Ryedale’s Street Parishes in the spotlight

THE beauty of Ryedale on a sunny day is that you can drive for miles without seeing another soul. Try the lanes between Great Edstone and Butterwick, or take a gentle saunter to Terrington for a bygone glimpse of the days when motoring was a pleasure.

However, there is a stretch of road between Malton and Helmsley that is anything but empty. Here you happen upon five villages in quick succession, each with a church, most with a pub.

Unusual you might say? In fact it is believed to be unique. This is the old Roman road, known as The Street, and the village parishes dotted along seven miles of it are known as Ryedale’s Street Parishes. This has been a centre of Christianity for more than a thousand years.

No one really knows why such a close cluster of settlements sprang up; maybe the Roman road continued to be more important than we thought. One thing is for sure, they are a curious mix of Saxon and Danish which suggests the tribes lived in greater harmony than some history books would have us believe.

The Street Parishes comprise Amotherby, Appleton-le-Street, Barton-le-Street, Hovingham, and Slingsby, together with Coneysthorpe and Scackleton further out. But the villages are tucked away off the main road so we only get the occasional tantalising glimpse of them as we drive past, unaware of the little piece of England time forgot to alter.

Some things have changed though. In the past, each village had its own priest but today the Rev Beryl Bowes is Rector for them all. Something she says is a real privilege. “This is a timeless part of the country and I think being so beautiful, North Yorkshire evokes a sense of spirituality. I feel that Appleton Church particularly is very special, both inside and the churchyard.”

All the villages are very separate and now with the introduction of parish plans, I think they are even more aware of their individuality.”

The Rector says the village names give some of their history away, but not all. Research suggests some of the churches may have been built on pagan or Roman sites.

And further clues lie at Amotherby with its church referred to as the Chapel of the Blessed Helen of Amotherby. Helen was the mother of Constantine who was proclaimed Roman Emperor at York in 306AD. Did she visit Britain? Could she have lived here?

No clues from the earliest building, which was completely rebuilt in the 1870s. But during the reconstruction several ancient burials were discovered under the church and Anglo-Viking cross-heads found here dating from the ninth century suggest the site’s antiquity.

An excerpt from an 1835 survey records Amotherby as a “chapelry in the parish of Appleton le Street, containing 249 inhabitants. A school is endowed with land producing about £20 per annum, in which, forty boys are educated, but only six of them are free scholars”.

Today the original school has long been converted into a house but there is a thriving primary school which acts as a hub for the Street Parish villages.

Parish clerk Barbara Borrett moved in 35 years ago and quickly learned what was expected of newcomers. Family ties are long standing here, so too she says is the weekly routine.

“Monday you washed, Tuesday was ironing day, Wednesday you gave the house a good clean, Thursday was baking day. Friday was a bit of tidying up and then Saturday you all went to Malton, where you met everyone else and had a cup of tea.”

Sunday was church day.

When Barbara first arrived she didn’t bake and got raised eyebrows in response to her question, where is the nearest Sainsbury’s?

“They said, ‘Don’t you bake?’ so I asked what they meant. ‘Bake cakes and pies’ they replied. No I didn’t actually, so I had to learn, but you didn’t dare do it on any day other than Thursday, or you’d be hung drawn and quartered.”

It’s a tradition that is still going strong in most of the villages, although Barbara admits she does now get her cakes from Morrisons.

These days, many of Amotherby’s newcomers have no idea of their adoptive village’s history and traditions, but 88-year-old Frank Fairweather knows the place better than most. He used to work on the land, like most people here, and remembers when the railway went through the village. Passengers had stopped coming by 1930, apart from excursions, but there was still a small goods yard that could accommodate 70 wagons.

“Once a year the children were taken on an excursion to Scarborough,” he says. “On one occasion Mr King [an important local farmer] was late, he was having trouble tying his boot laces, so the train had to wait. That wouldn’t happen now would it?”

By 1964, this section was the last part of the Thirsk and Malton line to close and the Street Parishes lost an important link with the outside world.

But there was always the bus and, for now, there still is. Marian Hardy, the parish clerk for Barton-le-Street, uses it to go to Malton and she often shares a seat with Mr Fairweather.

Marian moved to Barton in 1965 and says in those days it took a while to be accepted. Things are different now and with more people having cars, the villages are less isolated but Marian says the parishes have always retained their own identity.

“As an incomer it was important not to tread on the wrong toes. But once our children arrived we became more integrated.

“These are proper old-fashioned villages with decent values and a sense of community. A good example is people take it in turns to collect the newspapers from Slingsby and leave them at the school yard for the rest of us to collect.

“It’s quite a meeting point in the mornings.”

Barton-le-Street’s parish church of St Michael and All Angels was built in 1160 and, in common with most churches in the Street Parishes, was rebuilt in the nineteenth century.

But you would be wrong to dismiss it as a Victorian confection. Inside is one of the finest collections of Norman sculpture you will find anywhere. Many items are believed to have been carved by masons who worked at York Minster and the astonishing original capitals to the restored chancel arch are among the best of their kind.

Sandwiched between Barton and Amotherby you will find the only church along The Street to escape the zeal of Victorian restorers.

All Saints, Appleton-le-Street is an absolute gem, with one of the finest Anglo-Saxon towers in the north of England. It’s the highest church in the Street Parishes and on Ascension Day Rev Bowes conducts a service in the grounds, turning to bless each of the villages in turn.

All Saints Slingsby is next to the ruined castle and a short stroll from the picture postcard village green with its maypole.

A local story tells of a young lad who took his pet jackdaw and magpie to church. It would perch on the pulpit and occasionally fly down to peck at the Rector’s notes during the sermon.

When a woman in the congregation urged him to do something about the disruption, the Rector replied: “Madam, how do we know that there won’t be magpies and jackdaws in Heaven?”

The last stop is Hovingham, an estate village and for the first time one built along the road. It is quintessentially English with handsome cottages and a tea room by the river.

This parish has the church of All Saints’ at Hovingham and the daughter church of St George Scackleton. The tower at All Saints’ was probably built during the reign of Edward the Confessor and over the doorway is a stone carved with a cross. Pre-dating the Saxon building, it’s one of the oldest surviving Christian relics in Ryedale.

The most striking feature in the simple chancel is a free-standing Viking Cross.

Originally it would have stood high on a round column to mark the open-air spot where Christian worship took place before the ruined church was rebuilt in Saxon times.

Our journey is over. It would have taken ten minutes without stopping, but when you have so much to see in such a short distance, it pays to take your time and investigate this fascinating seven-mile stretch.