Furious residents in a quiet Yorkshire Dales village have labelled a 15th century church as an ‘abomination’ which can be seen for miles.
Askrigg is best known as the quintessential rural idyll of Darrowby in the original series of All Creatures Great and Small.
The bell tower at Grade 1-listed St Oswald’s Church now boasts a striking new appearance after undergoing a limewash render process to address water leakage issues in its ancient brickwork.
In attempting to reassure concerned locals who worried about the tower resembling “a lighthouse in the Dales,” village vicar Rev Dave Clark has been accused of ‘bearing false witness’.
Last summer he told the Church Times the tower would be ‘rather a soft honey colour, in keeping with the newly cleaned masonry of the building.’
The work was done last year but the tower has been wrapped ever since in scaffolding and plastic sheeting through the winter.
Under the brilliant spring sunlight, the renovated tower was revealed, prompting shocked gasps from numerous parishioners who unanimously agree that it now sports a pristine white hue.
It has been described by locals on social media as ‘an abomination,’ ‘a hideous eyesore’ and also likened to a mosque rather than an ancient Anglican church dating back to the late Middle Ages.
Before and after the rendering of the church tower in Askrigg
Businesswoman Emma Brooke, 63, began a ‘stop the rendering’ petition last year which gained 438 signatures
The village vicar, Rev Dave Clark, was yesterday accused of ‘bearing false witness’ in his attempts to allay the worries of locals who feared the tower would look like ‘a lighthouse in the Dales’
The work was done last year but the tower has been wrapped ever since in scaffolding and plastic sheeting through the winter
Businesswoman Emma Brooke, 63, began a ‘stop the rendering’ petition last year which gained 438 signatures, not all of them from Askrigg, which has a population of around 500.
Standing at the wrought-iron gates, Mrs Brooke said: ‘It’s a disgrace that this was ever allowed to happen and I’m afraid the vicar has to shoulder a lot of the responsibility.
‘The last words to come from his mouth at a public meeting on the rendering of the tower was: ‘It will not be white.’
‘Well, I’m sorry, but it’s white. It is entirely out of keeping with the beautiful landscape of the national park and it is every bit the eyesore that we all feared it would be.
‘It’s staggering that this was allowed to happen, particularly in an area where you would expect planning regulations to be more stringent than normal.
‘From the hills that surround the village it can be seen for miles and looks so out of place, particularly when the rest of the church has been left in its original state.
‘No one in the village disagreed that work needed to be done to stop the clock tower being damaged, everyone wanted to save it.
‘But when limewash rendering was discussed it seemed the worst possible option and there were several others discussed.
The tower has been described by locals on social media as ‘an abomination’
Phillip Halton, 73, born and raised in Askrigg, said: ‘There were a lot of tradesmen in and around the village who offered all sorts of solutions other than this one, which was by a great distance the worst.’
‘We were told there would be a consultation meeting, which was to take place last May.
‘But when we arrived there we found it was anything but. The decision had been taken and we were greeted with a fait accompli. The decision had been taken and there was nothing we could do.’
Waving a hand up at the tower, she added: ‘And this is the result. Now the wrapping and scaffolding is down we can see it properly and all our original fears have been confirmed.’
Another villager who lives near the church said: ‘This whole process puts me in mind of the ninth commandment, Exodus 20:16 – thou shalt not bear false witness.
‘I’m afraid that’s what has happened here. We were told we’d be consulted and we weren’t, we were told the render would be the colour of honey and it just isn’t.
‘The vicar and the diocese have some explaining to do because they’ve changed the character of a beautiful village.’
Phillip Halton, 73, born and raised in Askrigg, said: ‘There were a lot of tradesmen in and around the village who offered all sorts of solutions other than this one, which was by a great distance the worst.
‘It has disfigured the church, changed the face of the village and it is quite horrendous.
Locals have also called the tower ‘a hideous eyesore’ and also likened to a mosque rather than an ancient Anglican church dating back to the late Middle Ages
Another villager who lives near the church said: ‘This whole process puts me in mind of the ninth commandment, Exodus 20:16 – thou shalt not bear false witness’
‘To say that people are disappointed with the vicar and the diocese is an understatement, it’s hard to comprehend what has been done here.
‘It’s a Grade 1-listed building in a National Park, no one will ever convince me this was an appropriate thing to do to it.’
At the King’s Arms in the heart of the picturesque village, barmaid Rachel Tysoe shakes her head in disbelief.
She said: ‘It’s worse than people predicted. I live in Thornton Rust, which is two miles outside Askrigg and I can see it from my home. You could never see the church before but now there’s no missing it.’
Rev Dave, as he’s known to his flock, is dismayed at the flak flying his way.
He said: ‘To hear and to read “Dave Clark is a liar” is disappointing and it is actually upsetting. Some of the things written online about me have been very personal and that’s difficult.
‘However I have broad shoulders and I accept that people feel strongly about this issue and that as the vicar I am the focal point for that.
‘We are not diminishing anyone’s distress over this, but I feel there would have been greater distress if the tower had fallen down or if the bells came loose and fell through the floor.
Mr Halton added: ‘To say that people are disappointed with the vicar and the diocese is an understatement, it’s hard to comprehend what has been done here’
Rev Dave, as he’s known to his flock, is dismayed at the flak flying his way, saying: ‘To hear and to read “Dave Clark is a liar” is disappointing and it is actually upsetting. Some of the things written online about me have been very personal and that’s difficult’
‘I am sorry if people felt they were left out of the loop but someone had to make a decision and it certainly was not made in isolation.
‘This has been a process that has gone on for 10 years and had taken on board the advice and guidance of experts from around the world.
‘We have talked to masons, professors, researchers and have had the invaluable help of the Damp Towers Project, which is the longest running architectural preservation project in history.
‘It has been running since 1989 to find solutions to problems with towers like ours which was being ruined by water – and we get a lot of it in the Yorkshire Dales.
‘We did everything we could to make the colour as sympathetic as possible to the surroundings. The render was mixed with Askrigg stone, chosen specifically to tone the colour.
‘With my hand on my heart I can say it is not white and when you look at it properly you can see that. Given time it will weather and fade down.
‘We’ve worked closely with the North Yorkshire National Park, which is very careful about what it allows to happen here and they have taken a strong supportive role in this.
‘The parish council at Askrigg have been consulted throughout and signed off on the colour of the render.
‘It’s important to note that the church was rendered for 600 years. It’s only the last 150 years that have seen it without, the render was removed in the 1850s by the Victorians.
‘It is bound to be a talking point. As you drive through the dale it’s a case of ‘ta-daaa’ there is the tower. But that’s what it was always supposed to do, it says: ‘look, here is the house of God.’
