Thornton-le-Dale is a very attractive village with stone houses along the beck reached by small bridges. In summer it is a real honey pot and busy with tourists, with a huge pay and display car park in the walled garden of the Hall (now a retirement home).
The church is at the east end of the village set on top of a mound, is ignored by visitors and hardly rates a mention on the internet either. It is 14thC decorated with a square stone tower with stepped buttresses on the sides and eight small pinnacles round the top. The chancel was rebuilt in the 19thC and is wider and taller than the nave.
Inside it is a simple church with exposed stone walls. and wood roof. Pointed arches separate nave and side aisles. At the back is a big late 12thC Norman tub font on four legs. The rest of the furnishings are modern. There is a panelled wood reredos at the east end with a three seater sedilia and piscina in the south wall.
Set under an ogee arch in the north wall of the chancel is the effigy of an unknown woman.
There is nothing special to attract the visitors. Perhaps the most interesting thing in the church is the medieval poor box by the north door. Never the less it is still worth a quick look if passing. It is open daylight hours. Away from the tourist season, it is possible to park on the road by the church.
