St Edith

One of 17 Sykes churches across the Yorkshire Wolds.

The most striking feature of St Edith's is the late Norman south doorway arch, paid for by Archbishop Grey (1216-1255). The Archbishop built a palace in this delightful Wolds village, in the process adding the 'Bishop' to the name. The remains of the palace can be seen as scanty earthworks in fields east of the church.

The doorway arch is quite remarkable, being decorated with traditional Norman themes, including beak heads. Christ is at the keystone position, while under him is a pagan being eaten head first by a demon. Other symbols include a mermaid (lust), moneybags (greed), and animals eating (gluttony). There is also a figure of David with the head of Goliath.

The Norman chancel is separated from the nave by a lovely ironwork screen and the chancel arch shows further Norman ornamentation including beakheads and zigzag carvings. The other notable feature of St Edith's is the tiled floor, which is a copy of the floor pattern in a section of the Vatican in Rome. It's a very striking geometric pattern, and when the light falls on it from the richly coloured Victorian stained glass windows the effect is mesmerising.