St Oswald's Church is a redundant Anglican church in

Kirk Sandall Kirk Sandall is an outer suburb of Doncaster, located around north-east of the city centre in the English county of South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the ...

, near

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and is under the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

History

The church is dedicated to Saint Oswald, king of

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

, and there is a legend that his body rested on the site after he was killed in 642. A church was present at the time of the Domesday survey. Most of the present church was built in the 12th century, with additions and alterations in the 14th and 16th centuries. It was restored in 1864 by J. M. Teale, and again in 1934. The Rokeby Chapel is named after

William Rokeby William Rokeby (died 29 November 1521) was a leading statesman and cleric in early sixteenth-century Ireland, who held the offices of Bishop of Meath, Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He is commemorated in the Rokeby Chapels ...

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Kirk Sandall from 1487 to 1502. He later became

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of Halifax, then

Bishop of Meath The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric. History Unt ...

, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and Archbishop of Dublin. The chapel was built soon after his death in 1521. The tower was added in 1828 but was truncated in 1935. By the 1960s the local population had declined, a new church was built in a nearby growing village. St Oswald's was declared redundant on 1 March 1979, and was

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...

in the Trust on 27 July 1980.

Architecture

Exterior

St Oswald's is constructed in

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

and ashlar

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, and has lead and tile roofs. Its plan consists of a two- bay

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

with north and south

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

s, a south porch and a west tower rising from the south aisle. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

has two bays and to its north is the larger two-bay Rokeby Chapel. The style of the nave and aisles is essentially

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, while the chancel is

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and, within the latter style, the Rokeby Chapel is

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...

. The tower had to be shortened in the 1930s because it was unsafe. It functions as a belfry and contains one bell, cast in 1690. In its south face is a two-light window, its roof is pyramidal and it contains a small louvred

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

on each side. The porch has a pointed arch over which is a gable carrying a cross. The doorway to the church is Norman is style with a two-order round arch. In the west wall of the nave is a three-light window. Above the window are stones arranged in a herring-bone pattern. It is thought that these stones date from the Anglo-Saxon era and were formerly part of the fabric of the original church on the site. The east window has three lights. The Rokeby Chapel has an embattled

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

and a string course carved with animals. Its blocked east window has five lights, and on its north wall is a diagonal west

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

and a further buttress between two four-light windows.

Interior

The arcades between the nave and the aisles are Norman in style and consist of octagonal piers, with broad square capitals and round arches. The nave roof dates from the 19th century. In the south aisle is a round-headed

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman Ca ...

. The cylindrical font is Norman in style and stands on a

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

with two steps. There are two traceried wooden screens, one to the west of the chancel, the other to the west of the chapel. On the north wall of the chapel is the tomb of William Rokeby. On the east wall, blocking the former window, is a

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

monument to Thomas Rokeby who died in 1621. On the south wall is a monument to another William Rokeby who died in 1662. Elsewhere in the chapel are memorial floor slabs and

brasses A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the pavem ...

. In one of the windows is stained glass dating from the 16th century.

External features

In the churchyard are the remains of a cross dating probably from the medieval period. It is constructed with

Magnesian Limestone The Magnesian Limestone is a suite of carbonate rocks in north-east England dating from the Permian period. The outcrop stretches from Nottingham northwards through Yorkshire and into County Durham where it is exposed along the coast between Ha ...

and consists of an octagonal base with a weathered shaft about in height. It is a Grade II listed building.

Present day

The church is available for visiting, its keyholder living nearby. The work of the Trust is supported locally by a group known as the Friends of St Oswald's, Kirk Sandall. Various activities are organised in the church. These include exhibitions, and occasional services arranged in cooperation with the local parish Church of The Good Shepherd.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk Sandall, Saint Oswald 12th-century church buildings in England Churches completed in 1935 Grade II* listed churches in South Yorkshire English churches with Norman architecture English Gothic architecture in South Yorkshire Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust