The remains of the church of the HOLY CROSS stand on high ground a little to the east of the castle and about half a mile to the north-east of Swainby village. Since the erection of the new church at Swainby in 1877 the old building has been abandoned, the chancel and tower only retaining their roofs. The graveyard is still used and the chancel serves as a mortuary chapel. The building consisted of chancel 32 ft. by 18 ft. with a chapel on the north side, nave 52 ft. 9 in. by 23 ft. 6 in. with north and south aisles, and tower on the south side forming a porch 8 ft. 9 in. by 10 ft., all these measurements being internal. The nave is now entirely dismantled, the aisle walls having totally disappeared, though the arcades still stand, together with the chancel arch and a portion of the west wall including the buttresses at its external angles. The oldest parts of the structure are the three easternmost bays of the north arcade and the chancel arch, which are of 12thcentury date, together with portions of the west end of the chancel. The corresponding bays on the south side are of c. 1200 and the western bay on the north side is of slightly later date. The chancel appears to have been rebuilt and lengthened c. 1300, to which period or a little later the south-west bay of the nave also belongs, and the tower dates from c. 1400. The chapel on the north side of the chancel was pulled down in 1877.
The original 12th-century church consisted of a nave about 36 ft. long, and the same width as at present, with a north aisle. There is no evidence of a south aisle at this date, though there may possibly have been one. The chancel was also of the same width as at present, but of less length. A portion of the original 12th-century wall remains on the north side for about 12 ft. from the west end and contains the west jamb of a round-headed window, and on the south side the old plinth remains for a distance of about 20 ft. At the close of the 12th century the south aisle, the remains of which exist, was built, and shortly afterwards the nave was extended westward by the addition of a bay. The detail on the north side only is of this period, but it is unlikely that when the extension took place only the north aisle should be carried westward, and it is probable that the west arch of the south arcade was rebuilt afterwards when the chancel was reconstructed. This appears to have taken place late in the 13th century, when it was extended eastward, and the church then remained without alteration till about the beginning of the 15th century, when the tower was erected and possibly the chapel north of the chancel added. The north wall of the tower is built upon and over the third arch of the south nave arcade, the arch itself being closed up and a doorway inserted. It has generally been stated that at this time, or shortly after, the north and south aisles were taken down and the arcades built up, the tower thus standing free on three sides. Support is given to this view by the fact that portions of two square-headed windows with trefoiled lights formerly in the walls of the built-up arcade, and still preserved, are apparently of 15th-century date, and it is probable that the church assumed somewhere about the beginning of the 15th century the aisleless form which it preserved until the time of its dismantling. When that took place the existence of the north and south arcades was unsuspected, and was only discovered when the demolition of the nave was taken in hand. The arches had been walled up and windows inserted, the piers being effectually embedded in the later masonry. Some alterations were made in the chancel about 1593, part of the south wall at the west end being reconstructed and a new window inserted. The upper part of the tower was repaired and a new roof erected in 1722. The ruins of the nave were put into a state of repair in 1891, when the gable over the chancel arch was rebuilt, a buttress erected on the north side, and the tower again reroofed.
The chancel is built of coursed masonry and has a modern slated roof. The square angle buttresses are of two stages finishing in gablets, and the east window is a pointed one of three cinquefoiled lights with external hood mould terminating in heads. At the east end of the north wall is a single-light cusped lancet with wide inner splay, and on the south side two windows, each of two trefoiled lights with quatrefoils above, all with external hood moulds terminating in heads. The pointed priest's doorway has been built up. At the west end of the south wall is a later square-headed three-light window above which externally are two shields, one inscribed 'orate p. nobis a.d. 1593,' and the other with the arms of Bate of Easby. Similar shields occur inside below the window with the name 'E. Bate' under each. Below the window opening in the usual position are the sill and part of the jambs of a small low-side window 3 ft. 6 in. from the ground. Internally there is a trefoilheaded piscina with floreated bowl in the usual position and an aumbry in the wall opposite. At the bottom of the mullions of the east window are stone brackets carved with the heads of a king and bishop, and to the north of the window at sill level is a corbel carved in the shape of a human head. A larger moulded corbel supported by a carved head occurs at a lower level on the south side of the window. In the middle of the north wall is an opening 9 ft. wide with rounded arch, below which stands the Meynell tomb, and to the west of this are the remains of the 12th-century window already referred to. Beyond this again the wall has been disturbed. The arch formerly opened into the chapel, the existing recess, which is only 5 ft. 6 in. deep, being modern. In 1877 a wall was built at the west end of the chancel within the chancel arch, which is now only visible from the nave. The walls are all plastered and the floor flagged.
