OSWALDKIRK. 233 



It appears to have been a private chapel attached 

 to the family mansion ; of which there are several 

 instances in the district, a&at Nunnington, Sinning- 

 ton, Helmsley, and Wath ; and Lady Cliomley's 

 object in directing an annual sermon to be preached 

 there, was probably with a view of preserving for 

 a longer period the family cemetery. It must long 

 ago have become a mass of ruins, ha.l it not been 

 repaired in 1765, at the expence of Mr. Duncombe, 

 whose family are the present proprietors of the 

 estate This protracted its usefulness as a place of 

 worship ap to the year 1820 : but time, the leveller 

 of mightier OURS, seems to have sealed its fate and 

 is about to baffle all the efforts of human skill. 



Till at the last, 

 The rottenness, which time is charg'd to inflict 

 On other mighty ones, finds also thee. 



COWPER. 



Ampleforth College. In Oswaldkirk quarter in 

 this parish, is situated the Roman Catholic College 

 of Ampleforth, established by the members of the 

 College of Dieulouard, near Pont a Mousson, in, 

 Lorraine ; their property there being confiscated 

 by the fatal revolution in France. The Hon. Mrs. 

 Ann Fairfax, ofGilling, herself a catholic, contribu- 

 ted very considerably to the erection of the college 

 at Arapleforth, and at her death, about the year 

 1798, left the sum of ^> 10,000 to the Rev. John 

 Bolton, who devoted it to the enlargement and en" 

 clowmentof this college. The building has since 

 been considerably enlarged ; but in consequence o f 



