ST MICHAEL AND OUR LADY

In the grounds of Nostell Priory, Doncaster Road, Wragby, WF4 1QE

Contact: Reverend John Hadjioannou

Tel: 01977 610497 Email: john@minster.co.uk

The site of St Michael and Our Lady has been a site of Christian worship and devotion since the earliest time.  The Venerable Bede tells us that in advance of the Battle of Winwaed in 654 AD King Oswy spent the night in prayer with James the Hermit of Nostell. He promised that if he won the battle he would give his sister Hilda money to build an Abbey at Whitby, give his daughter Elfiida as a novice and provide proper dwellings for James the Hermit at Nostell. He killed Penda, won the battle and kept his promise.  The Augustinian Priory of St Oswald was founded in 1000 AD.  The penultimate prior, Alured Comyn, anticipating the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII,  had the church dedicated in Henry the VIII’s new Church of England. The church of St. Michael and our Lady was built in the perpendicular style of the time. Around the wall plate in the chancel is the inscription in Latin “Pray for the soul of prior Alured, who had this choir built in the ninth year of his priorate and in the year of our Lord 1533”. His portrait is to be seen in the central window above the Vestry door. The only addition to the original building is the vestry added in 1825.

The most notable feature of the church is its collection of antique Swiss Cabinet Glass. This is the world's largest collection of such glass outside Zurich. The subjects are both sacred and secular, including scenes of contemporary life, armorial bearings, sports, warfare, as well as beautiful pictures of scriptural stories and incidents from the lives of the Saints. The six middle lights of the east window contain English glass which bears the date 1534 and the glass over the vestry door is believed to be Flemish.

The wood-carving in the church is also of note.  The tower screen has two heads carved in the door. One appears to be a young Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon and it bears the date 1553.  The Pulpit panels exhibit seventeenth century Venetian craftsmanship in Turkish boxwood. They have an extraordinary three-dimensional quality, and portray scenes from the life of Christ.  Below the east window there is a very fine reredos of Flemish origin, a Pieta and the twelve represent the Apostles. The figure of an unknown saint, which supports the lectern, is one of three Flemish figures formerly incorporated in a combined reading desk and lectern.

The Hatchments above the chancel arches bear the arms of former members of the Winn family. On the north side of the chancel is the family pew, and on the north wall is a sculpture by Flaxman which is a memorial to Sir Rowland Winn, the fourth Baronet, who built the present Priory in the eighteenth century.  The chapel contains a memorial to John Winn by Chantry, and the family vault beneath the chancel is the final resting place of many members of the Winn family.

The Norman font was placed in the church in 1830 and came from the village church of Auburn near Bridlington when it became the victim of coastal erosion. The main door of the church is oak and very old, the oak siege bar which secured the door still rests in its wall slot.  A peal of six bells was put in the tower in 1786 to replace an older set of three. They were re-hung in 1956 and are in regular use.

It was once customary to have the Kings Arms painted on a board and placed in the church. After the execution of Charles I in 1649, Oliver Cromwell commanded that such boards should be destroyed and replaced by the Arms of Parliament. It appeared that Wragby parish meekly obeyed, but in fact the Kings Arms were hidden for eleven years and then, as the Church Wardens accounts show, it was repainted and replaced when Charles II was crowned in 1660. That very board now hangs now over the main door.  It was the Vicar of Wragby, the Reverend John Kay, who was in Pontefract Castle during the siege in the civil war and who was sent out to negotiate the terms of surrender with Cromwell's forces.

The inset near the vestry door dates from the 12th Century and depicts the Archangel Michael carrying Our Lady to Heaven. It was used to guide travellers in the forest to the safety of the Priory. The church possesses a set of Baptism, Burial and Marriage registers which go back to 1538 and are as early as any in England. These are stored for safe keeping in the county archives. Also intact, are the Church Wardens accounts which start in 1604.

One significant entry in the registers is the baptism of John “Longitude” Harrison in December 1693.  He was the son of the village carpenter and the inventor of the first accurate marine chronometer. Several of his clocks made entirely of wood are still in existence and one of these is in Nostell Priory.

The church has several important pieces of silver now kept at York Minster: a Dutch chalice and cover which was made at the Hague in 1700, a paten of the same date, a much larger paten of 1663 and a large flagon of 1787.

The church of St Michael and Our Lady continues to be a living place of worship with a welcoming Sunday congregation and a popular church for the celebration of significant events – especially weddings.

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