Cundall CofE

About our Church

Location

The Church hides in the field, looking to the old hall near the River Swale.

History

The present Church of St Mary & All Saints was built of local sandstone in 1854 and is a Grade !! listed building.
Records show that there was a windmill as well as a watermill in Cundall in the 16th and 17th centuries and the present Church is adjacent to the site of a much earlier Church probably built in the 16th-17th century. 
A fire necessitated a major restoration in 1917. 
Many of the windows bear inscriptions to the Furness family who purchased the Cundall Estate from the Crown in 1889.

The Stained Glass Windows

The Furness family were in a major way involved in ship building and shipping in the Port of Hartlepool.
Four of the stained glass windows are dedicated to the Furness family. 
The crests on the East window are the Furness family crest and the West Hartlepool town crest.
The west tower was built by Jane, Baroness Furness, in memory of her husband, Christopher.
Two other windows are dedicated to two members of the Horsfall family – one who was drowned at sea in 1878.
Just 15 miles away is the Church of  St Cuthbert & St Oswald at Winksley which also has connections with the Furness family. 

The Saxon Cross

Housed inside is a treasure from Saxon England c.800.
It's the shaft of a cross, over 5' high, carved with knot-work, dragons and birds in interlacing branchwork.
This shaft was first noted in 1823 and was reused as a lintel above the door into the chancel.
When the Church was rebuilt in 1854 the shaft was removed and placed in the graveyard and subsequently moved inside by 1931.

Revd C Slater

St Mary's last sole incumbent was Revd C Slater.
When he left in 1940 the benefice was linked with Skelton cum Newby, the first joint incumbent being the Revd F G W Trahearne.
Circa 1972 it became a part of the United Benefice of Kirby on the Moor, Cundall with Norton le Clay and Skelton cum Newby.

The daughter Church of St John the Evangelist

The daughter Church of St John the Evangelist in Norton le Clay was built in 1850, with the addition of a porch in 1887-89.
It was closed for some time in the 1980/90's but then reopened for worship.
It was declared redundant in 2000 and was later developed as a private house.
It was never licensed for marriages nor did it have a graveyard, all interments being at St Mary’s Cundall.