I love the way stories start to build, even in the course of the infinitely modest variant of "travel" that we're undertaking at the moment.

It's such an interesting world...

You remember Maplebeck, whose little church used to be a chapel of the Knights Hospitaller? And Winkburn, whose manor (among others) was held by that same order? Well, in reading up about all that, I also read about an early medieval argy-bargy that went on at Ossington, a little village not far from Newark.




One of the many consequences of William's Conquest in 1066 was that the manor at Ossington, previously held by one Osmund, came to be owned by the Norman family of Burun (ancestors of the Byrons, as in Lord Byron and Newstead Abbey).

But we first hear of a church at Ossington in 1144, when it was gifted by two different people to two different bodies. Always awkward... On the one hand, Hugh de Burun made it over to Lenton priory, in the hope "that God might avert the scourge of his wrath from him, due to the very great multitude of his sins"; on the other, the Archbishop of York (in whose diocese Ossington lay) granted it to the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, aka the Knights Hospitaller.

Things were a bit fraught for a while, and it does look a bit as though the Buruns were playing both sides. But the Order of the Hospital carried its claim, and from 1208, "enjoyed peaceful possession of the church, naming its vicars, as well as drawing significant income from the lands and rights of the manor".

(Incidentally, one of the Buruns' charters, confirming the Hospitallers' ownership, was witnessed by Gilbert, the "clerk" -- a designation that actually means the priest -- of Winkburn.)

There's a detailed description, dating back to 1338, of the small community of knightly brothers at Ossington: "It lists, for instance, a house and garden with a dovecote, over 600 acres of demesne land, 32 acres of meadow, six acres of pasture, two windmills owned by the preceptory, along with additional labour services owed by the villagers, receipts and profits of the year amounting to the respectable sum of £85 8s 8d. There is also mention of common pasture for 12 cows and 600 sheep. As the preceptory’s expenses came to less than its income, a small annual profit was recorded which was, presumably, used to support the Order’s crusading obligations."

This plenty did not last, however, and even before Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries and religious orders, revenues had declined significantly. After the major upheaval instigated by Henry, the living was at the disposal of the owners of the manor. For a couple of hundred years, these were the Cartwrights, and then, in 1768, the estate was sold to William Denison.

William didn't find it easy to appoint curates, possibly because his conception of the job description included elements that went well beyond the spiritual (keeping an eye on the game, overseeing the planting of fruit trees, and so on...)

What William did do, however, was decide to demolish the old church, which definitely seemed to be showing its age, and required a constant round of repairs. As he died in April 1782, however, the work of erecting a new church was carried out by his brother and successor, Robert.

The new church was designed, in neo-classical Georgian style, by John Carr. He also built a mausoleum, but that wasn't destined to endure, and was eventually demolished.





Early in the 19th century, the church's dedication was changed from the Virgin Mary to the Holy Rood. Documentation from that period sheds considerable light on the concerns of the times: "There is, for example, an order of thanksgiving for an abundant harvest in 1854, and one for successes in the Crimean War, including the capture of Sebastopol in 1855. In 1866 there is a similar order for prayer for relief from cattle plague and protection against cholera."

Ossington Hall used to stand just north of the church. It was used for military accommodation during World War II (a procedure that was "apparently resented, as there are stories of a ghostly servant haunting the sergeants who were billeted in the servants’ quarters"). The house was demolished in 1963.




What remains, however, is a lovely park ("a lost world of Georgian and Victorian grandeur"). The church is its centrepiece, but there are also some pretty waterways. It's all tremendously atmospheric, especially on a gloomy winter's day.






So you see -- without Maplebeck, Winkburn, and the Hospitallers, we'd never have found this lovely little enclave...