Pre-twelfth century

In all probability there was a Saxon Church on this site, of which nothing remains.

AD 1108

The Manor of Weaverthorpe, together with a large amount of land in the district, was sold by Archbishop Thomas II to Herbert the Chamberlain, during the former’s visit to the Court of Henry I at Winchester.

C. 1110-1120

“+In honour of the Apostle Saint Andrew, Herbert of Winchester built this Church (Monasterium=Minster) in the time of………” (inscription on the sundial above the south door, in Latin). This is the present Church, built soon after Herbert had received the land, in the early Norman style, an overlap from the Saxon stylebeing seen in the tall, narrow tower arch.

Excavation in August 1960 revealed a Manor House to the east of the Church in the Churchyard extension, built at the same time, but not occupied for long. The house is bound on the south side by a road, as wide as the Church itself, and running from its east end past the house. The path and gate of the new Churchyard are on the site of this road. Herbert’s son was William Fitz-Herbert- Saint William of York. Presumably he came north to Weaverthorpe from his Winchester home to supervise the building of this Church. He was ordained to the priesthood, became Treasure of York Minster and Archdeacon of the East Riding and was consecrated Archbishop of York in 1143. He died in 1154 after a precarious tenure of his Archiepiscopate, much of which was spent in exile, and was canonised in1226. It was probably during his tenure of the See of York that his family gave the Church at Weaverthorpe to the monks of Nostell Priory, near Wakefield.