Spanby had
a small medieval stone church on a slightly different site. Old prints from the
early 19th-century show a rather sad looking building with what seems like a
telegraph pole at the west end, holding up the church bell.
Small wonder then that later in the 19th-century the parish church was taken
down and rebuilt on a new site nearby. In 1881 this red brick composition in
the Early English style by Burrell and Harrison must have seemed very advanced.
It is nicely detailed with stone coped gable and steep plain tiled roofs. The
narrow lancet style windows have coloured glass in them.
The chancel is in the form of a curved apse, the roof sweeping elegantly around
the curve. At the other end a stone platform is all that is left of the gabled
timber bellcote.
The churchyard is in good repair and part of it used as the Spanby Bowling
Club. This church was made redundant in 1973 and now serves as a resplendent
garden shed. It has, however, planning permission to convert it into a house,
so in future years its form may change to accommodate this new use.
HOME