Launch 360° virtual tour of Yarm Parish Church

Services at Yarm Parish Church

Sunday  8.00 Holy Communion (BCP)  and 10.00 Sung Eucharist with sermon

Monday 10.00 Pram Service (excl. Bank Hols.) for children newborn to age 4 and their carers

Wednesday 9.30  Holy Communion (BCP)  the church is open on Wednesdays from 10.00 - 4PM.

Clergy and Readers
The Revd Simon Gurd, Rector  Tel: 781115
The Revd Peter Elliott, Curate  Tel: 652698
The Revd Clay Roundtree, Curate  Tel: 787322
Mr David Rigg, Reader  Tel: 781030
Mrs Avril Rhodes, Reader  Tel: 780323

Church Wardens
Mrs Pam Stredwick  Tel: 888803
Mr John Bancroft  Tel: 354919 

find out more about yarm parish church on wilipedia - St_Mary_Magdalene

A Brief History

The present church building is the third to stand on this site. The first church to be built here was Saxon. This would have been built of wood, so no traces of it remain. In a way all the material evidence of its existence is a piece of inscribed stone which was found in Yam in 1877 by Canon Greenwell of Durham, and was being used as a mangle weight. The stone which measures 660mm high by 330mm wide by 184mm deep is part of a sandstone grave cross and bears the inscription:

 - + orate PRO truMBERENCT + SAC+ ALLA +
SIGNUM AEFTER HIS BREODERA YSETAE

The small letters indicate gaps in the inscription. The first line is in Latin and translates as "Pray ye for Trumberhet, Bishop. The second line is in Latin and the old North English tongue and translates as “Alla this-memorial after his brother set," or more familiarly, “Alla set up this memorial to his brother."

The stone is now known as the "TRUMBERT SHAFT" and is kept in Durham Cathedral library.

It is known that Trumberhet was consecrated as Bishop of Hexham in 681 AD but was driven south by the Picts a few years later. He was succeeded as Bishop of Hexham in 684 AD by Eata. The date of his death is not known but clearly he was buried at Yarm late in the 7th or early in the 8th century. Since he was buried here there was a graveyard, and if there was a graveyard, there was a church.

The First Stone

Church The remains of the second church, the first stone one built by the De Brus family in the latter half of the 12th century are rather more substantial as they form part of the west end and the base of the tower of the present building. As the west end measures 39 feet (10 meters) in width the nave of that building would have been about 33 feet (8 meters) wide, about half the width of the present building. In the course of the six centuries for which this building served Yarm it would of course have been adapted and altered many times. A tower was added in the 13th century but appears for some reason to have been rebuilt in the 15th century. At one time the tower may have been open to the nave as there is an archway, now infilled, springing from corbels in what is now the third storey of the tower, and visible only from within the tower. The top of this arch, which is in the pointed (or Gothic) style, not the rounded Norman one gives a good indication of the roof height of the building.

The Georgian Church

In 1728 the Norman church was so badly damaged by fire that it had to be rebuilt. The cost of the damage was put at £1,772 (no, this is not a misprint! But it is some indication of how prices have changed in die last 270 years), and this was raised by public subscription. A "Brier granted by George 11 allowed collections to be made at churches throughout the land to help finance the rebuilding. This was so successful that this Georgian church was completed by 1730 re-using much of the stone from the earlier building.

The last major addition to the structure of the building was in 1906 when the choir vestry was built by Mr. J W Todd of Liverpool in memory of his parents James and Mary Todd. James Todd had been a Churchwarden at Yarm for a total of 23 years, including a continuous spell of 20 years from 1848 to 1868.

The interior of the Church

The nave and chancel are under one roof which is supported by two arcades of elliptical arches, built on 70 cm square pillars. These are built of brick and are plastered. The arches at the West End continue beyond the screening wall and are braced by the tower at the West End and by the side walls of the Sanctuary at the East End.

There are five major window openings in the south wall, two of which also contain doors, four in the north wall and three in the east, one of which is partly obscured by the organ. The Sanctuary window is framed with Corinthian pilasters and entablature. 5 plus 4 plus 3 gives 12 the number of Christ's disciples, an example of how Church architects incorporate symbolism into their designs!

The Lady Chapel was refurbished in memory of Lesley Leech. It was dedicated on the 20th November 2003, by the Archbishop of York, The Most Reverend & Right Honourable David Michael Hope.

