Church Of St Oswald

The Church of St. Oswald is a parish church with late 12th-century origins, likely built on the site of an earlier church. It was extensively rebuilt in 1834 by Ignatius Bonomi, and further altered in 1864 by Hodgson Fowler. The church is constructed of coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings, although the roof suffered fire damage at the time of the survey.

The church features a four-stage west tower with a renewed four-light west window and small, two-light windows above. A battlemented parapet with corner gargoyles and pinnacles tops the tower. The buttressed south aisle has a renewed moulded two-centred arch in the first bay, with an ogee-headed niche containing blind tracery above. The north aisle has a plainer entrance. The clerestory has Tudor arches and a battlemented parapet on shafts. The three-bay chancel has grouped windows and a high gable containing a four-light window with reticulated tracery, flanked by large diagonal buttresses supporting niches with statues under crocketed gablets. Small spirelets feature acanthus finials. The north aisle windows are primarily Decorated in the west bays, separated by a substantial buttress from the east bays which have Perpendicular windows.

Inside, the walls are plastered with sandstone ashlar arcades and dressings. The low-pitched roof has king and queen posts, and re-used purlins. Alternate trusses rest on re-used braces, featuring angels and masks, thought to be from an earlier hammer-beam roof. The nave arcades have chamfered round arches on keeled shafts and round columns at either end. The chancel arch is two-centred with water-leaf capitals and square piers. The north aisle’s eastern three bays terminate in a transverse arch and have a 16th-century panelled roof, though much of the decorative detail has been removed. The tower contains a tall double-chamfered arch and a square-headed door opening to a stone spiral staircase formed from medieval grave-covers. An eight-ribbed vault with a wide circular central rib covers the space. Stained glass in the west window is from 1864-6 by Morris and Co., with panels by Ford Madox Brown; other windows are by Kempe and Co. and Clayton and Bell. The church was undergoing repairs at the time of the survey.