West Witton Church

St Bartholomew's Church at the North Yorkshire village of West Witton is a pleasant, if ordinary-looking English parish church. There were three features which stood out to me. The first is the tower, which I found somewhat difficult to date. The lower window moulds are Tudor, while the higher ones looked medieval, which seemed to be the wrong way round, as the higher parts of towers are typically of a newer style than that upon which they are built.

The second was a large, fat head, carved into the gable of the porch. The latter is only Victorian, but the carving appears to be much older, and may have been a portly monk or friar well known to the medieval parishioners, and whose image the sentimental Victorian ‘restorers’ elected to save.

The third is a veritable treasure, for it is a carved, stone cross, set into the wall above the pulpit. Historians date it to the late 700s when that interlace design was fashionable. It is one-sided and remarkably unweathered, which indicates it was intended to be displayed on the inside wall of a church, rather than one found outside, which was more common. When medieval builders enlarged the structure (perhaps in the 12th century) they discarded it, presumably considering it terribly old fashioned. Victorian re-builders discovered it and reincorporated it into the current church wall.

Ecclesiastical fashions wax and wane, such as the design of the tower, and church leaders come and go, such as our fat-faced friend. So, too, the prominence of the Cross in our theology, worship and devotional life. Despite its fundamental nature, its primacy is in a constant state of ebb and flow. The West Witton cross was erected, then hidden, and then re-erected, which seems to be emblematic of the history of the wider Church. Also at St Bartholomew's is a huge Bible sitting on the lectern. The more we read our Bibles, the more we understand the centrality of the Cross and Christ crucified. In turn, the Cross helps us to understand that God keeps His promises regarding salvation.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18, NKJV

Jesus, keep me near the cross,
There a precious fountain;
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calv'ry's mountain.

In the cross, in the cross
Be my glory ever,
Till my ransomed soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

-Fanny Crosby, 1869