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Inscribed Across the Landscape: The Cursus Monuments of Great Britain

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<< Our Photo Pages >> St Oswald (Guiseley) - Ancient Cross in England in Yorkshire (West)

Submitted by TimPrevett on Saturday, 19 May 2007  Page Views: 7888

Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: St Oswald (Guiseley)
Country: England County: Yorkshire (West) Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Guiseley
Map Ref: SE1940542110
Latitude: 53.874833N  Longitude: 1.706342W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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I have visited· I would like to visit

Anne T visited on 10th Apr 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Anglo Saxon Cross, St. Oswald's Church, Guiseley: I had tried on several occasions to phone the vicar, the parish office and some of the church wardens to find out if the church was open during the day, even leaving messages on voice mails which weren’t returned. A couple of hours before our visit I did manage to get through to one of the churchwardens who said it was no trouble to meet us at the church at 1pm. “We always aim to please,” he told me. The church is apparently now kept locked as they caught some intruders levering brass plaques off the church wall but they always try and accommodate visitors. I’d explained in advance that we wanted to see the Anglo Saxon cross, and expected to keep him only 10-15 minutes. But on arriving at the church he told us he was going to give us the “full church tour” – 1 hour and 40 minutes later I felt very rude when I had to make excuses as we were expected over at All Saints in Weston and had to cut the tour a little short. Make no mistake, St. Oswald’s church itself is very interesting and this gentleman knew his history; he spoke with knowledge and enthusiasm - the time flew by. On the left hand side of the main entrance there can be seen the vague outline of one of seven original consecration crosses (now the only one remaining); the church unusually has two sanctuaries, it is also where the parents of the Brontes were married and the Patrons of the church include Trinity College Cambridge. Entering through the porch with its now interior original Norman archway into the church, the Guiseley cross is immediately on your left hand side at the north entrance to the baptistery. Dating from the 9th century, it is very obviously an original cross shaft, mounted on a stone block with one part of a cross arm bolted/cemented on top to make it look like a full cross. The whole is blackened by soot and the churchwarden told us it had stood for many years outside in Town Gate nearby. He told us the church had considered having the cross cleaned but been advised to keep it in its current state. I found it difficult to photograph due to the bright spotlights shining down on it (had we been on our own we would have turned the lights off) and the proximity of the rear of the cross due to the stone column behind. The churchwarden led us to what we were told was the original Saxon part of the church (now the Lady Chapel? I haven’t been able to find a floor plan of the church to double check this). He told us as a small boy he attended worship with his class from school to find two gentlemen had lifted up a slab in the floor of this part of the church; he could see a staircase leading downwards and was told there was a charnel house with many bones it in. It’s not accessible to the public and he hasn’t been down there since he saw it as a youngster. The southern aisle is unmistakeable Norman with the original columns (although the churchwarden said there was some debate about whether or not this had been moved to accommodate a further extension at some time). There are some very notable stained glass windows in the church and one of the original box pews. My one regret was that having to rush away to All Saints in Weston as we were very late, I wasn’t able to get any photographs of the exterior of the building. I had little time to also look at the cross. We had an invitation to phone up and arrange another visit sometime soon, and we will do that as there wasn’t enough time to take everything

rldixon have visited here

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by rldixon : detail of rear of cross head 27-04-2010 (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Cross in Yorkshire (West). Cross shaft within St Oswald's Church, Guiseley

rldixon writes: Nice little Cross in a nice little Church. Two gardeners / Church wardens ?? were very helpful and opened up for us. The cross has some small bits of paint on it from some childrens event, spoils it a little but overall a nice cross
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St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by rldixon : detail of front of cross head 27-04-2010 (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by rldixon : detail right side of Cross 27-04-2010 (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by rldixon : Detail of front of cross 27-04-2010 (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by rldixon : Detail of carving on left side of cross april 27 2020 (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by Anne T : Only one of seven of the original consecration crosses remains on the left hand side of the entrance door, below the Norman arch. It can just be made out - strangely better in the photograph than picked out by my eyes.

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by Anne T : Standing in the bapistry looking towards the north wall of the church to see the beautiful carvings on the second narrow face of the Guiseley Cross.

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by Anne T : Rather blurred image of the rear of the cross arm piece, which was too close to the wall to photograph properly (should have taken my small digital camera!).

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by Anne T : Close up of the front of the cross arm showing the Midguard Serpent or Guiseley Beastie.

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by Anne T : Close up of the carvings on the front of the cross shaft.

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by Anne T : Standing at the western end of the nave looking at one of the narrow faces of the Guiseley Cross (the carvings on this face are almost too faint to be made out).

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by Anne T : This 9th century cross is made up of an original cross shaft and a piece of a cross arm that has been placed on top to make it look like an original cross. It stands against the northern entrance to the baptistry.

St Oswald (Guiseley)
St Oswald (Guiseley) submitted by rldixon : ancient Cross St Oswalds Guiseley april 27 2010

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"St Oswald (Guiseley)" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: St Oswald (Guiseley) by Sunny100 on Saturday, 27 November 2010
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Three fragments of a Saxon cross in St Oswalds at Guiseley. They date from the 9th century CE, and probably once formed part of a preaching cross. The cross fragments have knotwork panels. Originally they would have been lime-washed and painted in bright colours. The cross-shaft or stump, at the west end, with one of the fragments set on top is heavily damaged.

Also, of interest here a Saxon chieftain of the 7th-century called Gislic gave his name to the town. The church is grade 1 listed.
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Re: St Oswald (Guiseley) by rldixon on Thursday, 29 April 2010
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nice little Cross in a nice little Church
two gardeners / Church wardens ?? were very helpfull and opened up for us
the cross has some small bits of paint on it from some childrens event
spoils it a little but overall a nice cross
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