Weaverthorpe (East Yorkshire) St Andrew's Church

    The church occupies a prominent site a little to the north of the village, where it originally stood alongside an early medieval manor house complex enclosed by a bank and ditch. An unusual inscription on a sundial over the south door states that Herbert the Chamberlain (an officer of Henry II) built the church. This suggests a date between 1110, when Herbert acquired Weaverthorpe, and 1130 when he died.

The dominant feature of the church is the west tower which probably served as a look out point for the lord of the manor as well as accommodation for the belfry. Inside there is a high tower arch with a doorway above it, as is sometimes seen in other churches of 11th - early 12th century date in the region. It may have provided access, by way of a ladder, to a room in which the priest lived.

Bibliography

Pevsner, N and Neave, D., 1995. The Buildings of England, Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (London, Penguin, 2nd ed.), 738-9