The Cache
Grace COOK died AB Feb 17CD,
James COOK died 01 Apr 17EF,
John COOK died 20 Sep 1750, aged GH.
The final co-ordinates can be derived from:-
N 54 GF.H(A+B)(C+H), W 1 B.DC(E-H)
Church History
The old church of ALL SAINTS, since the erection of the new church on another site in 1876, has been used only as a mortuary chapel. It is now in a dilapidated state and its repair is much to be desired. The building is substantially of 12th-century date, but three pre-Conquest stones forming two crossheads found in the vicarage garden suggest that it replaced an earlier church. The building was much altered in 1790, when many of its ancient features perished or were obscured by plaster. It consists of chancel 19 ft. by 14 ft. 6 in. with north vestry, nave 32 ft. 6 in. by 18 ft. 10 in., and south porch 9 ft. 10 in. by 11 ft. 4 in., all these measurements being internal. There was originally a west tower which was rebuilt in 1788 and stood till about 1880, when it was pulled down. The vestry is modern, apparently belonging to the 1790 restoration, and the south porch may be of 15th-century date. A gallery was erected in 1743, but it has since been removed, and in 1759 a faculty was granted to 'remove a loft and build pews.'
The walls of the chancel are now almost entirely hidden externally on the east and south sides by ivy and on the north by the vestry, but they probably retain much of the ancient masonry. Some old work is still visible at the lower part of the east wall, but the upper part has been rebuilt. The east window is a modern one of three lancets and on the south side are an 18th-century window and a modern priest's doorway. In the north wall is a small 12thcentury round-headed window with wide internal splay, now opening into the vestry. It is now plastered round the head and jambs and nothing can be seen of the ancient masonry. The chancel may originally have been less in length, but this is not certain.
The whole of the interior of the building is plastered and whitewashed and in an uncared for condition. The floor of the chancel is level with that of the nave and the original 12th-century detail of the chancel arch is partly covered with plaster and the whole whitewashed. The arch is elliptical in form and consists of two orders, the outer with a continuous moulding and the inner chamfered on the edges and with a half-round moulding on the soffit. To the chancel the outer order is square. The width of the opening is 10 ft. 6 in., and the inner order springs from half-round responds with scalloped capitals and chamfered abaci. Towards the nave the outer order is carried on angle shafts, that on the north side being yet encased in plaster. The capital of the shafts on the south side is carved with a simple double volute ornament.
A 12th-century corbel table runs the length of the north and south walls of the nave outside, above which is a modern straight parapet, and at the west end of the north wall is an original built-up doorway with lintel, plain tympanum and semicircular arch of ten voussoirs above. Two built-up windows on the north side are apparently of 18th-century date, but a third near the east end is a square-headed opening of three rounded lights, apparently a 16th-century insertion. On the south side the nave is lit by two round-headed 18th-century windows with barred frames, and it has a flat plaster ceiling. The roofs are covered with modern blue slates, and the walls are without plinth or buttress in any part of the building. The west wall is blank and has been largely reconstructed and refaced in the 18th century and later when the tower was removed. Built into it are the top and bottom portions of a grave slab with floreated cross. The bell from the tower is now hung in a recess in the gable. It is without inscription.
The 12th-century south doorway has a semicircular arch of three orders, the inner plain and continuous with the inner jambs and the two outer springing from angle shafts with cushioned capitals and moulded bases. The middle order is continuously moulded and the outer is carved with zigzag ornament. The doorway may at some time have been rebuilt or altered, as there are no impost mouldings, and the bases stand on a plinth 18 in. above the floor. The neck of one of the capitals has the cable moulding, but the others are plain. There is no hood mould, and the top of the outer order is hidden by the curved plaster ceiling of the porch, erected probably in 1790, when the Norman detail seems to have been covered up.
The porch itself has been very much tampered with, but its masonry appears to be old. There is a trefoilheaded window now made up on either side and the stone seats remain. The outer doorway has a wide shouldered arch and there is a sundial in the gable. Part of an incised grave slab is built into the south wall.
The font is apparently of the 12th century and consists of a circular stone bowl moulded on the edge standing on a circular shaft. It has a short pyramidal 18th-century cover.
The fittings belong to the period of the renovation, the chancel being filled with square pews extending under the chancel arch. There is a 'three-decker' pulpit in the south-east corner of the nave. In the chancel is an elaborate marble tablet to William Watson, who died in 1795, aged eighty: 'the thanks he received on different occasions from the Court of Directors of the Honble East India Company were ample testimonies.' In the churchyard to the east of the chancel is a tombstone to the memory of Grace Cook (d. 1765), the mother of Captain James Cook, and to several of his brothers and sisters.
The plate consists of two cups made by Aldridge & Green of London, one in 1770 and the other in 1773, each inscribed, 'The Gift of Augustine Skottowe to the Church at Ayton 1774,' and engraved with a crucifix and a shield of his arms; and a plated paten and flagon, 'Given to the church of Great Ayton by the Rev. J. Ibbetson and Elizabeth his wife 1842.'
The registers begin in 1666
'Parishes: Great Ayton', A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 2 (1923), pp. 225-231.
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