St Mary
Nun Monkton, Yorkshire
A hermitage or small monastic settlement may have existed at Nun Monkton during the Anglian period in Northumbria, prior to the arrival of the Vikings, giving rise to the 'Monkton' part of the village's name.
Medieval church with a Norman font and window.
The windows are 13th century, with intersecting lancets and a later superb enlarged window at the east end depicting the crucifixion. An original piscina and mysterious paintings from an earlier era are among the treasures worth discovering. The tower, with battlements, houses six bells from 1667 whilst the gilded clock displays a telling message to the community and the world.
The marble reredos is beautifully carved showing the disciples on the Mount of the Ascension, as Christ leaves them with his Great Commission (Acts chapter 1). A huge marble sarcophagus containing the bones of the then Lord of the Manor, Christopher Tancred, was transferred from the chapel in Whixley Hall (a fine Elizabethan building over the high wall adjacent to the church) to a position under the tower in 1862.
A fine organ by Foster and Andrews of Hull, Benefaction Boards, a Roll of Honour of Whixley's war dead, plus a Roll of Honour from the village school dating back to the 1800s, along with many other memorials, remind us of the lives of the villagers down earlier centuries.
Whixley is a pretty village with shop and pub famous for its exceptionally good value carveries. Well worth a short diversion, one mile off the A59!