St Peter's Church, East Marton

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Tue, 14/07/2026 - 00:00

I called at St Peter’s Church at East Marton last week. It is one of the three medieval parish churches within an easily walkable distance from my home. A stroll down the canal leads one to the adjoining field which has a gate into the churchyard. I briefly wrote about the carved crusader’s sword on its chancel step ten years ago, but what caught my attention this visit, you might ask? The gigantic, Norman tower or solid, Norman font? Perhaps the village’s connection to the Heber family, one of whom, Reginald, became Bishop of Calcutta and author of Brightest and Best and Holy, Holy Holy?

Not quite, it was the door. It was not especially remarkable other than its being unlocked at 7pm when I arrived. As I tour the land looking at church buildings, many are locked, and the best ones are open ten o’clock till four in the afternoon. East Marton’s, to its wardens’ huge credit, is open always:

St. Peter’s is, in general, a Prayer Book Church meeting in regular Sunday worship, centred on the Holy Communion. We are open 24/7 and you are always welcome to step out of the busy world to find peace and a time for prayer and reflection here. This we regard as our particular vocation. We attract a stream of visitors from, literally, all over the world as can be seen from our visitors’ book. Why not add your name to the list.

Despite my ardent nonconformity coloured by the Great Ejection of 1662, I have grown to love the old Prayer Book, the usage of which increasingly bespeaks a theological orthodoxy often lacking in these days of wokery and liberalistic, theological refuse. Similarly, I am never entirely sympathetic with those who feel the need to enter churches in order to pray as though the Lord could not hear them in their own chambers. Yet most who do require consecrated ground upon which to pray will find many a parish church locked and chained outside of service hours (which might only be monthly!). St Peter’s, in contrast, beckons all to come. Only Jesus Christ Himself has a greater availability, for all can come to Him, regardless of their proximity to the attractive Yorkshire villages of Martons Both.