Church of St Oswald, Lythe
St Oswald's Church, Lythe
St. Oswald's church, Lythe, through lych-gate
Church of St Oswald, Lythe is located in North Yorkshire
Church of St Oswald, Lythe
Church of St Oswald, Lythe
Location within North Yorkshire
54°30′24″N 0°41′18″W / 54.5066°N 0.6884°W / 54.5066; -0.6884
OS grid referenceNZ850131
LocationLythe, North Yorkshire
CountryEngland
DenominationChurch of England
Weekly attendance20
WebsiteWebsite
History
StatusActive
DedicationSt Oswald
Associated peopleJohn Fisher
Administration
DioceseYork
ArchdeaconryCleveland
DeaneryWhitby
BeneficeHinderwell, Roxby & Staithes with Lythe, Ugthorpe & Sandsend
ParishLythe with Sandsend
Clergy
Vicar(s)The Reverend Malcolm Jackson
Listed Building – Grade I
Designated6 October 1969
Reference no.1316097

The Church of St Oswald, Lythe, is the parish church for the village of Lythe, 4 miles (6.4 km) west, north west of Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. The church is at the top of Lythe Bank (the western end) and is just east of the village on the A174 road.

A church has been on the site since the 13th century, though the present building was adapted from the old church in 1910 by Sir Walter Tapper. It was grade I listed in 1969.

History

A church had been located on the site since the 13th century, but stones found in the early 20th century mark Lythe as being an important Viking burial ground.[1] The tower of the old church was renovated in 1769, with the whole church being renovated in 1819.[2] When Sir Walter Tapper rebuilt the church in 1910, only the north wall and the east end of the chancel were left untouched. During the rebuilding in the early 20th century, stones found in the walls of the tower were dated to pre-conquest times.[3] Tapper also adapted the Norman tower to fit a spire, which acts as a way marker and coast marker for sailors travelling alongside the dangerous part of the coast near to here.[4]

The church was granted to the monks of Nostell Priory during the tenure of Pope Alexander III (1159–1181) and so was named after their dedication of St Oswald. The church became crown property in the 1530s after its benefactor, Sir Francis Bigod was hanged at the Tyburn for high treason.[5]

Before Tapper's restoration, several changes were made to the building which was essentially of 12th and 13th century origin. At some point, the walls were re-inforced with buttresses and two arches inside the church were demolished to make just one arch. The top of the tower was removed c. 1768 "for fear of it falling down upon the church."[6] In 1818, the roof was stripped of its lead covering and replaced with slate.[7] The churchyard was enlarged in 1887 and around the same period, a lych-gate was added.[8]

The church is only 350 feet (110 m) away from the coast and is adjacent to a steep hill on the A174 road known as Lythe Bank. Its prominent location overlooking road and sea is often described as being in a commanding position for its views to the east.[9] The chapel-of-ease of St Mary's at Sandsend, is believed to have been built when the population of Sandsend increased. The new church meant that worshippers could avoid the steep Lythe Bank to get up to St Oswald's.[10][11]

Despite being described as having no antiquarian value by some writers (on account of its restoration in 1910) the building was given a grade I listing in 1969.[12]

The roof was replaced again in 2018, when the roof tiles put up by Tapper were replaced with newer stones. The old sandstone tiles were carved into unique artworks by a local sculptor who then sold the pieces during the 2019 Tour de Yorkshire to raise money for the church.[13]

Churchyard

The churchyard contains many graves, some dating as far back as the 10th century.[14] Several of the burial plots are those from the Phipps family; the Phipps' are the family that have been in possession of Mulgrave Castle and woods for several centuries. Oswald Phipps, 4th Marquess of Normanby was buried here in 1994.[15]

The churchyard also contains a memorial to the seventeen men from the village killed in the First World War and also commemorates seven unknown sailors who were washed ashore in the same period.[16] The memorial sits to the south west of the church and is grade II listed.[17]

In 1932, the Belgian trawler Jeanne was wrecked on the coast below Lythe. The graveyard contains a grave with three of the dead sailors.[18]

Parish and benefice region

The Church of St Oswald, is the parish church for the Parish of Lythe which covers over 40 square miles (100 km2).[19] The parish consists of the settlements of Lythe, Sandsend, Goldsborough, East & West Barnby and Kettleness and the area largely consists of a rural seaside landscape.[20][21] The church is part of the benefice of Hinderwell, Roxby & Staithes with Lythe, Ugthorpe & Sandsend.[22]

The benefice has a population of 2,700 but only 74 attend church, and of those, only 20 attend St Oswald's regularly. In 2016, St Oswald's performed three baptisms, nine weddings and seven funerals.[23]

The graveyard and church were used as a setting in the Daniel Day-Lewis film, "Phantom Thread".[24]

