User:Gilderien/Oswaldkirk



Oswaldkirk is a small village and civil parish near Helmsley in the district of Ryedale in North Yorkshire,England. It is named after the village church of St Oswald, King and Martyr, the Anglo-Saxon King of Northumbria who was slain by the pagan, Penda in 642. There is also a Catholic church, dedicated to St Aidan.

The village also has a playground, a village hall and a pub called 'The Malt Shovel'. It is situated on the junction of the B1257 and the B1363. It is on the path of the Ebor Way.

Each year the village holds a Safari Lunch, a Cricket match and a Bonfire. Every two years there is a benefice Hog Roast (Ampleforth, Gilling, Stonegrave & Oswaldkirk). In 2002 the village community wrote a book entitled "Oswaldkirk, A Living Village". In 2008, the village reached the North of England Finals in the Calor village of the year competition, and was placed first in the "people" category.

Geology
Oswaldkirk is situated to the south of a steep hill, known as "Oswaldkirk Hagg". Many springs rise along the base of the hill, at the boundary of the Kimmeridge clay and the Coralline Oolite. The latter was mined into the twentieth century in numerous quarries on the hagg between Oswaldkirk and Ampleforth, and fossils from the limestone, especially gastropods, are often found in the village.

History
The first recorded reference to Oswaldkirk was in the Domesday Book. It was referred to as "Oswaldecherca" or "Oswaldecherce" (Oswald's Church).

Religion
The Church of Saint Oswald, King and Martyr is a Church of England church serving the village. It is located along the main road passing through the village, the B7363 road (Oswaldkirk Main Street), 1.5 mi east of Ampleforth Abbey.

Dedicated to the Christian saint Saint Oswald, it is over 900 years old and run by the Church of England. It is part of a four-parish benefice, and is in the archdeaconry of Cleveland, and the diocese of York. Notably, the future Archbishop of Canterbury and chaplain to King Charles II, John Tillotson, preached his first sermon at the church in 1661. Major restoration work was done to the church in 1886, and a large amount of the Chancel woodwork dates from this period. The church has been a Grade II* listed building since 1955. It is the oldest building in the village by more than six centuries.

The Church of Saint Aidan is a Roman Catholic church serving the area, on the north side of the road in the centre of the village.