Recent excavations near the church revealed a graveyard containing ChristianChristian Name originally given to disciples of Jesus by outsiders and gradually adopted by the Early Church to designate all members of the church. burials from the late-7th to the mid-11th centuries, showing that Masham was a very early centre of importance in the Christian missionMission 1. A group of people sent out to share religious faith. 2. The task of sharing faith. in the north. In the churchyard there is a highly-decorated late-8th or early-9th century cross shaft with Biblical scenes of David, Samson, and the Apostles. Inside the church are fragments of the cross which would have sat on top. This large stone crossCross Instrument of torture and execution used in the Roman Empire. The means by which Christ was put to death and therefore the primary symbol of the Christian faith, representing the means by which he is believed to have won forgiveness for humankind. The Cross may be represented as Tau-shaped (like a capital T); with a shorter cross-bar or with a circle enclosing the upper intersection (Celtic). In medieval art a cross made of living branches signifies the Tree of Life. St Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, is said to have discovered the True Cross (i.e. the Cross in Jerusalem on which Christ died) in 326. probably stood outside an earlier wooden church, and perhaps then a Saxon stone church, which was replaced by the current church building in the 12th century.