The benefice covers a large part of picturesque Wensleydale, and consists of Aysgarth church (St Andrew’s), Castle Bolton church (St Oswald’s), Preston under Scar church (St Margaret’s), Redmire church (St Mary’s), Wensley church (Holy Trinity) and West Witton church (St Bartholomew’s) and Thornton Rust Mission Room.
The churches are open again. For full details see penhill.benefice@btconnect.com
Face coverings must be worn in church, along with social distancing and the use of sanitiser. Sanitiser is available immediately inside the churches as well as the means to provide details confidentially for test and trace.
For details of how to join telephone and Zoom services go to the Service page of the Penhill Benefice website.
Our church buildings are presently open on the following days*-
Preston under Scar and Wensley – Daily
Aysgarth – Daily
Castle Bolton – closed until December 7 as filming taking place in the village
Redmire – Daily
West Witton – Sunday and Thursday
* the buildings will close for the three days before a service to allow time for virus degradation.
The responsibility for keeping buildings clean and the public safe rests with the members of each church council along with myself as Vicar. We show our care for the community by only opening after we have studied the guidance and made a careful risk assessment.
Remembrance
Names of the men of Aysgarth parish who were killed during two World Wars and the 1st Iraq War are at the beginning of the post: War Memorials and Graves at Aysgarth church
Further reading
The new vicar, the Rev Tom Ringland, was licensed in November 2019.
For more about Aysgarth church see: Aysgarth Church – a Guide, Pentecost at Aysgarth church; a personal view; the Heroine of Cawnpore; Aysgarth church and a Gurkha officer; 2014 Flower Festival ; and In Appreciation of Easter. See also Wensley Church
About other places of worship in Wensleydale: St Simon and St Judes, Ulshaw Bridge; and the introduction to The Quaker Inheritance – which is part of my series on Pioneering Girls’ Education.
FLOWER FESTIVAL at Aysgarth Church
Photographs of the flower festival during the Festival of Remembrance November 9-12 2018 can be seen by going to Aysgarth Festival of Remembrance.
And click here to see photographs of the flower festival during the Harvest Festival at St Andrew’s in September 2019.