St Michael's Parish Church, New Malton  

The earliest record we have of St Michael’s Church is around 1150 AD when the Gilbertine Priory of Old Malton was given two new Norman Churches of St Michael & St Leonard in ‘New’ Malton as Chapels of Ease.

Why there were two Norman churches in Malton is something of a mystery. It has been suggested that Malton developed around two centres. A ‘Castle Centre’ where houses and people were dependant upon the castle; and a ‘Market Centre’ where people depended on the trade of the market. Therefore St Michael’s would be the town church in the Market Place and St Leonard’s the Church based on the castle. (St Leonard is often thought of as the patron saint of prisoners and captured soldiers).

The fact that Malton has two such central churches is unusual as most Yorkshire market towns have a single great church. This is almost certainly due to the existence of the Priory Church at Old Malton, whose monks would have preferred to keep two small subservient Churches rather than one large rival church.

Throughout the history of St Michael’s there have been several stages of reconstruction and restoration, however parts of the original Norman building do remain, notable the pillars and the capitals of the North Aisle and the capitals of the pillars in the South Aisle.

The Font is of unusual design and is probably as old as the church. Small traces of colour show that in medieval times it had been painted.

Apart from this everything that looks Norman – the round headed windows in the aisles and the clerestory and the big Chancel Arch belong to the 19th century.

The Tower is the next oldest part of the church and was added in the 15th century. An old painting of the Market Place in the 1830s shows the Tower with a small low door, a square window with a clock above, and the top of the Tower surrounded by an iron railing instead of the present battlements.

The present door and the window above are 19th century. (The picture also shows the town ‘shambles’ or the butchers shops right up against the north aisle windows).

Another painting from the 1830s shows the inside of the church with a large east window of perpendicular style and period. The church has a fine gaily coloured ceiling and a communion table with a crimson covering. The Chancel Arch is a smaller than the present one, and above it is fixed the Royal Arms on a great board. On the south aisle is a fine Georgian looking Pulpit, and low unfussy box pews in the aisle. On the north side was the Gallery, which must have gone round three sides of the church, and to this day marks can still be seen where the beams went. The Gallery at the west end contained the Organ and seats for the Choir.

The first restoration took place in 1858. The present day west doorway was built, the masonry restored, and the Norman type windows inserted in the aisles and clerestory and the east windows in the Chancel.

We have a photograph showing the inside of the Church after this was done, and the Pews are the ones used today. The brass Lectern is in the centre under the Chancel Arch, and there is a smaller Pulpit on the south side. The Font was at the west end of the Church in the centre aisle.

In 1883 a more thorough restoration took place. On the north side the Chancel was opened out to make the Organ chamber and Vestry, and on the south side it was opened out to make what is now the Lady Chapel. The Galleries were all taken out and the present roof put in. 

Around 1910 a new Pulpit was installed. New Choir Stalls and the Lady Chapel furnishings were built in the 1950s. These were made by the famous ‘mouseman’ of Kilburn, Robert Thompson, and three of his well known trademarks can be seen around the chancel. Two are easy to find, but the third is more difficult. 

In 1966 the south walls and windows were rebuilt. 

Change and restoration is on-going and the fine door and porch were added in 1987, manufactured and installed by local craftsmen, a fine example of how well past and present can blend together.

In 1990 a new Altar was introduced designed by Ron Sims, a well known Church Architect of York. That, together with the altar rails and wrought iron candlesticks were again made by local craftsmen. On Easter Day 2000 an Altar Book Stand of the same design was dedicated. 

2002 saw the completion of the building of a new Vestry at the south east corner of the church, and the refurbishment of the Lady Chapel for multi-purpose use. 

Also during 2002 extensive repairs to the Chancel stonework at the east end of the Church were carried out. 

In 2003 the step was removed at the front entrance to make disabled access easier, and a Servery installed at the back of Church. 

The old church has seen many changes, and more must come in the future: in 2007 the crumbling stone of the tower is being replaced by harder masonry.

The two manual pedal organ, built by Harrison & Harrison of Durham in 1907, was originally installed in St Leonard's Church, Malton. It was moved to St Michael’s in the early 1950s to replace an earlier instrument. Equipped with mechanical action, it is a fine example of the builder’s work. In 1974 it was cleaned and overhauled by J W Walker & Sons when a pneumatic action serving the pedal organ was electrified, and a pedal reed substituted for a open wood. A further major overhaul is planned within the next couple of years.

The Church Bells consist of two which are dated 1676 and a third (Meers & Stainbeck) dated 1970. There is also a small Sanctus Bell, which is reputed to be ancient. The Tower is not considered to be safe enough for the bells to be swung, and so they are sounded by clappers from fixed headstocks.

The earliest glass in the church is the bold design in the Lady Chapel to the south of the High Altar which dates from the period of the 1858 restoration. 

In the Nave the oldest glass is the window of the ‘Raising of Lazarus’ in the North Aisle. Followed by the copy of Holman Hunt’s very famous ‘Light of the World’ picture in the South Aisle. The fifth window depicting the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ is generally thought to be the best glass in the Church and dates back to 1896. ‘The Presentation of the Infant Jesus’ is by the font and is in memory of Dr Colby, who died in 1912. It is a fine example of its time, and has a moving inscription below it.

The glass at the east end of the Church and in the tower dates from the restoration of 1883.

The shields of the Lords of the Manor can be seen in several windows around the church. These start in the north west corner, after the Norman Conquest with Tyson, and end with Fitzwilliam in the south west corner by the Font. They were formerly set in some rather garish glass and filled the clerestory, thus making the church very dark. They were put in their present position and set in glass in 1966.

The Victorians used a lot of yellow coloured glass, which has now been removed wherever possible. This, together with the dark pitch-pine pews, had the intention of giving ‘a dim religious light’. Lighter coloured woodwork would seem more natural to us today, as can be seen in the Altar, Altar Rails, Choir Stalls, Lady Chapel and the entrance porch.

Pictures of today's St Michael's can be found here.