The current rector is the

Reverend The Reverend (abbreviated as The Revd, The Rev'd or The Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. There are sometimes differen ...

Darren Moore. The current church building is the third to stand on the site. The first was a wooden

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

building of which no traces remain. A

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

church was built in the late 12th century and remained until 1728 when it razed by fire. The present Georgian church was built from the remains of the second in 1730.

History

Anglo-Saxon church

The earliest evidence of a church being present in the town is the Trumbert Shaft. The shaft part of an inscribed sandstone grave cross. It was discovered being used as a mangle weight in Yarm in 1877 by Canon Greenwell of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

. The shaft is now kept in the library of

Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the Mother Church#Cathedral, mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the ...

and bears the inscription: Which translates as:

Trumbert Trumbert (or Tunberht or Tunbeorht) was a monk of Jarrow, a disciple of Chad and later Bishop of Hexham. Life Trumbert was educated at Lastingham by Chad, and was a teacher of Bede.Bede ''Ecclesiastical History of England'' iv 3 He was the bi ...

or ''Trumberhet'' was consecrated as

Bishop of Hexham The Bishop of Hexham was an episcopal title which took its name after the market town of Hexham in Northumberland, England. The title was first used by the Anglo-Saxons in the 7th and 9th centuries, and then by the Roman Catholic Church since ...

in AD 681, he was succeeded in AD 684 by Eata. The date of his death is not known, but clearly he was buried at Yarm late in the 7th or early in the 8th century.

Norman church

The west end and the base of the tower of the present building are part of the original stone church was built by the de Brus family in the latter half of the 12th century. A fortified tower was added in the 13th century and rebuilt during the 17th century.

Georgian Church

In 1728 the Norman church was badly damaged by fire that and had to be rebuilt. The cost of the damage was put at £1,772 and was raised by public subscription. King George II allowed collections to be made at churches throughout England to help finance the rebuilding, something that proved so successful that the rebuilding was completed by 1730 using much of the stone from the earlier building. In 1878 the church was enlarged and

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard Aus ...

by the

Paley and Austin Sharpe, Paley and Austin are the surnames of architects who practised in Lancaster, England, Lancaster, Lancashire, England, between 1835 and 1946, working either alone or in partnership. The full names of the principals in their practice, whi ...

partnership of

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

. The stonework of the Georgian part of the building has lost its weather resisting properties as a result of age and air pollution.

Present day

On 23 June 1966, the church was designated a

grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The

churchyard In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...

is closed to new burials, but there is an area for the interment of cremations. The church is within the

broad church Broad church is latitudinarian churchmanship in the Church of England in particular and Anglicanism in general, meaning that the church permits a broad range of opinion on various issues of Anglican doctrine. In the American Episcopal Churc ...

and liberal catholic

traditions A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common exa ...

of the Church of England. It is a member of

Inclusive Church Inclusive Church is an organisation founded in 2003 that advocates for the full inclusion of all people regardless of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, and sexual o ...

Interior

Lady Chapel

The

Lady Chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chape ...

was refurbished in memory of Leslie Leech. It was dedicated in 2003 by the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

, David Hope.

Stained Glass

The windows in the South aisle have subjects taken from the Old Testament. From east to west: *God's testing of Abraham *Moses receiving the Ten Commandments *Prophet Elijah calling down fire from Heaven The large Moses window is the oldest and best of the glass in the church. It was executed by

William Peckitt William Peckitt (1731 – 14 October 1795) was an English glass-painter and stained glass maker. He was based in York throughout his working life, was one of the leading Georgian glass craftsmen in England and helped "keep the art of glass painti ...

of York in 1768 and was originally in the Chancel, but was moved to it present position in 1879. The windows in the North aisle and East End of the Church are on New Testament themes. From west to east: *Christ's Baptism *The Crucifixion *Christ the Lover of children and Christ the Good Shepherd *The Resurrection *The Last Supper *The Ascension. In the West End of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

are two small round windows. One has a

dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

symbolising the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

and the other a Lamb carrying a flag symbolising

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

. The Vestry has a 20th-century window depicting the three Marys meeting the angel at the Tomb on the first Easter Day.