The Mitre in the sanctuary is of Tutor origin. It was given back to the Church and restored by Geraldine Burnett. Up until 1865 the Rector of Yarm was the Archbishop, and the Miter represented his presence as Vicar of the parish. This Miter survived the fire of 1730.

Stained Glass

The windows in the South aisle have subjects taken from the Old Testament and are, going from East to West — God's testing of Abraham, (See Genesis Chapter 22 for the story) -Moses receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus Chapter 19), with a small window depicting him being found in the bulrushes (Exodus Chapter 2) - and the Prophet Elijah calling down fire from Heaven (I Kings Chapter 18).

The windows in the North aisle and East End of the Church have New Testament subjects. Starting with the one nearest the West End they are Christ's Baptism, The Crucifixion, Christ the Lover of children and Christ the Good Shepherd, The Resurrection (partly obscured by the organ), the Last Supper and The Ascension.

In the West End of the Nave there are two small round windows. The one near the door has a dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit and the other a Lamb carrying a flag symbolizing Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. This symbol is without doubt the origin of the "Lamb and Flag" pub signs.

In the Choir Vestry there is a 20th century window depicting the three Mary’s meeting with an angel at the Tomb on the first Easter Day.

The large Moses window is the oldest and by far the best of the glass in the Church. It was executed by William Peckitt of York for William Challoner in 1768 and was originally in the Chancel, but was moved to it present position in 1879. Other work by William Peckitt can be found in York Minster, Lincoln Cathedral and New College chapel (Oxford) to name but a few of the many locations. According to Marcus Whiffen, author of 'Stuart and Georgian Churches', Peckitt was the best glass painter of his generation.

Other Decorations

Above the door to the vestry is an oil painting depicting the Holy Family with the young John the Baptist) by an unnamed artist of the XVI century Italian school. This was given by a former rector Rev C H B Barker. Near the Ascension window there is a framed print of "The Boy Christ disputing with the Doctors in the Temple", which was presented to the church in 1925.

On the left of the Ascension window is an old terra-cotta plaque depicting the Virgin and Child. This was picked up in the ruins of a cathedral in France during the First World War by the writer the late E V Lucas, and was given to the Church by the late Mrs. Goggs. An opinion obtained in 1964 from the Victoria and Albert Museum was that it was a copy of a Della Robia plaque and dated from about 1800. Similar plaques are found in the cloisters of Tuscan monasteries.

Around the walls can be found framed prints of the Stations of the Cross and on the pillars of he arcades are plaques in the form of small shields bearing ecclesiastical signs or symbols. These were originally fixed as part of the 1920 restoration and have recently been redecorated in Gilt with Silver backgrounds.

Other contemporary works of art have been given in recent years and may be of interest.

The Furnishings

The present pews date from 1878, and replaced the Georgian Box Pews which were similar in appearance to the existing wainscoting. The wainscoting was in fact originally made from those pews, but much of it was replaced in 1954 due to woodworm damage. The pulpit, clerk's desk and choir stalls also date from 1878 and are in the Renaissance style. There is in the Sanctuary an oak chair which bears the date 1622, and a credence table which was made out of the old pulpit. The High Altar was made out of pews removed from the South aisle in 1940.

The Sanctuary Altar rails are the work of the noted Yorkshire craftsman Robert Thompson of Kilburn, and were given in 1948 in memory of Mary Clapham and her son; John Geoffrey kit killed in the Second World War The dedication, and the mouse, is carved on the Sanctuary side of the rails.

As part of the recent reordering of the interior, Holy Communion is now normally celebrated at a movable Altar located in front of the Choir stalls and the brass rails, which were formerly at the Sanctuary steps, are again in use.

The Font The Font was moved from the West End of the church to the East End of the South aisle as part of the ongoing reordering of the interior which started in 1988. Its new position is much better when baptisms take place during the main church services. It is an octagonal bowl of Tees marble with incurved sides on each of which is a blank shield. It is thought to have been fashioned in the 15th century so it survived the fire of 1728 which destroyed the previous church building.

