Church Of St Oswald

Church of St Oswald

A parish church largely rebuilt in 1738, with earlier medieval elements from the 13th and 14th centuries. The chancel was restored in 1873. The church is constructed of ashlar, dressed coursed rubble and red brick, with concrete pantile roofs. It comprises a tower, nave, south aisle, south porch, north vestry, chancel and north chancel porch.

The low buttressed 13th-century tower sits on a chamfered plinth to the west and a lower plinth to the north. It rises two storeys and is topped with 19th-century embattlements and four decorative pinnacles. The west wall contains a single 14th-century window with three ogee-arched and cusped lights and mouchettes under a flat arch with flush ashlar quoin surround. The south wall has a single blocked opening above the band. The bell chamber openings on the west, south and east each have two arched lights under a flat arch, with remains of cusping to the west and east. The north side has a single pointed-arched opening with two pointed-arched lights. Single blocked stair lights are present to the north and south. Parapets with single ashlar stacks appear to the south and east nave and south aisle, with a single decorative ridge cross to the east chancel.

The buttressed north nave sits on a plinth and features a round-arched blocked doorway. To its left are two 18th-century round-arched windows, each with keystone and impost blocks. The red brick and slate 19th-century vestry, set on a rendered plinth, has a two-light window in the west wall with single ashlar mullion under a flat arch, hood mould and label stops.

The chancel sits on a rubble plinth with a sill band broken by the north porch. A shallow gabled and coped 19th-century porch with kneelers and remains of a single ridge cross is set on a plinth and features a chamfered arched doorway. The buttressed east end contains a single restored 14th-century arched four-light window with cusped tracery, hood mould and human head label stops. The buttressed south chancel has a cellar opening with metal grille. To its left are two 19th-century three-light windows with cusped tracery under flat arches, with steps leading down to the cellar between them.

The south aisle, with raised quoins, has three 18th-century round-arched windows with keystones extending to the top of the parapet and impost blocks. The sill band extends to the gabled and coped porch with remains of a single ridge cross and raised quoins. The entrance features a round moulded arch with decorative keystone extending to the ridge, impost blocks and decorative double iron gates. The inner round-arched doorway has impost bands and a 17th-century six-fielded panel round-arched door. The clerestory contains four 18th-century windows, each with two lights and single ashlar mullion under a flat arch. Clerestory rainwater heads are dated 1757.

Interior

The 18th-century nave arcade features bays with Tuscan columns and responds, the arches bearing keystones. A double-chamfered 13th-century tower arch has its inner chamfer supported on colonnettes with capitals decorated with nailhead; the outer chamfer is supported on slim engaged shafts with nailhead imposts. A 19th-century double-chamfered tower arch is supported on responds with foliate-decorated capitals, above which is a hood mould and human head label stops. Single quatrefoils in round panels flank the arch.

The south chancel contains an ogee-arched piscina. The north porch doorway has a hood mould and decorative label stops, with an arched doorway to the north vestry. A 19th-century circular font with decorative bowl is present. The furniture is 19th century apart from a small metal 15th-century chest.

Monuments include in the south chancel a brass plaque mounted onto a decorative marble surround to James Banks (1729), and a further metal plaque to Elizabeth Wightman (1696). The north chancel contains a monument to Lady Bromley (1839) by Nicholson and Wood. The south aisle features a monument to Sir George Smith (1769), with the apron decorated with a shield and the crown with an urn; that to George Wakefield (1816) by Jackson has a shield on the apron; another to George Wakefield (1839) by Tathams is decorated with a shield on the apron and decorative scrolls on the crown; and one to Revd. Wakefield (1798) by Wallis, which has a shield on the apron and an urn on the crown.

The west window of the south chancel contains some 15th-century stained glass.