The church stands on the eastern edge of the present settlement. Perpendicular elements, including a fine W tower dominate from the exterior, although the the chancel was largely rebuilt between 1867-68 by J. L. Pearson (Pevsner and Neave, 1995, 675).

The S aisle wall had been rebuilt in 1823. It contains an invented doorway, no longer used, which employs late Romanesque chevron voussoirs. The N and S arcades, and the font, are said to be early 13thc, but continue Romanesque forms.

According to Domesday Book, Berengar de Todeni and Albreda his wife gave the tithes of Settrington, along with the church of Thorpe Bassett, to St Alban’s Abbey (VCH II, 160). At Settrington, Turbrant had 9 carucates, but subsequently Berengar de Todeni held the manor.

The blocked S doorway

Glynne says: ‘the south doorway is Early English, but with ornaments almost Norman, as the rich double chevron with foliage and knobs.’ (Butler, 2007, 368).

Morris (1919, 285) describes the S doorway, the nave arcades and the ‘very curious font’ as Transitional, and he dates the tapered shafts of the S doorway perhaps to an 1817 restoration.

The local guide says of the S doorway: ‘the Norman work is so individual that perhaps it was made up of stones brought from Kirkham Priory or Old Malton by some restorer with antiquarian leanings’ (Settrington All Saints Guide, 1980).

‘The ZZ of the S doorway is reused, and has wildly elongated Tuscan columns for nook-shafts, possibly of the early c19 restoration. Could it all have been introduced from elsewhere?’ (Pevsner and Neave, 1995, 675).

The nearest comparison in the Riding for the chevron voussoirs of the S doorway is with the voussoirs reused to make the N doorway at Stillingfleet, and those may have come from the former chancel arch. In the spandrels in the chevron at Stillingfleet there is a ball composed of many berries, or grapes, which might suggest any or all of Christ the Vine, the Crucifixion, or fruitful Paradise. However, the voussoirs at Settrington are developed beyond this, their fourfold ‘grapes’ moving from stylised representation of fruit into open Cross-symbolism. It is not necessary to think that the voussoirs were brought from a greater church elsewhere when there is so little known of the building that was at Settrington in the 12thc, but the refectory doorway at Kirkham has inventive fourfold motifs that may have influenced this motif.

The form of the triangular chamfer-stop at the bottom of the jambs is used in some late 12thc work in, for example, the N arcade at Goodmanham (YE) and a doorway at Rufforth (YW). (Fieldworker)

Font

Probably of the same date as the arcades, but the form resembles the Romanesque font at Reighton (YE), and even more so fonts in (YN) especially the one from Upleatham now at Skelton old church. This group of fonts has engaged pillars on the angles, with a rectangular panel in the centre of each side which is cut into bold geometric patterns. (Fieldworker)