<< Our Photo Pages >> St Helen's Church (Bilton-in-Ainsty) - Ancient Cross in England in Yorkshire (North)
Submitted by Sunny100 on Friday, 29 April 2011 Page Views: 9372
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: St Helen's Church (Bilton-in-Ainsty) Alternative Name: St Helen's Crosses, The Bilton CrossesCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 3.466 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Yorkshire (North) Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Wetherby Nearest Village: Bilton-in-Ainsty
Map Ref: SE476504
Latitude: 53.947522N Longitude: 1.276247W
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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Anne T visited Anglo Saxon Crosses, St. Helen's Church, Bilton-in-Ainsty: We’d tried to visit this church before, but because there was no vicar in post, the church was kept locked. Emails to the York Diocese weren’t helpful.
Knowing we were coming down to Ingelby Arncliffe again, I checked on A Church Near You, and have been corresponding with the vicar, the Reverend Richard Battersby. In the last communication I had with him, he said he had set up a mother and toddler group on a Thursday morning, which met between 10 am and 11.30am. An email to enquire if it was OK to call in after this (so as not to clash with the M&T group) and drop the key off after had no reply, so I phoned and spoke to his mother, who told me the Bishop had sent him to an event so he wasn’t around.
There were three crosses in the small chapel at the south-east end of the church, next to a very interesting set of mass dial/scratch clocks and old graffiti. There was the lovely effigy of a woman in the sanctuary.
I waited until the M&T group had finished before taking photos of the wheelhead cross at the west end of the church. Even though it was a dull day, this proved difficult to get a good image of because the light streamed in above it. In the end, I had to use the flash to compensate. I was unable to get to the notes as the group was closing up and moving everything out of the church, so I grabbed a guide book, thanked them for letting me ‘barge in’ and quietly left.
The Rev. Battersby also recommended visiting Healaugh Church, although we didn’t have time today. Next stop was Bardsey near Leeds.
St Helen's church at Bilton-in-Ainsty is 5 miles east of Wetherby on the B1224 York road. The church is located at the northern side of the village. Inside the church are four fragments of Anglo-Saxon crosses and and also two crude sheela-na-gigs.
Embedded into the west wall of the chancel part of a carved Anglo-Norse cross from the 10th century. And there are three fragments of an incomplete Saxon/Norse cross in the south chancel. These three fragments were discovered in the wall during restoration work in 1869, and are decorated with various figures and interlacing; they probably date from the 9th-11th century.
In the vestry on a windowsill two crudely carved sheela-na-gigs, one damaged, are quite ancient and are apparently twins. They used to be covered up because they were considered to be quite vulgar.
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Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.