St. Mary's Chapel in Lead

A general view of the south elevation

By the time that I finished looking around the interior of All Saints’ church, in Barwick-in-Elmet, it had gone 3:15 pm and I had already seen enough to make my day out worthwhile; however, Norma, one of the volunteers showing people around the church, kindly offered to show me St. Mary’s chapel in Lead, which is maintained by the Churches Conservation Trust. 

Information on the Battle of Towton

Even though I still had the best part of 3 hours of travel time to get back to Treeton by public transport from Barwick-in-Elmet, I had already eaten a substantial meal at Khao Gaeng Thai and I gladly accepted her invitation. 

A general view

After a 10 minute drive east that took us into North Yorkshire, not far from the village of Saxton, I was very surprised to see that the chapel is set in the middle of a field - just a stone’s throw away from the site of the Battle of Towton, which took place in 1461 during the Wars of the Roses. 

A general view of the interior

Believed to be the chapel of the nearby manor house belonging to the Tyas family, whose position is determined by uneven ground between the chapel and Lead hall Farm to the east, Historic England date it to the C12, with buttresses added in the C13 and C14 Decorated Gothic windows. 

A general view of the interior

Archaeological excavations in 1931, to the east of the chapel, revealed the foundations of a larger church and a grave slab that dates back to at least the C10 and, in the interior, five inscribed slabs belonging to the Tyas family are laid in the floor. 

Grave slabs belonging to members of the Tyas family

Not wanting to take advantage of the opportunity that my hostess had provided for me, I just took a few quick snaps of this very interesting ecclesiastical building – to note its construction in Permian dolomitic limestone - before we returned to her car.

The west elevation