Church

St Oswald, Filey

St Oswald, Filey

St Oswald’s is a Grade I parish church on Church Cliff Drive, Filey, North Yorkshire, in the Diocese of York. It stands on the north side of Church Ravine. Pevsner called it easily the finest church in the north-east corner of the East Riding.

Location
Filey, Yorkshire
Country
England
County
Yorkshire
City / town
Filey
Address
Church Cliff Drive, Filey, Yorkshire, YO14 9ET
Postcode
YO14 9ET
Built
12th and 13th centuries; 15th-century battlements; restored 1885; roof partly rebuilt 1908
Architect
W S Barber (1885 restoration)
Denomination
Church of England
Dedication
Oswald
Diocese
York
Parish
Filey
Grade
I
Style
Romanesque and Early English
Materials
Dressed sandstone; slate and lead roofs
Grid reference
TA 117 810
Opening hours
Covid19 : the church is currently closed. [Volunteers endeavour to open most days between March and November from 10.30am to 12.30pm for guided tours or just to come and be still, stop, reflect or pray. School parties are also welcome.]
Access
Accessible toilets in church. Level access to the main areas

Overview

Historic England lists a twelfth- and thirteenth-century church with fifteenth-century battlements, restored and partly rebuilt in 1885 by W. S. Barber, with the roof partly rebuilt in 1908 after a fire. The fabric is dressed sandstone under slate and lead roofs. The plan is a six-bay aisled nave with clerestory, transepts, an embattled two-stage crossing tower, chancel, and later north and south porches. Lancet windows survive in the chancel and transepts. The south door is of four orders with moulded round arches. The east end has a group of three stepped lancets. A priest’s door on the south of the chancel has a mass clock and a seventeenth-century bronze sundial inscribed in Greek.

Interior nave arcades have keeled shafts and alternating round and octagonal piers. Fittings include a thirteenth-century bowl font, a late-thirteenth-century wooden figure in the south aisle, and a sealed altar slab with five crosses. The parish website is Filey Parish. The church is open for visitors in season.

Further Information