page_title: Church of St Mary the Virgin, Richmond
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Church of St Mary the Virgin, Richmond / History
caption_attribution_description: English: St Mary's Church, Richmond, Yorkshire
context_page_description: The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Richmond, is the Anglican parish church in the town of Richmond in North Yorkshire, England. Previously, there was another church, the Church of the Holy Trinity, which served as a chapel, and in the early part of the twentieth century, it was officiated over by the incumbent of St Mary's. In the 1960s, Holy Trinity was deconsecrated and now serves as the Green Howards' museum in the town.
  The patronage of the church was originally given to the monks of St Mary's Abbey in York, then at the Dissolution, it was offered to the Crown. Later, it was in the possession of the Bishop of Chester as part of the Diocese of Chester. It is now in the Diocese of Leeds. The churchyard at St Mary's has a plague pit and the graves of two soldiers from Waterloo, and it also used to house the original Richmond School building.
  The church and its surrounds are built on a hill that slopes down to the River Swale on the eastern side of the town.
  St Mary's has been subjected to several renovations, most notably in the 19th century, and is now a grade II* listed building.
context_section_description: Originally, the Church of the Holy Trinity in Richmond town square was said to be the mother church of the parish as it was within the castle walls, but as the town and population increased, so Trinity became the daughter church of St Mary's. It is said that the distance between the two was only 1,000 feet (300 m). The Church of the Holy Trinity was deconsecrated in 1960s and disposed of. Since the early 1970s, it has housed the Green Howards Regimental Museum, whereas the Church of St Mary, is host to their Regimental Chapel. Some historians have stated that the church of Holy Trinity was never the parish church, despite being within the town walls, as it had no evidence of a burial ground. Clarkson states in his History of Richmond, that Holy Trinity was too small to accommodate the growing population and so a "Low Church, situated on the declivity of the hill" was built. This was in the original burial ground for Trinity church, outside the town walls. However, until The Reformation, both churches were lesser in terms of religious importance in comparison to Easby Abbey (St Agatha). At this time, the parish only contained the town and borough with some outlying smaller houses.
  The church was constructed on a slope which leads down towards a sharp meander in the River Swale known as Clink Pool, (named after the wooded bank on the north side of the river), and across the river over Mercury Bridge, which was built in 1846 to afford an easy route into the town from the railway station. 
  Parts of the nave and aisles date back to the middle of the 12th century, but the varied renovations have left a much altered church from what is believed to be a cruciform building originally. Some of the columns used in the church are believed to predate this structure and were incorporated into the 12th century church. The tower, which extends to 80 feet (24 m), was built c. 1399–1400 by the Earl of Westmorland and the font dates from around the same time period. The tower is supported on each of its four corners by buttresses and internally used to have the arms of the Nevill family; The Earl of Westmorland (Ralph Neville), was granted the Honour of Richmond in 1399 by Henry IV, and he set about improving the church among other things. The font is carved from Teesdale Marble, which was quarried in the Egglestone area of County Durham. The stone is a form of limestone which has many fossil remnants within it and was popular as a building stone for abbeys and churches around the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
  Before The Reformation, the windows in the church displayed images from the scriptures, but these were later viewed as "superstitious" post-Reformation and so fell to decay or were replaced with ordinary glass. Various additions to the church during the 15th century have led to the whole church being labelled as Perpendicular in its architectural style, however, some other structures remain from the various alterations which have also seen the building labelled as Gothic.
  The twelve misericords inside the church came from Easby Abbey. They date from the early sixteenth century and show a sow playing the bagpipes for two piglets, and a dragon stealing a goose. Religious carvings and artefacts were often moved from abbeys and priories after the Dissolution. The misericords are dated to at least 1515, as one of them is indented with the shield of Abbot Bampton, who was elected to Easby Abbey in 1515. Other items taken from the abbey and installed in the church include the choir stalls and some of the bells.
  Between 1858 and 1859, the church was renovated by Sir Gilbert Scott, which was funded by the Earl of Rutland and cost around £1,200. In 1890, the verger removed a stone item from the churchyard and placed it at the bottom of the pulpit. This is believed to be the Norman era font of the worship house that existed in Richmond before either church was in regular use. In 1892, the chancel was altered by the addition of new level flooring and a window in the south wall to allow more light in. Previous sketches of the church show th
caption: The Nave
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