Little is known about the architecture of the early church but is has been suggested that it may have had a gallery. Among the pieces of masonry from the old building is the carved head of a man with a beard who could have been Guillaume Espec.
The land became known as Bilsdale Kirkham and remained under the control of Kirkham Priory until it was dissolved in 1536 and its lands granted by Henry VIII to Thomas Duke of Rutland whose family name was Manners and they retained the land and advowson of the church until 1801 when they sold Bilsdale Kirkham to Charles Duncombe who added it to his land in Bilsdale Rievaulx.
Minor repairs to the church were carried out in 1813 when the foundation stone was found and thirty eight years later in 1851 Lord Feversham had the old church demolished and commissioned architects Charles Barry the younger and Robert Banks to design a new church in Victorian gothic style
Above
This view of the church shows the chancel screen which is a memorial to David Nedwill, vicar of the parish from 1924-1930. It was not designed by the original architects and had to fitted round their dog-tooth arch, cuts across their steps and closes off their intended open area. Beyond the chancel arch is the Choir where Bilsdale men and women have sung for 150 years.
The vicar at the time was John Fletcher, his churchwardens were Harry Garbutt and George Hugill who came from two families long established in the dale and the new church continued to be the parish church for the whole of Bilsdale until 1896 when Lord Feversham commissioned Temple Moor to design a new church which was dedicated to the honour of St John the Evangelist. Between 1953 and 1974 the two churches shared the same vicar who lived at Fangdale Beck but in 1979 the church of St John joined the churches of Cold Kirby, Hawnby, Old Byland and Scawton to form the parish of Upper Ryedale and the vicar of St Hilda’s now lives at Ingleby Greenhow and also serves the churches of Kildale and Westerdale.
