St Gregory's Minister Kirkdale

This photograph taken on a walk around Hutton le Hole in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park.

Kirkdale's most famous monument is the ANGLO-SAXON SUNDIAL situated just above the main doorway under cover of the C18th porch. It is well preserved owing to its having been covered by a coating of plaster for several centuries prior to 1771 and to the subsequent protection afforded by the porch.

The Old English inscriptions on the sundial tell us that St Gregory's was bought by Orm Gamelson when it was in ruins and he had it rebuilt. It tells us that this was during the period when Tostig was Earl of Northumbria, 1055-1065. The earliest phase of the present building was therefore within this decade. The inscription makes it clear that the church built by Orm replaced an earlier one and expert scholarly opinion, on the evidence of decorated stone slabs and more recent excavations, dates the history of the site to about 750 or perhaps even earlier.