The chancel arch is elliptical in shape and of two continuous moulded orders springing from half-round responds and angle shafts on either side. The hood mould towards the nave is carved with star ornament. The inner order has a large half-round moulding on the soffit and the shafts have cushion capitals with a band of cable moulding below. The width of the opening is 12 ft. 6 in. and the hood mould has been a good deal restored. On the gable above are the remains of a sanctus bellcote.
The original north arcade consists of three semicircular arches of two square orders with hood mould on both sides, springing at a height of 6 ft. 8 in. above the present level of the turf from circular piers and half-round responds. Each of the responds and the second pier from the east have scalloped cushion capitals, but that of the first pier is carved beneath the abacus with dragons. The wall above stands to the level of the crown of the arches, and the piers have been strengthened on the north side by modern masonry. The south arcade has three rounded arches of two square orders with hood mould only on the nave side springing at a height of 9 ft. 6 in. from circular piers and half-round responds, all with moulded capitals and bases. The bases have the water moulding and the capitals are circular in the neck and octagonal above. The second pier from the east is now partly embedded in the tower, the north wall of which fills up the original west arch. The extent of the old nave is marked by masonry piers on either side, the later bays having pointed arches. The arch on the north, however, has fallen. It has been of two chamfered orders springing from half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals in which the nailhead ornament occurs. On the south side the arch and responds are of similar type except for the capitals, which have the wave moulding. There is a piscina in the nave on the south side of the chancel arch.
Whorlton Church from the South-east
The tower, which is without buttresses and of three unequal stages marked by strings, terminates in a straight parapet and slated pyramidal roof. The string below the parapet is ornamented with the four-leaved flower on three sides, and the belfry windows are square-headed openings of two trefoiled lights with transom at mid-height. The lower stage forms the porch, and has a pointed inner and outer doorway, the former of two chamfered orders, with a segmental inner arch to the nave. The tall middle stage has a square-headed window on the south side above the doorway and a loop on the west, but is otherwise plain. Two mediaeval grave covers with floreated crosses are built into the east and west walls and there are others inside the church. There is no vice. The foundations have given way on the south side and the tower now leans 22 in. out of the perpendicular in that direction.
The Meynell tomb on the north side of the chancel is surmounted by a crocketed canopy with cinquefoiled semicircular arch, and bears a hollow oak effigy. On each side of the tomb are seven mutilated shields, those on the south bearing the arms of Roos, Latimer, Darcy, Greystock (twice), Nevill and Fitz Hugh, the evidence of which points to a date about the first quarter of the 15th century. The figure, that of an unknown knight, is older (c. 1305–10), and is supposed to represent Sir Nicholas de Meynell. It is 6 ft. in length, and the costume represents the knight in mail coif with a narrow fillet round the temples, hauberk, and mail hose with knee cops, and long surcoat reaching nearly to the ankles. The head rests on two cushions and the right leg is crossed over the left. The feet, which rest on a dog, 'appear as if they were uncovered and the toes are visible, yet for all that they are armed with spurs and the straps still remain.' The hands are in prayer, and a girdle with a long pendant is looped over the sword belt. The sword, in its scabbard, hangs in front of the figure.
The plain cylindrical bowl of a font, apparently of 12th-century date, lies on the grass at the west end of the church.
In the east window are some fragments of ancient glass, one containing the arms, Gules a cross paty argent, and another with the figure of an angel and tabernacle work.
The tower contains a mediaeval bell inscribed 'Sancta Maria ora pro nobis.'
The plate consists of an Elizabethan cup, with the usual band of leaf work, the date letter of which is indistinct, but is probably that for 1570, and a modern plated paten and flagon.
The registers begin in 1689.
Source:- 'Parishes: Whorlton', in A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 2, ed. William Page (London, 1923), pp. 309-319 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/north/vol2/pp309-319
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