History (Reproduced with permission of
the Vicar)
The Church was originally designed to serve the villages of Whitgift,
Ousefleet, Eastoft and Swinefleet, but the two last-named have
been separate ecclesiastical Parishes now for over a century.
It seems from ancient records that a Church stood here in the
12th and 13th Centuries.
This church was destroyed before 1291, the year, of Pope Nicholas IV.'s Valuation, and possibly before 1255, the year of the death of John le Franceys " John the Frenchman "-who was Rector of Adlingfleet and was alleged to have pulled down the Church at Whitgift after a dispute with the Abbot of Selby about fees at Whitgift.
Selby Abbey later acquired the Rectory of Adlingfleet and gave
permission for the building of another Church at Whitgift, to
be named in honour of St. Mary Magdalene, the first eyewitness
of Our Lord's Resurrection. This was completed in 1304, but the
isles were not included until 1582-3, and there was apparently
extensive rebuilding in the early 18th century. The present Chancel
is a 19th century addition, though the Chancel arch is one of
the oldest parts of the building, as is also the Tower which incorporates
two distinct styles of Church architecture-early Decorated and
Perpendicular. Over the years the Tower has settled at a lower
level than the rest of the building and appears to lean, the West
Door being blocked up and half-sunken in the ground.
The World Famous Clock (Reproduced by
permission of the Vicar)
The feature which excites comment is the Church Clock which dates
from 1919 and has the figure XIII. instead of XII. The explanation
of the " wrong number " has a few stories, one is that
XII was thought to be the witching hour, so they put XIII instead.
But the simple fact is that when the clock was installed the figure
was not properly co-ordinated with the clock mechanism, so the
second " I " was painted out ,and another " I "
added alongside. However, in time the original stroke began to
show and nobody felt disposed to alter it again.
The clock's fame has spread and mention
was made of it on the German Radio during the Second World War.