Decorations

Above the door to the vestry was an oil painting depicting the

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on,Ainsworth, 122 but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de La ...

with the young

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

by an unnamed artist of the 19th century in the style of the 16th-century Italian school. This painting was disposed of in 2015 and has been replaced by a lightbox with a modern stained glass interpretation of Christ busting from the tomb. On the left of the Ascension window is an old terracotta copy of a Della Robia plaque depicting the

Virgin and Child In Christian art, a Madonna () is a religious depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a singular form or sometimes accompanied by the Child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word ...

that was found in the ruins of a French cathedral during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

by the writer E. V. Lucas. Similar plaques are found in the

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

s of Tuscan

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...

. It dates from around 1800. Around the walls can be found framed prints of the

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

and on the pillars are small shields bearing ecclesiastical signs and symbols. In the Sanctuary is a Tudor bishop's

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) or miter (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences; both pronounced ; ) is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of ...

. Until 1865 the Rector of Yarm was the

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

, and the mitre represented his presence as

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of the parish.

Furnishings

The present pews, pulpit, clerk's desk and choir stalls date from 1878 and are in the

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

. The High Altar was made out of pews removed from the South aisle in 1940. The Altar rails are the work of the noted Yorkshire craftsman Robert Thompson – the ''Mouseman of Kilburn'' – and were given in 1948 in memory of Mary Clapham and her son John Geoffrey who was killed in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The dedication and the identifying mouse, is carved on the Sanctuary side of the rails. The Font is an octagonal bowl of Tees

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

with incurved sides on each of which is a blank shield. It is thought to have been fashioned in the 15th century.

Organ

When the church was rebuilt in 1730 the

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

was on a gallery at the West End of the church as is still the case in many churches. In Yarm the organ gallery was removed in 1852 and the organ was moved to the east end of the north aisle. In 1910 the present organ was purchased from Thomas Hopkins and Son of York. The organ has a total of 1134 pipes in 27 stops. A specification of the organ can be found on the

National Pipe Organ Register The British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) is a British organisation and registered charity which aims to promote study and appreciation of all aspects of the pipe organ. Further, it acts as a lobbying body to raise awareness of organ issue ...

The True Lovers

Alongside the West wall set into the floor is the cover of a table tomb, dating from the 15th century. It is carved with supine male and female figures, a figure of a bird (an

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

) and a seated figure with one hand raised in

benediction A benediction (, 'well' + , 'to speak') is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service. It can also refer to a specific Christian religious service including the exposition of the eucharisti ...

. There is an inscription that appears to read ''here lyeth the body and was buried the 2nd of July An. Do. 1638'', suggesting that the tomb has been reused. The original occupants of the tomb must have been significant persons at least locally, but who they were remains a mystery. In the absence of identification for them they became known as The True Lovers, and the nearby riverside path became known as ''True Lovers' Walk''.

Bells

There is a ring of 3 bells. The oldest is dated 1664 weighs and is inscribed ''Fili Dei Misere Mei''. The next oldest is dated 1710, weighs and is inscribed ''Sono Quantum Valeo''. The smallest bell weighs , and was recast in 1861 because it had cracked. It bears the names of the

churchwarden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion, Lutheran Churches or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' mem ...

s in that year – James Todd and Wheatley Coates.

Churchyard

In the Churchyard a modern headstone commemorates

Tom Brown Tom Brown may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Brown (satirist) (1662–1704), English satirical writer *Tom Brown (trombonist) (1888–1958), American jazz trombonist and bandleader *Tom Brown (actor) (1913–1990), American film and televi ...

, "The Valiant Dragoon" hero of the

Battle of Dettingen The Battle of Dettingen took place on 27 June 1743 during the War of the Austrian Succession, near Karlstein am Main in Bavaria. An alliance composed of British, Hanoverian and Austrian troops, known as the Pragmatic Army, defeated a French ...

He died in 1746 and was buried in an unmarked grave. A short distance away is a stone marking the original site of the Free Grammar School of Thomas Conyers founded in 1590.

References

*A Guide to the Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene, Yarm

External links

Internal views of the church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary Magdalene, Yarm

Yarm