Holystone Church : Discussion

Honeyman gives a detailed description of the church, stating that it was rebuilt, except for its lower walls, in 1848-9 by the vicar Aislaby (or Aislabie) Proctor, George Pickering being his architect. He sees the present nave as representing the nave of an 'early Norman' 12th-century building, apparently on account of its 'two-square plan' and the character of some of its masonry, and that at the end of 12th or beginning of the 13th century it became the choir of an aisled nave.

As elsewhere, Honeyman's detailed descriptions are useful, but he has a tendency to interpret more detail of a structural history than the evidence will actually allow. He did carry out an excavation, to reveal the base of the surviving respond of the medieval nave arcade 6' (1.8 m) below the capital. He sees the lower parts of both of the walls of the present nave as being medieval, but does not mention the plinth on the north and west which would appear from its level to indicate that the former wall had been rebuilt. He cites works in 1720 when a pulpit and reading desk were provided, which could give a date for such a reconstruction. He sees the present chancel as an addition of 1848-9, although possibly incorporating some fabric from a school room that previously stood in this position.

Honeyman's plan marks the wall on the south of the western portion of the churchyard as being built on an older foundation, which he interprets as the north aisle wall of the medieval nave of similar dimensions to that at Alwinton. This is another statement that runs beyond the evidence; it should also be pointed out that his dimensions of the Alwinton nave are based on the surmise, perhaps unwarranted, that the post-medieval west wall there stands on earlier foundations.