Church of St Andrew, Grinton  The Church of St Andrew, Grinton, is the parish church for the village of Grinton in North Yorkshire, England. The grade I listed structure has also been called "The Cathedral of the Dales", and as the only parish church in Upper Swaledale, it was at the end of the Swaledale Corpse Way, where those who had died in the upper valley, were brought for burial. Grinton never developed past village status, but its noted crossing point of the River Swale afforded it more importance than other settlements. The church was built in the 12th century and has many alterations to its original Norman architecture. As the church was the only parish church in the area, for 400 years St Andrew's presided over the largest parish by area in Yorkshire. The church is notable for having a chained bible, a Jacobean pulpit with sounding board, and a hagioscope in the south wall. The church is also noted for being the most northerly of the "Pennine Perpendicular churches". The church was built in the 12th century and was given to the Augustinian Priory of Bridlington, who owned much of the land surrounding Grinton after it was given to them in early 12th century by William de Gaunt. Before the building of the church, the valley came under the same parish as Catterick, which Paulinus had established in the 7th century. Whilst there is no firm evidence of such, it is believed that a Saxon place of worship existed on the site of St Andrews, and when the church was built, it was erected on the same site. Originally, the church was staffed by the Augustinian monks, when it was referred to as "Ecclesia de Swaledala", but in the late 13th century, a vicar was appointed to be the parish priest. At the dissolution, the church became an asset of the Crown until 1890, when it became the property of the Bishop of Ripon. It is now in the Diocese of Leeds. The building has had additions placed upon it in the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th centuries, with further modifications since then. It has a tower (facing west), a north aisle, a nave, a south aisle, a north chapel, a chancel, a south chapel, a vestry and a porch (south facing). Pevsner called St Andrews a "low, grey, spreading Perpendicular church", whilst acknowledging that it contained the original Norman architecture and also Decorated stylings too.