Locals in the village of Askrigg in the Yorkshire Dales have reacted angrily to proposed renovation plans for the tower of St Oswald's Church, which has experienced damaging damp problems in recent years. The Grade I listed building was featured in the 1970s BBC series , the predecessor to the much-loved series of the same name on Channel 5. It played a key part in the fictional village of Darrowby.
To combat the damp, developers, the Anglican Diocese of Leeds and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority have proposed protecting the tower with a white limewash, which would make the tower white in colour. According to The Yorkshire Lime Company, limewash "offers a permeable barrier that allows water vapour to escape. Limewash prevents rot in structural timbers and erosion to the masonry, which might occur due to trapped moisture or severe weathering".
The local campaigners against the project asked local artist Steven Harrington to , which was obtained by the , with the proposed changes, and this image shows the church tower standing out in stark opposition to the rest of the building. Local resident Val Halton told the : “Our church tower is damp and needs substantial work to make it watertight. There have been several remedies proposed and a lot of discussions between the church and experts, the public have been excluded,” he claimed.
“A public meeting was held about three weeks ago to tell the local community what was going to happen – it was a done deal. There w.
