St Helen
Marr, Yorkshire
Marr featured in the Domesday survey of 1086. Seventy Roman coins were recently found in the area which provide evidence of the boundary line which Marr formed at the Roman Rickneild Street.
There was a church here before Domesday, possibly built by the Saxon ‘Alsi’, who was lord of the manor at the time of Edward the Confessor.
The present church is largely Norman and originally consisted of a nave and chancel. Later the tower and north aisle were added. The Thellusson family restored and extended the church in the 19th century, adding a south aisle, chapel and porch.
The original Brodsworth Hall stood near the church and is known to have been occupied as early as 1665. The Hall is now owned by English Heritage.
The tower is mainly 12th century with a pointed arch into the nave. There are three bells dating from 1553, 1630 and 1792. There are two medieval carved stone coffin lids against the west wall of the tower, one with a floriated cross and a sword with a serpent twisted around it.
In the west corner of the north aisle are three more carved stone coffin lids, one with a carving of a pair of shears or scissors, which indicates it was for the grave of a woman.
The pulpit dates from the 17th century. It is a magnificent piece of carving, decorated with garlands, foliage and cherubs. The date of 1699 is carved on the front panel.
The beautifully carved rood beam features the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist on either side of Jesus on the cross. In the chancel is a memorial stone to Henrietta Drummond, wife of Robert Drummond, Archbishop of York. She died in 1766 and the stone also commemorates her two daughters.
There are tombstones in the churchyard from the 16th and 17th centuries. The first recorded burial in Brodsworth was that of Robert Hall on 21st February 1538. There is also a record of the burial of two soldiers in 1664, perhaps the result of a skirmish during the Civil War.