A PREVIOUSLY unknown Saxon church has been discovered in East Yorkshire.

St Peter and St Paul’s Church near Stamford Bridge, is now believed to be the oldest standing building in the East Riding of Yorkshire after a chance discovery.

When Peter Ryder, an independent buildings specialist, visited his old friend, the Rev Fran Wakefield, after her installation as Scrayingham’s vicar and took one look at the church’s north wall, he couldn’t believe what he saw.

“His jaw dropped open when he saw the north wall of the church,” said the vicar. “With its large stones and characteristic tiny windows, it was so different from the 13th century building he had been led to expect.”

After further research, Mr Ryder decided parts of the nave were Anglo-Saxon with stones reused from a Roman building, part of the roof of the junction of the nave and chancel and a carved figure built into the vestry wall was probably early Saxon. Up to his visit, the church was believed to be a Victorian rebuild and extension of a medieval building.