Gastrell c. 1720 noted that Bellerby lay two miles from the parish church; 'served by a layman who reads prayers and a homily every Sunday forenoon and afternoon'. Butler's notes state that John Hurr read prayers at Bellerby, 1719-1727. The Archdeaconry of Richmond in the Eighteenth Century', ed. L.A.S. Butler, Yorks. Arch. Soc., vol. 146 (1990 for 1986), 86.