There was possibly an Anglo Saxon church here, evidenced by some early foundation work, and the discovery of a fragment of an Anglo-Saxon cross, now displayed to the right of the high altar.

Whilst the tower has the usual diagonal buttresses, crenellated parapet and crocketted pinnacles, it is more remarkable for its extremely unusual oriel window at the same level as the ringing chamber.

The chancel was extensively re-ordered in the 1980s, at which time the pre-Reformation altar stone was discovered buried in the floor of the sanctuary.

The 1959 tower screen by Martin Dutton, the ‘Lizard man’, was re-fashioned as the utility room door at the west end of the north aisle.

It bears the shields of the Province of York (crossed keys), the Diocese of Wakefield (fleur de lys) and of Monk Bretton Priory (covered cups).

The tower (not open to the public) contains a full peal of eight bells, six re-cast after the Second World War (1946) and two added in 1979 by Taylor of Loughborough.

The present brown stain was added in the 19th century and may obscure medieval colour – it certainly makes the roof difficult to read.

The text quoted is Amos 8: v. 4–7, and it seems to follow the wording and spelling of the 16th century ‘Breeches’ Bible more closely than that of the later King James version.

The rood beam which supports images of Jesus on the cross with Mary and St. John the Evangelist, carved in the 1930s by Read of Exeter, was rescued from the redundant church at Gildersome near Leeds and was restored and fitted here in the 1980s by Peter Larkworthy.

A number of pieces of carved stone have obviously been re-used in the 14th- and 15th-century footings, including a section of an arch (possibly part of an earlier nave arcade) and, at the west end of the aisle, half a cross slab grave cover of c. 1300, utilised as the base of a buttress.

Similarly, a re-laying of the south nave floor in 2009 revealed that at least one of the pillars is supported by a re-used incised stone of substantial proportions.

The final window at the head of the north aisle is again by Clayton and Bell and was recently brilliantly restored by the York Glaziers Trust following severe vandal damage.