By ROBERT GIBSON robert.gibson@hexham-courant.co.uk

Published at 13:09, Thursday, 18 December 2008

IF ENTHUSIASTIC parishioners are any measure of a church’s worth, then surely few in Tynedale compare with the serene St Mary’s in Ovingham.

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When the building was in need of a new boiler local residents were quick to act and set up a charity auction to raise the thousands of pounds required.

Likewise, to mark the millennium, the community got together to secure sufficient funding to give the building a much-needed refurbishment.

The roof and drains were completely repaired and floodlighting was added, allowing the 60ft Saxon tower to be seen in all its glory for miles around.

“It was very much a community effort,” said Ovingham’s Canon Michael Nelson. “It’s dear to the people of Ovingham and Ovington.

“Even if they don’t come week by week, it matters to them that it’s here because it’s been the place of baptisms, weddings and Christenings for generations.”

Among those to be baptised in the church were father of the railways, George Stephenson, and illustrator Thomas Bewick, who, along with his family, is also buried there.

Bewick lived in nearby Mickley, but was educated in the church’s school. Several of his drawings – notably one depicting young louts larking around among gravestones – used the church as inspiration.

Another grave of note is that of Wylam man Isaac Jackson who invented an escapement system for use in a clock for Robert Stephenson.

That same design, being robust enough to drive its giant hands around, went on to be used in Britain’s most famous clock, Big Ben.

Even without referring to the history books, St Mary’s offers something special with its sheer quantity of unique quirks.

Plaques, as might be expected, abound but many are far from the ordinary – like the one marking the introduction of a gas supply to the building, and the one commemorating a past vicar who collapsed during an Easter service.

And as far as decor for the entrance goes, few churches could boast a collection of medieval ‘cross-slabs’, designed to fill a coffin or lie across a grave.

These tend to date from the early 11th century and are rarely found after the 14th, when lead and wooden coffins came to replace stone ones. Like most aspects of St Mary’s, in other words, it’s hard to put a date on them.

It is believed a stone church may have been built in Ovingham in the 7th century, a theory supported by the existence of similarly dated churches nearby, the ample supply of carved stone and the oval shaped cemetery, which would have been a typical design of that time.

There are few traces of the first building apart from some foundations, possibly the nave walls, and parts of crosses from the late Saxon period.

Certainly the tower was built between 960 and 1040, though the church chose 1990 as the date to mark its 1,000th birthday with the addition of a Millennium window.

“Why a tower?” asks Canon David Goodacre, vicar of Ovingham until 2001, in his guidebook Offa’s Church.

“It was a century of tower building – Corbridge, the two Bywell churches, Warden are all nearby – and since Ovingham is the tallest it must partly have been to establish superiority.

“Most importantly, it stands as a rising prayer to heaven, as a symbol of the solidity of the faith, and as a witness to the people around.

“But there must have been an element of prudent foresight in it. The appalling Viking killings continued until the end of the 9th century and, even if it had all happened some time before, the memory will have persisted.”

Whatever the reasons for building the tower, Ovingham hadn’t seen the end of conflict and towards the end of the 13th century found itself embroiled in national politics.

The rector at the time was William Comyn, whose family was involved in a struggle with Robert the Bruce for the Scottish throne.

In 1316 he was summoned by the Bishop of Durham to answer accusations he had been neglecting his parish. About the same time, Ovingham – though not the church, it would appear – was twice burned to the ground by invading Scots.

The later 14th century and the 150 years that followed were certainly quiet by comparison, the parish being served and the church lands administered by the Augustinian canons.

But when the master of Ovingham took the lead in the protest against Henry VIII’s commissioners who had come to close Hexham Priory, he paid the price with his life.

It is said he took to the roof dressed in armour – deemed inappropriate clothing for a monk – and was hanged as a result.

Throughout its history the condition of St Mary’s has seen its ups and downs, and by the later 16th century the church had fallen into great decay.

Things weren’t helped by the Puritan advance which, despite rector John Addison’s objections, would have made its presence felt. Whatever decoration on the church’s walls had survived the Reformation must have been cleared at this time.

It wasn’t until the 19th century, though, that large-scale restoration work was carried out at the church, which, according to a report from the time, was not a pretty picture.

Flooring and windows had decayed; plastering was in a “rough and unfinished state, much affected by damp, and very discoloured”; stonework was “shaken and displaced”; and roofing was “very unsound”.

The stonework on the arches, meanwhile, was “debauched with various coloured lime-washes and its beauty thereby utterly destroyed”.

Thankfully, its beauty was utterly restored and the other problems rectified to the extent that the refurbished church is pretty much what one sees today.

The recent redecorating, though, is still ongoing, and after completing the protection of the windows, the focus will be on improving the lighting.

Meanwhile, the life of the church is still thriving, as its links with Ovingham First School are maintained, and its choir – led by organist of over 40 years Margaret Turnbull – is still going strong.

Canon Nelson, who is due to retire next year, has led congregations in some impressive buildings, including Hexham Abbey. But he, like many others, believes St Mary’s has a unique charm.

Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk