Appleton-le-Moors was historically in the parish of Lastingham. In the 1860s, Mrs J. Shepherd commissioned a church, as a memorial to her husband. It was constructed from 1863 to 1866, to a design by John Loughborough Pearson. It is in the early French Gothic style, and was Grade I listed in 1985.[1][2]
The church is built in limestone with slate roofs, and some of its interior details are in Rosedaleironstone. It consists of a nave with a narthex, north and south aisles, a chancel with an apse and a north chapel, and a southeast steeple. The steeple has a tower with two-light bell openings, shafts and lucarnes, and a pyramidal spire. At the west end, the narthex projects between buttresses, and the entrance arch has three orders, shafts and foliate capitals. Above it, in the gable, is a large rose window, with a botanical theme, filled with stained glass by Clayton and Bell which depicts Christian virtues. The windows elsewhere are lancets. There is a west porch, which shelters two doors into the church, between which sit the font. Inside, there is a hammerbeam roof, and pink sgraffito decoration in a Classical style.[2][3]
