St Mary the Virgin's Church is in the village of

Great Ouseburn Great Ouseburn is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated south-east of Boroughbridge. The village of Aldwark is to the north-east. It had a population of 598 according to the 2011 cens ...

, North Yorkshire, England. It is an active

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish church in the deanery of Ripon, the archdeaconry of Richmond, and the Diocese of Leeds. Its

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

has been united with those of four local parishes. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.

History

The lower part of the tower dates from the Norman era, the upper part was added in the 13th century, the arcades date from the 14th century, and the chancel from the following century. The vestry and aisles were rebuilt in 1820. In 1883 the Lancaster partnership of

Paley and Austin Sharpe, Paley and Austin are the surnames of architects who practised in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, between 1835 and 1946, working either alone or in partnership. The full names of the principals in their practice, which went under vario ...

added the south chapel. In 1994 a porch was built. Since then a toilet and kitchenette have been added, and the organ has been moved; moving the organ allowed the chapel to be restored.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is constructed in

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stone, with the vestry in sandstone and brick, and the roofs in stone slate. Its plan consists of a three-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

nave, north and south aisles, a chancel with a north vestry and a south chapel, and a west tower. The tower is in three stages, standing on a

chamfer A chamfer or is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fu ...

ed plinth. On the west side of the bottom stage is a

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

. There are slit windows on south side in the bottom and middle stages, and a clock face on the west side in the middle stage. The top stage contains round-headed two-light bell openings. The parapet is

embattled A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

with crocketed

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...

s. On top of the tower is a pyramidal roof. At the west end of the south aisle is a doorway with a pointed head. Along the walls of the aisles are three two-light windows containing Y- tracery. On the south side of the chapel are a priest's door and a square-headed window containing three lancets. Its east window contains 19th-century Perpendicular-style tracery. In the north and south sides of the chancel are square-headed two-light windows, and the east window is in Perpendicular style.

Interior

The tower arch is round-headed. The arcades consist of tall, pointed arches carried on slender round columns. On the north wall of the chancel are two monuments by Fisher of York dated 1779 and 1780. The

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

dates from the 17th century, and its lid from the 19th century. The two-

manual Manual may refer to: Instructions * User guide * Owner's manual * Instruction manual (gaming) * Online help Other uses * Manual (music), a keyboard, as for an organ * Manual (band) * Manual transmission * Manual, a bicycle technique similar to ...

organ was installed in the church by Peter Wood and Son. It had originally been built in 1962 by J. W. Walker and Sons for the First

Church of Christ, Scientist The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Mary Baker Eddy, author of '' Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,'' and founder of Christian Science. The church was founded "to commemorate the word an ...

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...

, and was moved to St Mary's in 2000. This replaced a much smaller, single-manual organ, which was built in 1888 by

Forster and Andrews Forster and Andrews was a British organ building company between 1843 and 1924. The company was formed by James Alderson Forster (1818–1886) and Joseph King Andrews (1820–1896), who had been employees of the London organ builder J. C. Bisho ...

, and moved to Japan following the installation of the present organ.

References

External links

Great Ouseburn: St Mary
A Church Near You {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Ouseburn, St Mary the Virgin's Church Church of England church buildings in North Yorkshire Grade II* listed churches in North Yorkshire Anglican Diocese of Leeds English churches with Norman architecture English Gothic architecture in North Yorkshire Gothic Revival architecture in North Yorkshire Paley and Austin buildings