Editing Middleham (section)

==Parish church==
[[File:Middleham, The Collegiate Church St Mary and St Alkeda. - geograph.org.uk - 231927.jpg|thumb|left|[[Church of St Mary and St Alkelda, Middleham|Church of Saints Mary and Alkelda]]]]
The Church of Saints Mary and [[Alkelda]] was founded in 1291. Its mainly 14th and 15th-century architecture includes some stones that indicate a church on the site perhaps a century before.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The only remaining Norman artefact is a section of [[zigzag moulding]] that once surrounded a door or window and now appears above the north aisle. The church has a three-metre [[Perpendicular architecture|Perpendicular]] font cover and a replica of the [[Middleham Jewel]], found locally. West of the church is St Alkelda's Well, whose waters were once said to restore weak eyes.

In 1478 Edward IV gave permission for a leper hospital to be built on the east side of town, in conjunction with the church. The location, Chapel Fields, now holds a horse-training stables. No trace of a hospital or chapel remains.<ref name="home.cogeco.ca"/>