If you park in the pay and display car park on Church Street, you might well be parking on the site of the church of St. Michael. We used to come on holiday to the town in the early 70s, and I'm sure I remember this building from then, a quite formidable, impenetrable looking fortress of Christianity overlooking the harbour.
The Church of England Heritage record describes it thus: The interior of the church is somewhat dark in spite of the sky-lights because these are small and the other windows have a fair amount of stained glass.
The new church of St. Michael, at Whitby, erected chiefly on behalf of sick and infirm persons, unable easily to ascend the flight of 194 steps leading to the old church, was opened last week. The foundation stone was laid on 29th September last year. It is in the early English style, 81 feet long by 40 feet wide, internally, with a chancel 20 feet wide by 12 feet deep.
The entrances are at the east end, on each side of the chancel. The roof is open and of a single span, with dressed timbers, stained oak : the side walls are about 20 feet in height, and the apex of the roof nearly 50 feet from the floor. The ends of the building are finished with gables, and on the west gable is placed a bell turret.
At the west end are three lancet windows of equal height (about 20 feet) and at the east three others, the central one being somewhat higher. As this church is literally confined by contiguous buildings, no lights could be obtained in the side walls. The sittings are pews fitted with doors, and open benches. There is a small gallery for children, and the entire accommodation is for about 700 persons.
As the situation precluded the use of buttresses externally, piers have been advanced inside the building, dividing it into nine compartments, from which the ribs of the roof are made to spring. The exterior is entirely of stone : the interior lining is of brick, and the church will be heated with hot water.
Messrs. Atkinson, of York, were the architects, and Mr. Gideon Smales had the contract for the joiners’ work; Mr. Thos. Carter the contract as mason, completed under the hon. secretary, Mr. A. Stephenson ; Mr. Jos. Brown the contract as glazier, and Mr. W. Stonehouse as painter. A font has been presented by the Archdeacon of York, and an oak pulpit by Mr. W. Cavillier, of Whitby.
St. Michael's was demolished in 1977. I've never seen a photograph of the interior of this church, so if anyone has any recollections of being in the building, please share. |
| This picture can't have been taken long before the church was demolished, after which the car park was extended quite considerably. |
At the start of this video there's a good view of the church, then a shot which pans down the side of the harbour and rests on some fihsermen with a lovely view of St. Michael's overlooking the water.
No comments:
Post a Comment