All Saints, Easington, Yorkshire, East Riding

I Location

Site Location: Easington
National Grid Reference: TA 399 192
County: traditional: Yorkshire, East Riding
now: Yorkshire, East Riding
Diocese: medieval: York
now: York
Dedication: medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): All Saints
Type of building/monument: Parish church

II General Description

: View from NW.

: View of churchyard wall and E end.

: SE corner of S aisle.

The church is built of boulders with stone dressings; these are mixed fabric throughout. It has, at least in part, a round, walled site. There is a chancel, an aisled and clerestoried nave, S porch and W tower. In origin it is a 12thc. building (see SE corner of nave). There is an unusual free-standing pillar piscina in the chancel. The N arcade appears not to have any Romanesque work. It has medieval decoration identified by David Park, 'comprising chevrons on the arches and a just-discernible head on the E respond' (Pevsner and Neave, p. 395).

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) N aisle doorway

: N aisle, blocked doorway.

: N aisle, blocked doorway, arches.

: N aisle, blocked doorway, L side, capitals and springing.

Blocked N doorway to N aisle with a round-headed arch, but also small nailhead in the second order. It also has a curious broken chevron or baton pattern in this same order. The mouldings are keeled, and the sunken hollows very rounded and deep.

Dimensions

h. of opening above soil/debris	2.37 m
w. of opening	1.17 m
capitals (inc. ring)	0.215 m

V Furnishings

3. Piscinae/Pillar Piscinae

(i) Pillar piscina

: Loose sculpture, pillar piscina.

: Loose sculpture, pillar piscina, inside of basin.

Not in situ. The piscina was standing loose in the SE corner of the chancel at the time of the site visit. According to the Church Guide, this piece was discovered embedded in the wall over the E window during restorations in 1863; it dates it as 'undoubtedly EE'. It may be Transitional. The piscina has a square plan at the top. The basin has four triangular sides leading to a central hole. From a side view, the usual convention of an imitation pillar is followed, in this case in a restrained late 12thc. form with shallow relief. There is a square plinth, perhaps with curved corners, but they may be damaged. Above that is a two-stage, sleek-collared, understated ring. There is a continuous rounded ring. There is a cluster of four shafts below four single scallop capitals, attenuated like the bases. The elongation of the capitals may be due to function rather than style and the base rings resemble mid-century forms. The exit hole for the drainage is just below the ring of the capitals in the middle of one side. It is not regularly cut. There is no rebate at the top, but probably the bowl and the drainage hole would have been lead-lined, as was the case at Adel.

Dimensions

overall h.	0.86 m
w. at top	0.22 m
depth of bowl	0.1 m
h. of capital	0.225 m
h. of columns	0.4 m
h. of base	0.24 m

VII History

In 1066 Morcar had the manor of Easington. Drew de Bevrere had it in 1086. It went to the Aumale fee and passed with Burstwick [Burstall]. The church existed in 1115 when it was in the gift to Aumale abbey. The English estates of Aumale abbey were superintended by Burstwick Priory (in Skeffling, on the Humber behind Sunk Island) (VCH). The N doorway is said to have been brought at the Dissolution from Burstwick Priory (church guide).

VIII Comments/Opinions

The mouldings on the porch at Conisbrough might be compared to the N doorway at Easington, but even so this at Easington seems more 'advanced'. The nailhead is also sharp and confident, compared to the earlier usage at Reighton.

IX Bibliography

Church guide, no date, no author.
C.R. Elrington (ed.), A History of the County of York East Riding, V., Oxford 1984, 30.
N. Pevsner and D. Neave, Yorkshire: York and the East Riding, 2nd. ed. London, 1995, 395.
Unpublished thesis on Easington church [on pillar piscine], De Montfort University.
Victoria County History, Yorkshire: East Riding (1984), V, 24, 29.