Clergy

The following are listed as being rectors of St Oswalds between 1154 and 1537, when Edward Layton was presented as the vicar of St Oswalds by Henry VIII. Thereafter, all clergy are listed as vicars.[25] Some sources list John Fisher, who was incumbent between 1499 and 1504 as being the Catholic Martyr of John Fisher and his recorder being Hugo Ashton, who succeeded him at Lythe.[26]

Vicars at Lythe[27][28]
Year Incumbent Year Incumbent Year Incumbent Year Incumbent
1154 Robert, Priest of Lythe[lower-alpha 1] 1372 John de Gascoigne ? Henry Fletcher 1902 William G. Harland
1233 Hugo, Clericus 1394 Thomas Kellowe 1607 Robert Raynard 1934 Phillip J. Seymour Russell
1267 John de Toucotes 1409 William Gaunton 1640 Thomas Burrowes 1946 J. K. Bretherton Bennett
1291 Stephen de Mauley 1416 Richard Yorke 1662 William Shipton 1949 Dudley Joseph Hill
1296 Simon Clairvaux 1417 John Semer 1667 Herbert Ferreman 1957 Peter Richard Hodgson
1307 William de Melton 1433 Richard Langton 1672 William Smeathman 1961 Dennis Theodore Little
1315 Nicholas de Huggate 1459 Christopher Bank 1679 John Wiely 1973 John William Foster
1318 Thomas de Pauhale 1481 Thomas Artas 1707 Ralph Bateman 1979 Peter Carr Ferguson
1319 Richard de Milton 1499 John Fisher 1737 Thomas Gawton 1983 Robert Anthony Smailes
1322 Adam de Heselbeck 1504 Hugo Ashton 1739 Samuel Marsden 1988 Walter Smith
1328 Francis Gaytom 1511 John Frost 1760 Jonathan Robinson 1999 E. C. Richard Burge
1330 William de Wardhoue 1516 Thomas Larke 1778 William Harrison 2006 Barry Pike
1343 John de Bolton 1523 James Cockerell 1780 Thomas Porter 2018 Malcolm Jackson
1370 Thomas de Myddleton 1537 Edward Layton 1826 William Long
1372 John de St John 1544 John Pykering 1858 Henry R. S. Pearson
  1. ↑ Interregnum between incumbent and next incumbent when dates are incorrect, period appears too long or records are incomplete.

References

  1. ↑ "Exhibition to unveil centuries-old stones". The Whitby Gazette. 16 October 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  2. ↑ "Genuki: Lythe, Yorkshire (North Riding)". www.genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  3. ↑ Page 1968, p. 397.
  4. ↑ Diocese of York 2017, pp. 9–10.
  5. ↑ Graves 1808, p. 307.
  6. ↑ Page 1968, pp. 397–398.
  7. ↑ Page 1968, p. 398.
  8. ↑ Page 1968, p. 399.
  9. ↑ "Your Day Out: Lythe and its fascinating connections". The Scarborough News. 16 April 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  10. ↑ "Churches in the benefice of The Mulgrave Parishes in Whitby Deanery". www.whitbydeanery.org. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  11. ↑ Diocese of York 2017, p. 10.
  12. ↑ Historic England. "Church of St Oswald (Grade I) (1316097)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  13. ↑ "Stone artwork on sale to raise funds for St Oswald's". 28 March 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019 – via Newsbank.
  14. ↑ Matthews, Rodger (27 March 2010). "Walks". Retrieved 18 April 2019 – via Newsbank.
  15. ↑ Hannay, Richard (3 February 1994). "Obituary: The Marquess of Normanby". The Independent. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  16. ↑ "Your Day Out: Lythe and its fascinating connections". The Scarborough News. 14 April 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  17. ↑ Historic England. "Lythe War Memorial (Grade II) (1430667)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  18. ↑ Rushby, Kevin (16 June 2017). "Walking the Yorkshire coast: the shipwrecks and sea caves of Flamborough and beyond". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  19. ↑ "St Oswald's Church Lythe Home". www.stoswaldslythe.org.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  20. ↑ Diocese of York 2017, p. 9.
  21. ↑ Jones, Sam (3 November 2016). "Sandsend village church faces closure without help". The Whitby Gazette. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  22. ↑ "The Benefice of the Coastal Parishes". www.whitbydeanery.org. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  23. ↑ Diocese of York 2017, p. 3.
  24. ↑ Vincent, Alice (1 February 2017). "Phantom Thread: everything you need to know about Daniel Day-Lewis's final film". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  25. ↑ Graves 1808, p. 308.
  26. ↑ Krug, Rebecca (2002). "2: Margaret Beaufort's Literate Practice". Reading families : women's literate practice in late medieval England. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 106. ISBN 0-8014-3924-8.
  27. ↑ "The list of Rectors and Vicars in St. Oswald's Church, Lythe". genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  28. ↑ "Appointments". Church Times. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2023.

Sources

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