History of St John's Church, Sewerby
The History of St John the Evangelist, Sewerby
(Transcript of a short video history of the Church (c) 2021 by Sewerby Hall and Gardens. For more information about this history and the video, contact the Education Officer at Sewerby Hall)
He is dressed in the fashionable clothes of a gentleman, and seated in an armchair. There is a window to his right. Through the window, the church of St John the Evangelist, the parish church of Sewerby is visible in the distance. Yarburgh was the great builder of Sewerby Hall, he enlarged the house considerably and yet, when his portrait was painted, of all his various achievements, it was the church that he wanted included.
The church of St John the Evangelist was built by Yarburgh between 1846 and 1848. The design was by Gilbert Scott, who was already, by that time an architect of some renown, he would go on to design the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras Station, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Albert Memorial amongst others.
The church was built in the neo Norman style which was inspired by eleventh and twelfth century Romanesque architecture. Writing of the church one local newspaper claimed that “The church is a perfect gem of its kind, in the pure Norman style, and decorated to the minutest detail” and it did indeed have a mix of features that might be found on a Norman church, though not necessarily all at once!
These included round arched windows, blind arcades and zig zag decoration. One novel, and very Victorian feature, was the tower, with its pointed lead roof. Yarburgh clearly had his own ideas as to how St John’s should look, by the time he took the commission Gilbert Scott had been converted to the Gothic style and it is unlikely that he would have used neo-Norman unless Yarburgh had insisted on it. Perhaps this is why, in his memoirs, he recalled that at Sewerby “difficulties arose from the fads of my employer.”
The church was consecrated on the 27th April 1849 by the Archbishop of York. He had come to Sewerby the night before and stayed at the hall as a guest of Yarburgh. On the morning of the service the dignitaries formed up at the house and there was a procession to the church, no doubt using the private path that had been built to link the church to the estate.
Following the consecration ceremony, there was a morning service, where the Archbishop conducted the communion prayers. The service ended with a blessing from the archbishop, a collection for the restoration of Bridlington Priory (that raised £27) and a sumptuous cold collation lunch at the hall for the attending clergy.
Today the church of St John the Evangelist still serves the parish of Sewerby and its somewhat idiosyncratic design has earned it a Grade 2 Star listing from Historic England.
As the estate church it is the final resting place of many of the hall’s retainers and also for members of the Lloyd Greame family, but not for Yarburgh. He died in 1856 and, in a funeral attended by over 3000 people, was buried in the family vault in Bridlington Priory.
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