St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne

St Oswald's Church is a Church of England parish church located in Ashbourne, in the county of Derbyshire, England.

Background

File:Brass foundation plaque for St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne.JPG

Brass plate commemorating the dedication of St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne on 24 April 1241 by Hugh de Pateshull, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield.

The church is named after Oswald of Northumbria. A brass plaque in the chapel on the south side of the church commemorates its dedication on 24 April 1241 by Hugh de Pateshull, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield.

Architecturally, it dominates the small town with its 212-foot spire which was referred to by George Eliot as the "finest single spire in England". It is said to have been started in 1240 by Hugh de Pateshull, Bishop of Coventry. Construction probably lasted until the early 14th century. It replaced an earlier Saxon church, and possibly a second Norman one. (A Norman crypt was discovered during excavations in 1913.)

From 1837 to 1840, it was restored by Lewis Nockalls Cottingham, and then in the 1870s by George Gilbert Scott, who added the battlements to the chancel.

Until Ashbourne Hall was partially demolished, it and St. Oswald's were the town's major monuments, standing at either end of the main street. The entrance to the hall's grounds continued the main street through high gates. What remains of the hall houses the local lending library and some unrelated offices. As they were before the 18th century when the Boothby's rebuilt and refurbished their home, St.Oswald's and its tower are once again the major landmark, and the church is the town's main attraction.

Stained glass

There is much stained glass in the church and these include a Christopher Whall window dated 1905. It was given to the church by Mr and Mrs.Peveril Turnbull of Sandybrook Hall and it commemorates their daughters who died in a local fire. The window consists of three lights and contains representations of the Martyr Saints, St Cecilia, St Monica and St Dorothea. St Cecilia is seen falling asleep to the sounds of celestial music; an exquisite symbol of death. Girls play the organ dressed in medieval clothes with flowers and crowns in their hair and the celestial city is visible in one panel, viewed through a thicket of thorns. Whall’s signature on this stained glass was his own thumbprint.

• East window in St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne.jpg

  East window by Charles Eamer Kempe

• South transept window in St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne.jpg

  South transept window by Hardman and Co

• West window in memory of Revd Francis Jourdain in St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne.jpg

  West window by Charles Eamer Kempe

• The Benedictus window in St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne.jpg

  North transept window showing the Benedictus by Hardman and Co.

• Memorial window to the Turnbull daughters in St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne.jpg

  Memorial to the Turnbull daughters by Christopher Whall

• Ashbourne sleeping beautys palace.jpg

  Detail of the Christopher Whall window

Memorials

Each of its transepts houses a chapel dedicated to leading local families. In the north transept, the Cockaynes, and the Boothbys (who bought their home Ashbourne Hall in the early 18th century). In the south transept is the Bradbourne's chapel. These chapels contain funerary monuments which have contributed greatly to the church's renown.

One in particular stands out: the Boothby monument to Penelope Boothby, daughter of Sir Brooke Boothby (6th Baronet). It is an exquisite and highly realistic sculpture made from Carrara marble (Italian) in the form of a sleeping child. It is considered to be the masterpiece of the artist Thomas Banks, and was commissioned by Penelope's father, Sir Brooke Boothby. There is an inscription on the tomb from Dante, one in French, one in Latin. That in English reads "She was in form and intellect most exquisite. The unfortunate Parents ventured their all on this frail Bark. And the wreck was total."[1]

Other monuments and inscriptions in the church recall the generations of Boothbys buried there.The 6th baronet Boothby was a minor poet, now known mainly for the sonnets which he wrote after his daughter's death - "Sorrows Sacred to the Memory of Penelope", which was illustrated with engravings of pictures by Fuseli and Glover. During his life he published several times on the church's inscriptions. It was said that he never recovered from the loss of his daughter, and he died in poverty in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1824.

The churchyard contains war graves of two soldiers of World War I and an army officer of World War II.

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  The Boothby Monument

• Penelope Boothby, St. Oswald, Ashbourne.jpg

  Another view of the tomb of Penelope Boothby

• John and Anne Bradbourne, St. Oswald, Ashbourne.jpg

  Memorial to John and Anne Bradbourne

Vicars of Ashbourne

4

Organ

File:Asbourne St Oswold 004.JPG

The organ pipes in the chancel

A new organ by Valentine of Leicester was installed in 1710. An organ was obtained in 1826 by the builder Parsons. It was enlarged in 1840. The current organ dates from 1858 and may contain pipework from an eighteenth-century instrument. It has had several restorations, including by Hill and Son in 1858, Hill again in 1876, Hill, Norman and Beard in 1950-51, 1982 and 2011 by Henry Groves & Son. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

Organists

File:Memorial to Benjamin Parkin in St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne.jpg

Memorial to Benjamin Parkin

• Mr Binnell (c. 1746)
• Edward Simms (c. 1797–1832)
• George Frederick Simms (1832–34)
• Andrew Loder (1834–38)
• Mr R.W.H. Burrage (1840–44; formerly assistant organist at Norwich Cathedral)
• Mr Loder (Andrew again?) ??–1846–1853–??
• Benjamin Parkin (1856–1904)
• G.F.H. Kemp (c. 1936)
• Chris Daly Atkinson 1944 - 1992
• Michael Halls

See also

• Grade I listed churches in Derbyshire

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Information about the church, from derbyshire.uk, a guide to Derbyshire and the Peak District National Park.

• A new and comprehensive gazetteer of England and Wales. James Bell. 1836
• [1] CWGC Cemetery Report. Breakdown obtained from casualty record.
• Organa britannica: organs in Great Britain 1660-1860. James Boeringer
• Derby Mercury - Friday 1 August 1746
• Staffordshire Advertiser - Saturday 4 February 1832
• Leamington Spa Courier - Saturday 20 September 1834
• Derby Mercury - Wednesday 28 March 1838
• Staffordshire Gazette and County Standard - Saturday 27 June 1840
• Norfolk Chronicle - Saturday 7 December 1844
• Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Friday 29 January 1904
• Derby Daily Telegraph - Monday 14 September 1936