The full dedication is to St Agatha and St Oswin, the unlikely pairing of a Sicilian virgin with a Saxon king. Oswin ruled over Deira, the southern part of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria and was murdered in his capital of Gilling in 651 by his kinsman Oswy who ruled the northern province of Bernicia. An ancient church, dedicated or rededicated to the royal martyr, must have stood on this site since the 7th century; it was rebuilt substantially by the Normans and again by the Victorians in 1845.
Pevsner, who surveyed the North Riding in 1966, describes this view on the approach from the village High Street as "a jumble of shapes", partly due to the disproportionately large extra north aisle added by the Victorians, not only wider than the medieval work but taller, as can be seen at the right.
There is a very clear cut benchmark just above ground level at the south (left) corner of the east wall, which may be seen in Mel Towler's photo
NZ1805 : Gilling West church NZ 1821 0514.
St Agatha's is listed Grade I
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Victoria County History
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