The origin of the church is shrouded in mystery and Cecil King and H D C Cooper have both concluded that the Norman church was erected on the foundations of an earlier Saxon church and included its original east wall, but when was it built ? The answer could lie with the inscription on the Saxon sundial embedded as a cornerstone in the tower of the present day church. It can no linger be read but a cast taken at the end of the nineteenth century was deciphered as follows
As Sumarledan was a norse personal name meaning ‘summer voyager’ and Huscarl could denote either a personal name or a free household villein there are two possible translations of the inscription — ‘the housecarl of Sumarledan made me’ or ‘for Sumarledan Huscarl made me’ and whichever is correct Sumarledan seems to have been a man of Scandinavian descent of some importance and capable of founding a church or even having it rebuilt as Orm Gamelson restored the ruins at Kirkdale and had his act commemorated by a sundial.
That was in 1055 and the Old Bydale sundial may be older as it is divided into ten units and is very rare and as the Normans used the duo-decimal syatem of measurement on their sundials it is possible that is was discarded when the church was restored in the 12th century and the date of that work is disputed. H N C Cooper suggests that it was done by the Byland monks soon after they arrived but Cecil King is convinced that the early Norman features date from at least fifty years earlier and as the Domesday Survey of 1086 recorded a wooden church at Begesland it is possible that it was considered inadequate and the ruined Saxon church was restored. At the end of the 11th century
