Kellington is a village which is roughly equidistant between Pontefract and Selby in North Yorkshire. The parish church is on rising ground in an open position south-west of the village. It has nave, N aisle, chancel and N chapel, W tower, and S porch. There is a very worn S doorway 'with a round arch but moulded capitals' (Pevsner 1967, 282). There is also a blocked round-headed window in the S wall of the nave.

Structural work due to the development of the Selby coalfield caused the demolition and rebuilding of the tower, and also allowed unusually-extensive archaeological excavations from October 1990 to January 1991 (Mytum 1995). Small finds were in the hands of the University of York Archaeological department; larger pieces are still (2014) at the church. These include the possible baseof the font, and two fragments of carved stone which may have been a lintel

Granted to Templars of Temple Hirst, late 12th century (VCH III, 259). The first known rector, John de Kellington, was appointed by the Knights Templar in 1185.

Lawton (1842), 140, says 'the town of Kellington belonged to the Lacies, Barons of Pontefract... Adam Fitz Swaine gave to the Knights Templar or Hospitallers, 8 oxgangs of land, and one Raimond gave another. This church, in which was a chantry, was appropriated to the preceptory of Newland, to which it was given by Henry de Lacy. At the dissolution of the Knights Templar, the patronage was given to Trinity College, Cambridge.'

Due partly to its deteriorated state, the age of the S doorway (included as an example of possible Transitional work) is uncertain. Glynne (Butler 2007, 241) has no doubt it is Early English. Despite the round arch, this doorway probably belongs with the early 13th-century lower part of the tower and the dogtooth ornament and lancet windows elsewhere, as suggested by Pevsner's comment 'a round arch but moulded capitals'. The relationship of the doorway and the blocked round-headed window to the W, and the next open window which may once have been round-headed, suggest several changes in this wall. The wide chamfer in the first order is perhaps the most distinctive remaining feature for dating the doorway. Nevertheless, the S doorway is included as relevant to this Corpus because of the numerous similar instances encountered of Transitional work in the south of the Riding, some of which no doubt are earlier.

Mytum 1995 gives a phased plan of the church and proposes a W doorway for the first stone church; this had W tower, nave and chancel. Late 12th century plan shows nave lengthened to W; S and N doorways added; some N aisle(?).

The carved stone found in the floor at the S doorway is suggested by Mytum (1995, 21-2) to have come from the earlier W doorway.

Pevsner 1967, 282-3, mentions a picture of the former 'Norman' chancel arch, but it has not been traced.

Butler 2006, 88 says that the work at Kellington has still not yet received final publication, though it 'has had fairly full interim reports and some aspects of its methodology have been published'.