ABSTRACT
There were two churches dedicated to St Clement in Yorkshire, one at Clementhorpe, York, on the River Ouse, and the other a chapel in the Castle of Pontefract. These were apparently the most northerly St Clement churches in England and their existence raises some interesting, if unanswerable, questions about their origin and function, for neither of them was a typical medieval parish church. A discussion of their history and location touches on ethnic, cultural, economic, topographic and toponymic issues, all of which are relevant to the overall study of the cult of St Clement in England.1 The main aim of this overall study is to look at the known circumstances of all those surviving churches – and the not inconsiderable number of churches which have not survived – in an attempt to try and make an assessment of possible circumstances which could have underlain the choice of Clement for patron saint of each particular church.2
