The Church of Grasmere: A HistoryArmitt, Mary L. (Mary Louisa)
History
The Church of Grasmere: A History
Armitt, Mary L. (Mary Louisa)
St. Oswald's Church (Grasmere, England)
Such doubtless was the existing church in its first state, and of
it there may remain the tower, the porch, the south wall, and one
window. There are indications that before its enlargement it was more
ornate then now. Freestone was used, though sparingly, to emphasize
the chief architectural points. The opening into the tower, piercing
four feet of solid wall, has a moulding of freestone (now battered
away) to mark the spring of its slightly-pointed arch; while a
string-moulding is discernible in the north wall of the nave, which
may once have accentuated the window heads. The windows--if we may
suppose the one left between porch and tower to be a relic of the
original set[125]--were simple openings finished by an "ogee" arch.
The font may be as old as the window, if not older. Its mouldings,
which originally followed the rim and divided the bowl into a
hexagon, are almost obliterated; and though no doubt it suffered
during the Commonwealth, when it was degraded from its sacred use,
the damage may not be wholly due to that cause. The freestone used
in the building was unfortunately friable, and must have suffered at
every alteration--such as the piercing of the north wall by arches,
and the building up of the tower-arch for a vestry. It could not be
replaced by the remodellers; and they seem to have intentionally
chipped and levelled it, and then freely whitewashed it over, with a
general view to tidiness. They even went beyond this; for when the
east wall was reconstructed in 1851, a stone carved with the likeness
of a face was found built into it. This is now in the Kendal Museum.
The piscina, too, now refixed (and, unfortunately, redressed), was
found, covered with plaster, lower down in the same wall.
[125] This is almost a certainty. A drawing made by a friend of
Mrs. Fletcher, of Lancrigg, showed two like windows on the south
side; but it is unfortunately lost.
[Illustration: Profile of Stone Head]
The worn, maltreated freestone might, if we knew its origin, tell
something of the tale of the building. A well-squared yellow block,
recently laid bare in the porch, is certainly not the red sandstone
of Furness.
[Illustration: SCULPTURED STONE FOUND IN TAKING DOWN THE EAST
WALL OF GRASMERE CHURCH]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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