St Alkmund

A church at Blyborough is mentioned in the Domesday Book as being held jointly by the Bishop of Durham, Gocelin (son of Lanbert), and Geoffrey de Wirce. The unusual dedication to St Alkmund may owe its origin to the Mercian connexion of Geoffrey de Wirce. St Alkmund's is set in a delightful churchyard full of wild flowers, sloping down to the ornamental lake of Blyborough Hall. Although early 13th century, by the later 18th century the church was repeatedly presented as out of repair and in the 1770s the tower was rebuilt and the north aisle and part of the chancel were removed. In the churchyard rests Bertram Lauard of Selby (1853-1918) a former organist of Salisbury and Rochester Cathedral who composed the tune to various hymns. One such is 'Allelua Sing to Jesus'. He was the musical editor of Hymns Ancient & Modern, published in 1904. He wrote prolifically for the church, the concert hall and the theatre.

A very thin and not high, Georgian tower is decorated with reused medieval gargoyles. One of them is of an eagle with a womans face, looks straight at you as you walk up the churchyard path! Inside the church, much more is preserved of the ancient building, including a tall Early English three bay north arcade with circular piers, keeled responds, stiff leaf capitals and double chamfered arches. The chancel arch has keeled responds too. The arch to the north chapel is a little later. There is nail head decoration in the abaci of the filleted responds and bold ogee arched tomb recesses between the chancel and north chapel and in the north wall of the north chapel. In the north chapel is a font of octagonal fragments reassembled from a Perpendicular font. The foot has leaf motifs. Also in the north chapel is an Anglo Saxon sculptural fragments. In the north chapel can be seen a memorial effigy of a priest, Robert Conyng who died in 1434. Within the church there is a marble tablet that was unveiled inside the church in 1921 in order to list those who had fallen in the First World War along with a similar tablet to commemorate four members of the Luard family who also died. The free standing war memorial that relates to these tablets stands in the churchyard.