CITY OF DURHAM 



knots. On the centre knot was an inscription in 

 gold letters on a blue ground ' Orate pro W. 

 Catten, Vicr.' " 



The north and south doorways are modern, 

 that on the south side being in the 13th-century 

 style, but in the wall above is a 15th-century 

 niche with cinquefoiled ogee head and tracery 

 over. Suttees mentions four arches in the south 

 aisle ' apparently intended as sepulchral, but 

 without effigy or inscription,''- and Sir Stephen 

 Glynne in 1825" noted an arch in the wall at 

 the west end of the south aisle ' under which 

 apparently was once a tomb.' All these dis- 

 appeared when the aisle walls were destroyed, 

 or before. The new walls were reduced in 

 thickness. 



The tower is of four stages with embattled 

 parapet and diagonal buttresses, carried up its 

 full height as angle pinnacles. It has been very 

 much restored and all the windows and other 

 external architectural features are modern. The 

 belfry windows are pointed openings of two Hghts 

 and the west window is of three lights. With the 

 exception of a small single light opening in the 

 second stage the north and south sides are blank 

 below the belfry. The tower arch is a lofty 

 pointed one of two chamfered orders without 

 hood mould springing from the early impost 

 mouldings already referred to, below which the 

 chamfers are carried down the jambs. The first 

 floor is carried by a ribbed vault with large 

 circular well hole, but without wall ribs, and is 

 approached by a staircase in the thickness of the 

 wall starting in the south-east corner and 

 returned along the west wall to the north-west 

 angle. Many of the steps consist of mediaeval 

 grave covers with crosses and various symbols, 

 no fewer than twenty-four being used in the 

 construction of the stairway.'* Some of the 

 grave slabs discovered in 1864 are now in the 

 churchyard on the north side of the tower. 



The font is modern and stands below the 

 tower. Above the tower arch are the Royal 

 Arms of the Stuart Sovereigns. The pulpit and 

 all the other fittings are also modern. In the 

 north aisle is a good renaissance mural monument 

 to Christopher Chayter of Butterby (d. 1592) 

 and at the east end of the south aisle others to 

 Jarrardus Salvinof Croxdale(d. 1663) with arms, 

 helm, and crest,'* and to George Smith of 

 Burnhall (d. 1756). 



'I Surtees, Hist, of Dur. iv, 74. ^^ Ibid. 



^3 Glynne's account of the building at this date is 

 in Pro. Soc. Ant. {Nezuc), 3rd ser. iii, 283. He visited 

 the church again in 1869 and noted that it had been 

 ' much improved and put into good state.' 



'^ Boyle, Co. Durham, 380. One stone shows a line 

 of small nail-headed ornament. 



'5 It was formerly on the north side of the chancel. 

 The inscriptions in the church are given in Surtees, 

 op. cit. iv, 75-7, and in the churchyard, 77-80. 



There is no ancient glass, but Surtees mentions 

 ' some remains ' in the windows of the north 

 aisle, including the arms of Nevill, and a roundel 

 with its sacred monogram. A perfect shield 

 with the arms of Lumley had been destroyed a 

 few years before.'" 



There is a ring of six bells, five of which were 

 cast by Christopher Hodgson in 1694. The 

 second is a recasting of a similar bell by GiUett 

 &Co. in 1885. All the old bells bear inscriptions 

 in Roman characters with coins of different sizes 

 between the words." 



The plate'* consists of a small silver-gilt cup 

 with domed cover, originally a secular drinking 

 vessel, without marks, but probably of 16th- 

 century date, inscribed ' Haec Calix est novum 

 Testamentum in Sanguine meo pro vobis 

 funditur et pro multis in remissio'em peccato- 

 rum ' ; a silver-gilt paten of 1699, inscribed 

 ' Hoc est corpus meum quod pro vobis frangitur,' 

 and on the back ' G. Brown,' with the maker's 

 mark R.M ; a silver-gilt alms dish of 1701, with 

 the mark of John Bodington, inscribed ' The 

 Gift of John Sedgwicke Esq. A.D. 1699 to St. 

 Oswald's Church in Durham ' ; two silver 

 collecting basins of 1736, the first made at 

 Newcastle and inscribed ' The Gift of E. 

 Lambton,' and the second ' The Gift of David 

 Dixon ' ; and two silver-gilt chalices and patens 

 of 1865. 



The head of a mediaeval processional cross, 

 probably of late 15th-century date, found about 

 the middle of the last century in a mail coach in 

 an hotel yard in Durham, belongs to St. Oswald's.'* 

 The figure of Our Lord, and those of the Blessed 

 Virgin and St. John, together with four angels 

 at the ends of the arms, are of white metal, the 

 cross and arms being gilded. 



The registers begin in 1538, but there is a gap 



■" Surtees, op. cit. iv, 74. 



" Pro. Soc. Ant. {Newc), new ser. iii, 194. The 

 inscriptions are (l) Glovia [sic] in Altissimis Deo 

 Pex Forster A.M. Vic. Christo. Hodson me fecit 

 1694; (2) Gillett & Co. made me 1885. Pax hom- 

 inibus. Arthur Headlam, W.k. Vic. (and names of 

 churchwardens) ; (3) Deum Timete Pex Forster 

 A.M. Vic. I. Evans, C. Warden. Christo Hodson me 

 fecit ; (4) Regem Honorate Pex Forster A.M. Vic. 

 1694. Christop'' Hodson made me I. Evans IS. 

 WH. RW. ; (5) Ibimus in Domum Domini Pex 

 Forster A.M. Vic. Christoper Hodson made me 1694. 

 I. Evans Ch. W. ; (6) Oswaldus Florem Meleor Quia 

 Gesto Tenorem Pex Forster, A.M. Vic. I. Evans IS. 

 WH. RW. CW. 94. The original second bell was 

 inscribed ' Pax Hominibus Pex Forster A.M. Vic. 

 I. Evans. Christopher Hodson made me 1694. IS. 

 WH. RW. CW.' 



'« Pro. Soc. Ant. (AVar.), iii, 428-9. 



■" Ibid, v, 196. It was sold to a Mr. Caldcleugh, 

 whose widow subsequently presented it to St. 

 Oswald's. It is mounted on an ebony staff with 

 silver knobs, and is used for its original purpose. 



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