The Organ

When the church was rebuilt in 1730 the organ was on a gallery at the West End of the church as is still the case in many churches e.g. Stockton Parish Church. At Yarm the organ gallery was removed in 1852 and the organ was moved to the east end of the north aisle. In 1910 the present organ was purchased from Thomas Hopkins and Son of York for the sum of ce480 plus the old organ, (which is believed to have been subsequently installed in what was then the Primitive Methodist Chapel). The organ, which is really 3 organs, great, swell and pedal has a total of 1134 pipes in 27 stops. In 1959 it was cleaned and rebuilt by Abbott & Smith of Leeds and equipped with pneumatic action throughout. It was overhauled and rebuilt again in 1989/90.

The True Lovers

Alongside the West wall, on the left of the entrance porch, set into the floor is the cover of a table tomb, carved with recumbent male and female figures, each about 1200mm tall. Such detail of the clothing as can be made out suggests that it is of the 14th century. There is also a figure of a bird, an eagle or falcon perhaps, carved above the male figure, and a seated figure with one hand raised in benediction carved above the female figure. The whole is much worn, and appears to have been reused because there is an inscription that appears to read "here lyeth the body and was buried the 2nd of July An. Do. 1638." It seems clear that the original occupants of the tomb would have been significant persons at least locally, and that the tomb would have been inside the previous church building, but who they were remains a mystery. In the absence of identification for them they became known as "The True Lovers", and the nearby riverside path became known as "The True Lovers' Walk" (or so the story goes).

The Church Silver

The church silver was made by Keith of London in 1867 partly from two silver chalices which had been given by Rev Henry Bradley in 1730. It is of a quasi-medieval design and consists of an alms dish, a flagon, a paten and a chalice.

The Tower and West End

On the ground floor of the Tower are the Clergy Vestry cum church office and the Sacristy, (where Priests' Vestments were kept).

The first floor is accessed via a spiral staircase from the short passage between the Clergy Vestry and the Choir Vestry/Meeting Room. It is used for storage purposes and contains the painted boards showing the Lords Prayer, The Creed, The Ten Commandments and Church Benefactors which used to be displayed in the Nave. There is also an oak chest dated 1708 which was formerly used to hold church records, surplices and silver.

The second floor is empty but is of interest because of the window which is a 'vessica piscens' or 'fish window'. The fish is of course an extremely early Christian symbol, as the initial letters of the Greek words for Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour, make up `ICTHUS' which is the Greek word for fish. The wall of this room also contains the pointed arch referred to earlier. The whole of the stone framework is quite badly weathered which indicates that for some centuries it was exposed to the elements and therefore is of an earlier. Period that the tower.

The third floor of the tower is of course the belfry. There is a ring of 3 bells. The oldest is dated 1664 weighs 150 Kg and is inscribed "Fili Dei Misere Mei". The next oldest is dated 1710, weighs 175 Kg and is inscribed "Sono Quantum Valeo". The smallest bell weighs 125 Kg, and was recast in 1861 because it had cracked. It bears the names of the Churchwardens in that year - James Todd and Wheatley Coates.

Because of insurance and security considerations, access to the vestry and tower needs to be arranged in advance with the Rector. The tower is not safe for small children or the infirm.

The exterior

Apart from the West End the exterior of the church is in the plain classic Georgian style. In the East End, where the original Venetian window was built up there is a memorial to a former curate of Yarm, Rev Thomas Dixon.

The best views of the restored West End, are obtained from the riverside footpath, True Lovers Walk.

Items to note are the 'vesica piscens' window mentioned above, which would have provided light to the interior of the nave in the first stone building, the traces of string courses going round the tower, and the small first floor windows, of which were cut from single stones.

The stonework of the Georgian part of the building is giving the congregation increasing cause for concern. It has lost its weather resisting properties as a result of age, air pollution and possibly acid rain, so damp now penetrates into the stone and when it freezes the surface crumbles away. To remedy this will cost a lost of money but if the building is to service to serve future generations it will have to be done.

In the Churchyard a modern headstone commemorates Tom Brown, 'The Valiant Dragoon' hero of the battle of Dettingen (1743). He died in 1746 and was buried in an unmarked grave. A short distance away is a stone marking the original site of the Free Grammar School of Thomas Conyers founded in 1590.

Gifts towards the continuing work of restoration are always welcome and may be placed in the slot in a yellow envelope, in the cupboard which is in front of you as you enter the church.

Thank you for visiting our church. We hope you found your visit interesting and of value.

*If you find any spelling mistakes or errors in this text please contact us and give details of paragraph and error. Thanks