CHURCH
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The Church, dedicated to St Michael the Archangel, was consecrated on 29th October 1844, work having commenced in December of the previous year, eight years after the re-founding of the Diocese of Ripon in 1836.
Designed by Mr A H Cates of York, the Church was built at the instigation of the eldest son of the celebrated William Wilberforce whose family still live in Markington. It was appropriate that the address in the occasion of the Consecration was given by Archdeacon Wilberforce who afterwards became Bishop of Oxford and then Winchester.
The following account of the Consecration and brief description of the Church was contributed by the Vice-Chancellor of the Diocese at that time:
“On Tuesday, 29th October, 1844, the new Church at Markington in the Parish of Ripon was consecrated. The Church, a most beautiful little structure in the early decorated style is dedicated to St Michael the Archangel. It is built on a very commodious and picturesque site. The plan consists of Chancel with vestry on the North side, Nave and South Porch, the Western Gable being surmounted by a belfry pierced for two bells. Entering the nave from the porch, on the left-hand stands the stone font of chaste design. The seats are all low and open – in fact the old “stall” of correct and ecclesiastical pewing. On the South side of the chancel arch is placed a double reading desk of stone, and on the opposite side the pulpit, also of stone with access from the vestry. (The reading desk of stone and the stone pulpit have since been replaced by lectern and pulpit of oak.) The Chancel is well developed. In the usual place stands a stone Altar, the table having the fine crosses patee incised. In the South wall are two Sedilia and a piscine and on the North side a credence-table. The East window of three lights is a copy of the well-known and remarkable window at Dunchurch in Gloucestershire, it is the work of William Wailes whose work may also be seen in Ripon Cathedral. The side windows are lancets with cusped heads. The Church possesses two bells cast in 1844 by Mears of London both having latin inscriptions which respectively translate as “I gather the clergy, I praise the true God, I call the people” and the second bell “Lament the dead, I drive away pestilence, I adorn Festivals”.
On 12th February 1962 a severe gale caused considerable damage to the roof of the Church and on 16th February a further gale brought the Bellcote down destroying the bells and damaging the roof still further. The bells were recast and hung in a new and slightly lower bellcote.
The re-dedication taking place on Palm Sunday, 7th April 1968.
On 10th September 1973, a fire destroyed the vestry and its contents causing damage to the Sanctuary roof. The repaired and redecorated Church, together with new furnishings, was rededicated by the then Bishop of Ripon on Sunday 15th September, 1974.
In 1993 the Organ was rebuilt at considerable cost.
In 1994 the oil fired central heating boiler was replaced with a gas fired installation.
MARKINGTON CHURCH INCUMBENTS
The Revd J J Prickett 1844 – 1848
The Revd J S Tute 1848 – 1895
The Revd J Y Davids 1896 – 1897
The Revd S H Ogle 1897 – 1898
The Revd S A Brooking 1899 – 1905
The Revd J Hemstock 1905 – 1925
The Revd G Beer 1925 – 1949
The Revd G R Taglis 1950 – 1951
The Revd W Steel 1952 – 1959
The Revd N W Alexander 1961 – 1969
The Revd L Halstead 1969 – 1973
The Revd S D Askew 1973 – 1994
The Revd S J Talbott 1997 – 2001
The Revd D W Eyles 2001 – 2005
The Revd M L Willis 2005 – 2008
The Revd Paul Cressall 2010 – 2013
The Revd Paul Harford 2013 - Present
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English Heritage Description
A Grade II Listed Building
SE 26 NE MARKINGTON WITH WALLERTHWAITE
WESTERNS LANE (west side)
5/69 Church of Saint Michael
Church of Saint Michael. 1844 by A H Cates for Mr Wilberforce, in early Gothic style, with restoration 1968. Gritstone, Westmorland slate roof. 5- bay nave with bell-cote at west end and south porch, bay 2. Lower-roofed 2- bay chancel with vestry on north side. Porch has pointed arch with hood-
mould surmounted by statue of Saint Michael in a niche. Board door with strap hinges. Trefoil-headed lancet windows to nave and chancel. Stepped diagonal buttresses, ashlar copings with crosses to gable finials.
Interior: fine roof structure : raised crucks on corbels in nave, and a type of waggon roof with scissor braces to chancel. The 3-light east window was designed by William Wailes and the west window is a memorial to John Stanley Tute, the first vicar, who died in 1897. The bellcote and west end of the nave roof were damaged by gales in 1962 and rebuilt by 1968. The vestry was destroyed by fire in 1973 when the Sanctuary roof was also damaged. The church was rededicated in 1974.