St Peter and St Paul's Church, Drax explained

St Peter and St Paul's Church is the parish church of Drax, North Yorkshire, a village in England.

The church was founded during the reign of Henry I of England by William Paynel, who also founded Drax Priory.[1] It was expanded in 1230, for Letticia, Baroness of Drax. In the 14th century, the north aisle was widened, with a chapel added. There were further additions in the 15th and 16th centuries, and again in the 19th century. It was restored in the 1930s, by Charles Nicholson.[2] The church was grade I listed in 1986.

The church has a nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a south porch, a chancel with a north vestry, and a west steeple. The steeple has a tower with three stages, quoins, bands, lancet windows, trefoil openings, two-light bell openings, a corbel table with gargoyles on the angles, and a recessed octagonal spire. The clerestory contains Perpendicular windows, continuous hood moulds, gargoyles, and decorated embattled parapets. The porch is gabled, and contains an opening with a pointed arch, and seven re-set corbel heads, a moulded hood on foliate capitals and chamfered jambs. The reset figures are said to have come from Drax Priory.[3] Inside the church is a 12th-century tub font, a piscina, carved bench ends from the 1540s, a late 17th-century altar rail, and several 18th-century memorials.

See also

References

  1. Book: Page . William . A History of the County of York: Volume 3 . 1974 . Victoria County History . London . 21 July 2024.
  2. Web site: Parish records of Drax . University of York . 21 July 2024.
  3. Web site: St Peter and St Paul, Drax, Yorkshire, West Riding . The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain & Ireland . 21 July 2024.