St Oswald's Church is in the village of Dean, Cumbria, 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 Derwent, the archdeaconry of West Cumberland and the diocese of Carlisle. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.

History

St Oswald's dates from the 12th century, with an extension in the following century. The chancel was added in the 15th century and the sanctuary in the 17th century. An extensive restoration was carried out between 1967 and 1973, which included new pews and a

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

Architecture

The church is built in blocks of

calciferous sandstone Calciferous sandstone is a geological term relating to strata at the base of the Carboniferous formation, below the entire sequence of coal measures. This term may be unique to the UK. Typically this part of the geological sequence, as in the T ...

and has green

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

roofs. The roofs have coped gables and cross

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

s. 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 with a south aisle and a south porch, and a three-bay chancel with a north vestry. On the gable between the nave and the chancel is a twin open bellcote. Gargoyles stretch from the

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

of the chancel. The lower

courses Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

of the north wall of the nave and a blocked doorway date from the 12th century, and a medieval cross slab is built into this wall. The remainder of the fabric of the nave is from the 13th century. The chancel dates from the 15th century and in its east wall is a Tudor three-light window. The vestry dates from the 20th century. The arcade consists of four rounded-headed arches on round

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

. The south wall of the aisle has recesses for a tomb and for an aumbry, and there is an aumbry in the south wall of the chancel. The bowl of 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 ...

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 ...

, supported on a 20th-century shaft. The stained glass in the west window dates from the 19th century. The single-

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 built in 1975 by Eric Mason of Bolton.

External features

In the churchyard is a preaching cross. Its base originated as a

calvary Calvary ( la, Calvariae or ) or Golgotha ( grc-gre, Γολγοθᾶ, ''Golgothâ'') was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where Jesus was said to have been crucified according to the canonical Gospels. Since at least the early mediev ...

dating from the medieval era. The cross dates probably from the 17th century and it carries a

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

dated 1825. It is constructed in calciferous sandstone and consists of seven octagonal steps on which is a cross base surmounted by the sundial, the brass plate of which is missing. It has been designated as a Grade II listed building. The cross is traditionally linked with Calder Abbey. It is a scheduled ancient monument.

History

Architecture

External features

See also

References

Further reading