A look at the history of Church of St Lawrence, Hutton Bonville, with Dr Emma Wells

Tucked away along the serpentine Church Lane, which tails off the A167 road from Northallerton to Darlington, is the hamlet of Hutton Bonville. Here, on a largely isolated promontory which meanders over, via a bridge, the East Coast Mainline, stands St Lawrence’s Church surrounded by an enclosing churchyard (still open for burial), while to the immediate north are the earthworks of the former Hutton Bonville Hall, demolished in 1962. All that remains are its two late 18th-century ashlar gatepiers.

The church itself represents several phases of construction, with seemingly Norman origins, though the present structure largely comprises much altered later medieval, 17th and 19th century fabric. It comprises an original two-cell likely structure of nave and chancel, with a later north aisle though was virtually entirely rebuilt as part of large-scale restoration works in 1896 undertaken in memory of J. R. W. Hildyard (of the adjacent Hutton Bonville Hall).

Throughout the medieval era, the manorial lands of Hutton Bonville were correspondingly owned by the same family as was the advowson of the chapel of ease. A chapel-of-ease or parochial chapel is a subsidiary place of worship built for the convenience of parishioners who lived at a distance from the parish church. Parochial chapels were under the control of the parish church, and, in this case, Hutton Bonville was later under the parish of nearby Birkby.

By around the close of the 17th century, the manor belonged to the local Pierse family (also connected by marriage to the notable Conyers), though how many centuries previously they held the manor is unclear.

About 1785, the manor was sold to the Hammond family of Richmond then, in 1874, it was purchased by J. B. W. Hildyard, and it was he who altered the hall into the country seat it became.

However, with death coming so frequently to the family patriarchy, with no lord, Hutton Bonville Hall fell into decline. It was demolished in 1962, leaving only the former entrance posts, whilst the adjacent isolated church was declared redundant in 2007. It is now owned by the Friends of Friendless Churches.

Address: Church of St Lawrence, Church Lane, Hutton Bonville, DL7 0NS

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Books by Dr Emma Wells