building has survived since before that reconstruction, although the Norman chancel arch was not removed until the late 19th century. The chancel was rebuilt by rector George Body in 1857 and designed by Charles Hodgson Fowler. In 1886 the East window commemorating the family of rector Charles John Symson was removed to its present position near the pulpit and replaced by that given in memory of Squire and Mrs Robert Tindall. The window above the altar depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Christ is a memorial to two former rectors and was dedicated on the feast of the Purification in 1949 by Eric Milner-White, Dean of York. The crucifix on the Lady Chapel altar came from the disused Mission Church at Ryton. The carved oak lecturn, at the base of which may be seen the figure of St Laurence, was given by Miss Jane Tindall of Kirby Misperton Hall, in 1891. The baptistery is dedicated to the memory of Canon F.W. Drake, rector 1914–1928. On the walls are baptismal rolls dating back to the early 1920s. The tower, of which the lower half is from the 15th century, houses three bells, recast by Mears of Newcastle at the expense of Charles Duncombe, 1st Baron Feversham, to commemorate the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838. In 1891 the present church clock, made by Potts of Leeds, was given by the rector W. H. Hutchings. Alexander Neville was a cleric at Kirby Misperton and rose to become the Archbishop of York, was subsequently deposed, and exiled to France, where, he ended his days as a parish priest in Louvain. Other notable rectors include John Thornborough who became chaplain to Queen Elizabeth I, was one of the translators of the Authorised Version of the Bible, and died Bishop of Worcester at the age of 90 in 1641. His immediate successor, Peter Rollock, was a member of the Scottish Privy Council, and sometime Titular Bishop of Dunkeld. In the early 19th century the Rev'd. and Hon Augustus Duncombe held the Living for seven years and became Dean of York in 1858. George Body, who rebuilt the chancel, was a noted preacher and writer in his day and one of the leaders of Anglo-Catholicism. Gas industry Oil and gas exploration has a history in North Yorkshire dating back to the 1930s. In 1937 the first well was drilled at Eskdale on the North