OSWALBKIRK. 



Kirby-Moorside, 13 from Mai ton, and 20 from York. 

 Oswaldkirk is situated on the high road from York 

 to Helmsley, and serves as a bye-post for the villa- 

 ges to the east and west of it. This parish comprises 

 Oswaldkirk, Newton Grange, and Oswaldkirk in 

 Ampleforth quarter, and contains collectively a 

 population of 388 inhabitants ; viz. Oswaldkirk 

 and Newton Grange 212, and Oswaldkirk in Am- 

 pleforth quarter 176. 



The church is a rectory dedicated to St, Oswald,* 



waldesehercha, or the church of Oswald, and is there 

 stated to have been amongst the lands given by William 

 the Conqueror to the Earl of Morton, and Berenger de 

 Todeni. 



Bawdwen's Domesday. 1.72,121. 



* Oswald,the patron saint of this church and from whem 

 the village derives its name, was that celebrated king of 

 .Northumbria who is mentioned by the venerable Bede, 

 as having erected the first church in Bernicia, and called 

 in the assistance of the no less celebrated Aidan, a monk 

 of the flourishing monastery of Tona, in Scotland ; who, 

 in the character of bishop of Northumbria, laboured with 

 great diligence and success, in the conversion of the 

 people, under the patronage of Oswald. This prince 

 was so zealous for the propagation of the gospel, that 

 until Aidan had learned the language of the country, 

 he often acted as his interpreter ; a task for which he 

 was well qualified, by h'4 long exile among the Scots. 



This extraordinary zeal on the part of Oswald, arose 

 from the following circumstance ; being about to 

 inarch against Cedwall, the Briton King of Cumberland, 

 he set up across, humbly imploring the aid of Christ to 

 his worshippers, and immediately raising his voice, cried 

 aloud to the army, " Let us all fall upon our knees, and 

 4< beseech the Almighty, living, and true God, by hie 

 *' mercy to deliver us from this fierce and haughty foe.'* 

 4< We do not find," says Bede, " that any sign of Christ- 

 '* ianity, any church, or any altar, had been set up in this 

 *' whole nation before this banner of the holy cross was 



