Our church was founded in 1190 and is probably the oldest Roman Catholic Church still in use in England.
A successor to the mission at Ness, near Kirbymoorside, St Mary’s church was built 1840-1 and improved 1893, but in 1972 the 12th century church of St Leonard was restored to Catholic use.
One of very few Roman Catholic mediaeval churches in the United Kingdom, St Leonard and St Mary’s was originally founded in 1190 by the Gilbertine canons from St Mary’s Priory in Old Malton as a chapel of ease, along with St Michael’s church in the market place. It was gifted to the Roman Catholic Church by the Anglican Diocese of York in 1971.
The Church Building
Ancient features
The principle surviving ancient features are the lower stages of the tower (with heavily eroded stonework) and the Romanesque arcade on the north side of the nave and chancel. The font is also of possible 12th century date and there is a 15th century piscina reset in the south wall of the chancel.
The Tower
Within the tower is a peal of eight 18th century bells, cast by Lester and Pack (now the Whitechapel Bell Foundry). The clock was installed in 1897 to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The church history also mentions a Romanesque carving of a seated ecclesiastic in the tower. The tower arch is of 15th century date; this has been enclosed by a 19th century timber and glass screen within which is set a round arched stained glass window depicting Our Lady within a mandorla, brought from St Mary’s.
Modern interventions
The building was considerably altered and added to in the 19th century, when it was de-Georgianised (flat plaster ceiling in the nave removed), the tower raised by one stage and the previous short stumpy spire rebuilt and the nave roof rebuilt. A major restoration campaign in 1907 involved the refenestration of the north elevation and the rebuilding of the south side of the nave and chancel.
The 1988-9 reordering has involved the introduction of a dais and altar in the middle of the nave on the south side, with the seating (pine pews) arranged around it. The old chancel has been retained as a Blessed Sacrament chapel, with an open screen to offer a degree of demarcation. This radical reordering has been achieved without loss of important fabric or structure, and achieves an intimacy of worship (as well as allowing for full participation in the liturgy by those using wheelchairs).