Clergyman with memories of the Krays takes over

Mark Branagan

A CHURCHMAN who began his ministry in the East End during the reign of the Kray twins is enjoying the twilight of his career in one of North Yorkshire’s most picturesque parishes.

The Rev Dr Quentin Wilson is taking over at St Mary’s Priory Church in Old Malton at the age of 64 following the retirement of Canon John Manchester.

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Dr Wilson was appointed acting Rural Dean of Southern Ryedale in 2004 and was confirmed in the post two years later. He retains the title but is also now priest in charge at Old Malton.

It has been a long journey for the churchman who was born in Wiltshire, and grew up in Blackheath, London, where he was ordained in his early 20s.

One of his first livings covered the Isle of Dogs at the time the Kray Twins ruled the East End .

He recalled: “The Kray twins were very much on the scene while I was there. It was very much like the Mafia. The Krays loved their mother and those on the Krays’ side were looked after.

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“I do not think we have any Mafia in Malton. The church reinvents itself in every place and for different times. But it is still all about caring for people and reaching out to where they are.

“When I was doing weddings in those days nearly all the couples set up home in the sitting room of mum and dad’s house. So it is different now, even with the shortage of affordable housing.

“We had a certain amount of poverty then. In North London I also encountered genteel poverty – old ladies who could only indulge themselves in fine teas from China and India.”

As rural dean he covers 46 churches from Hovingham to Sherburn but his part-time role at St Mary’s marks the end of an era.

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Canon John Manchester retired after 34 years as Vicar of Old Malton – the longest-serving incumbent of a parish in the York Diocese.

Canon Manchester started as a curate at St Martin’s-on-the-Hill, in Scarborough, which saw him working as chaplain to the artistes in the summer shows, and national politicians attending conferences in the resort.

In 1976, he was appointed vicar of Old Malton. Latterly, he has figured in the drive to find missing York chef Claudia Lawrence. He was at the centre of a drama in 1982 involving the police killer Barry Prudom, who was run to ground in Malton.

Canon Manchester said: “I remember on the day of Barry Prudom’s death – a Sunday – that there was a knock at the church door. It was the police who told me to get the congregation out as quickly as possible.”