The Church
The church of ST. PETER consists of a chancel 30 ft. 6 in. by 17 ft., south chapel and vestry, nave 63 ft. by 17 ft., south aisle 13 ft. wide, west tower 14 ft. by 11 ft. and south porch. These measurements are all internal.
The carved fragments and the apse said to have been discovered at the last restoration point to the former existence of a pre-Conquest church here. The earliest part of the present church is the nave, which was built about 1190, to which date the south doorway, now in the aisle wall, belongs. The chancel appears to have been rebuilt in the 13th century, but the only detail left of the date is the fragment of a piscina or sedile in the south wall. The chancel arch is of 14th-century date, and probably other work was done at the same time. The south or Strangways chapel was added in the 15th century. The south porch and the tower are work of the latter half of the same century. In 1892 the building underwent a drastic restoration and was enlarged by a south aisle and the widening of the western half of the south chapel. Every window in the church, except those of the tower, is of new stonework, mostly in the 15th-century style, and the walls are encased in modern ashlar. The south doorway was moved out with the aisle wall and the old porch re-erected before it. The roofs also were all renewed.
The east window has three lights, and in the north wall are two windows, one of two and the other of three lights. The fragment of the 13th-century piscina or sedile, the mutilated sill of which is only 16 in. above the floor, has in its east and only remaining jamb a pointed bowtel on a splay between two hollows with a moulded base and carved capital. The remaining stone of the arch shows that it was trefoiled, the mould being an edge roll between two hollows. It was probably destroyed to make room for the east jamb of the 15th-century arcade which is of two bays with a central octagonal column and low four-centred arches of two hollow-chamfered orders. The chancel arch is of the 14th century, with the exception of the sub-bases and a few stones in the arch. Its jambs are of three engaged shafts, separated by hollow chamfers, and having moulded bases and capitals. The arch is pointed and of two chamfered orders.
The eastern part of the south chapel is now used as a vestry and is lighted by a modern east window of two lights. It is entered by a modern south doorway, an older one to the east of it being blocked. The western half of the chapel, as now widened, forms an organ chamber; it has a three-light south window and a pointed segmental archway opens into it from the aisle.
There are three north windows in the nave. The south arcade is of four bays, with octagonal columns having moulded and embattled capitals and hollowchamfered bases; the arches are pointed. The three windows in the south wall are square-headed and each of three lights. In the internal face of this wall are set several 12th-century carved stones, one a piece of a lozenge moulding, another moulded with a pointed edge roll and hollows like the chancel piscina, and a third a capital with leaf carving. The 12th-century south doorway has jambs of two orders, the inner with an edge roll, the outer square with modern detached shafts in the angles, the capitals of which are old. The western capital is scalloped, the eastern carved with foliage. The arch is round and of two orders, the inner carved with 'beak heads' and the outer with zigzag ornament. The porch has an old outer archway with single chamfered jambs and a pointed segmental head of two hollow-chamfered orders. Above it is a niche with a trefoiled head running up into the stool of the modern gable cross. The angles of the porch are strengthened by diagonal buttresses, finishing above the parapet with crocketed pinnacles. In either side wall are three small rectangular lights. In the porch are set several 11th and 12th-century stones; one is a piece of a 'hog-back' stone, and there are two pieces of a cross shaft carved with interlacing pattern, and also a piece of a 12th-century scalloped capital.
The tower is of two stages and opens into the nave by an archway with an obtuse and almost halfround pointed head. The west window is of three lights divided by transoms embattled on the outside, all with three-centred plain heads. On the south side is a small pointed light in the lower stage. The bell-chamber is lighted by square-headed windows of two cinquefoiled lights divided by transoms. The angles of the tower are supported by diagonal buttresses of five stages, having on their main faces a peculiar triangular projection running from the plinth to the top offset. The parapet is embattled, with modern pinnacles at the corners.
There is a 12th-century font of straight cylindrical form, the only enrichment being a cable mould near the top edge.
There are three bells: the first by Mears, 1794; the second by Warner, 1890; and the third, dated 1700, with the inscription 'Fili dei miserere mei' and the initials i.w. w.m. w.r. and r.r. A bell which formerly hung in the tower and which was brought from Mount Grace Priory has since been broken up. Its crown is preserved in the foot of the tower and stands on a disused 18th-century font; it is inscribed 'Sancte Petre ora pro nobis,' with a cross and two shields; one shield is charged with cross keys between a rose and crown, sheaf, bell and a flagon and the other with a banner and initial m.
The plate includes a chalice, paten, flagon and almsdish, all of 1867.
The registers begin in 1696.
[From Victoria County History - North Riding Volume 1]
'Parishes: Osmotherley', A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 1 (1914), pp. 434-439.
The Cache
You will need to find the grave of the many daughters of Thomas and Ann YEOMAN (it can be seen from the road).
Phillis, their 4th daughter, was born 1A 6 18B6 and died 1C 6 19D1
Mary Helen, their youngest daughter, was born 25 7 1839 and died FH 2 1921
Isabella, their 7th daughter, was born 2J 2 1G3E and died 17 9 1923
The cache may be found at:-
N 54 BC.D(B+C)E, W 1 FG.DHJ
**************************************
For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
*************************************