All Saints’ Church Sherburn in Elmet

Learn to ring the bells or visit to tower to find out more about the history of bell ringing. Sherburn church has 8 bells that are still rung by a small group of dedicated bell ringers. New ringers are always welcome.

All Saints Church Women’s Fellowship is a small group of ladies who meet on the first Wednesday of the month at 2.00pm in the Church Hall. We usually have a short act of worship, followed by tea, cake and biscuits with time for members to chat and have fellowship together. The meetings in March, July and November start a little earlier at 1.45pm with a Eucharist service in the church before continuing in the Church Hall. During the year we try to have luncheon or afternoon tea in a local establishment and hold several Coffee Mornings to raise funds for the church. We also donate money to various charities each year.

The Women’s Fellowship is a friendly group of ladies and new members are most welcome to join, so why not come along and try it out.

Feeling lonely, or just feel like a chat and a cup of tea? Come and enjoy the company of others in the Sherburn All Saints Church Hall taking place on the first Thursdsay of the month.

All are welcome. Contact Cora Allen on 01977 683172 or 07759 317544.

When Athelstan (c. 895-939), first King of all England, defeated the Danes at Brunanburg in 938, he gave the manors of Sherburn and Cawood to the Archbishop of York as a thank-offering. The King had founded a manor house on a site immediately to the north of the church, and Sherburn became a seat of the archbishops of York from this time until the middle of the 14th century. This explains the ecclesiastical importance and relative wealth of the original church (see below) and the exceptional size of the present church for its period.

Sherburn had been from earliest times a town of some significance, effectively the ‘capital’ of the area, with Sherburn providing the mother church for many smaller chapels. For travellers making their way to York, or soldiers on the march, Sherburn must have seemed a civilised oasis in the heavily wooded district, interrupted only by rough paths and tiny hamlets.

In 1086 the Domesday commissioners established the rateable value of Sherburn at £34, while that of Leeds was only £7.

There is clear evidence that the Saxon church which preceded the present building was a building of exceptional significance for its time. A flyleaf appended to the York Gospels in about 1020 (dated by the style of script) offers an inventory of the church’s property in Anglo-Saxon.

There is documentary evidence that this church survived the harrying of the north by William 1 after the Norman Conquest, but it was not large enough to meet the needs of a place as important as Sherburn then was, and between about 1100 and 1120 a fine Norman church was erected on the site. It consisted of an oblong nave and north and south aisles, all under a single, deeply pitched roof, with an apsidal sanctuary at the east end of the nave, and an apse at the end of each aisle (a balsa wood model in the south aisle illustrates how the church must have appeared externally). With its very low eaves it must have been rather like a huge tithe barn and very dark inside. This building is the direct ancestor of the present church, and although the church has been much modified and extended over the centuries, the oldest parts – the nave arcade and the lower part of the north aisle wall – have survived unaltered.

Did you know All Saints’ Church has its very own church hall? This versatile space is available to book for a variety of events, such as parties and celebrations, classes and meetings, community gatherings, and other private events. It has kitchen facilities available and good disabled access.

For bookings and further information, contact Angie Wilton on 01977 682122.