A place of prayer for centuries, we stand on the prayers of those who have gone before us. Our job is to receive and hold the baton for now. You're invited: join us!

You're warmly invited to our special Ascension Day service — a celebration commemorating the ascent of Jesus into heaven 40 days after his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Come celebrate with us!

A space to sit, and think and not think at the same time. Nobody will bother you, just peace and quiet in an ancient church. An opportunity to light a candle in our sacred space. We're open. You're invited.

Visitors and locals welcome! We meet on Thursdays at 5pm and if you would like to learn or can ring and would like to join us, please do come along. Contact Kate on [email protected] for more information.

One week only! The Sunday service will take place at St Oswald's at 9:30am. In Rydal there will be NO Sunday Service this week, and in Grasmere at 11am we will meet for a walk with prayers around Grasmere lake to celebrate Rogation Sunday.
Rogation is an ancient church festival in which we seek blessing for our community and its sustenance. Traditionally parishioners walk the parish boundary, 'beating' the boundary stones with sticks.

Please join us to Beat the Bounds of the parish boundary with a fell run or a walk around the lake.

Walkers meet at St Oswald’s at 11am and will be back by 1pm for cake, music and fellowship.

If you would like to join the run, please contact Lawrence. Due to the nature of our parish boundary and our uncertain weather, inclusion on the run is at Lawrence’s discretion. He can be reached on 07891 001592 or [email protected]

Everyone is welcome at our Bible Study Group where we aim to provide a friendly environment to read the Bible and explore our faith in God.

Whether you’re new to the Bible or have studied for years, you’ll find thoughtful discussion, encouragement, and fellowship. Come and share questions and insights as we read the gospel together.

Join us once, or every week. To confirm Term Dates contact Anne Rawcliffe on [email protected] Everyone is welcome.

David Pipe, Director of Music Cartmel Priory, has given organ recitals at major European and North American venues and festivals. He appears regularly as organist and conductor on national television and radio, and has made numerous recordings as organist and continuo player, attracting critical acclaim in the international music press, with the performances described as ‘electrifying’.
Join us! FREE

St Oswald's gloriously restored organ plays host to the Svyati Duo whose unusual pairing of cello and organ brilliantly combine for some midday meditation. Jongen's Humoresque cheekily complements intricate Bach and Bruch's heartfelt prayer.

Bach: Ich ruf zu dir BWV639
Casella: Notturno
Gardonyi: Variations on a Hungarian Theme
Bruch: Kol Nidrei
Jongen: Humoresque
Bednall: Sonata for cello and organ
Nadia: Boulanger Deux Pièces

Duration: 60 mins (approx.) | Tickets: £12 on the door, or from https://tickets.ldsm.org.uk/sales/events/2025-2026-season/spring-2026/svyati-duo

You're warmly invited to our special Whit Sunday festival service — a joyful celebration commemorating the day 49 days after Easter when Jesus's followers received the gift of the Holy Spirit descending from heaven.

Enjoy an opportunity to experience your spirituality, in company with others. All are very welcome.

Join us in the beautiful chapel at Rydal Hall for Sunday morning worship. You can expect a traditional service yet with sense of informality and reflection in a special intimate space. We normally share Holy Communion and our music is a mixture of hymns and songs, old and new. Everyone is welcome!

United by a love of performance and the pursuit of musical excellence, Lancaster Singers have been delighting audiences for more than half a century. This 50 strong mixed-voice choir performs works across centuries and genres, conducted by Nathan Smith.
Come and join us!

Join us for a Taize service at 7pm

Soak in nature, share food and conversation around a campfire – all in the beautiful surroundings of Rydal Hall.
The summer solstice is the moment when light is at its maximum, heralding summer. In this Sacred Encounter we celebrate the light and all that is good.
Meet at Rydal Hall Café entrance. Please bring food to share for a Jacob’s Join lunch and wear suitable clothing.
Please read the Sacred Encounter FAQs or contact [email protected]

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The Choir of Prince Henry's Grammar School Otley visits Cumbria to make music, and Grasmere is delighted to welcome them for this lunchtime concert performance. A mixed programme, mostly sacred, including Tallis, Rutter, The Beatles and quite a lot in between! Come hear them sing! FREE

United by a love of singing, performance and faith, Manchester Inspirational Voices has grown into a renowned community Gospel choir celebrated for powerful performances and uplifting messages. The choir is a BBC Songs of Praise Gospel Choir of the Year competition winner and embodies the unifying power of community and song.
FREE event at St Mary’s Church Rydal LA22 9LR (note venue)

Soak in nature, share food and conversation around a campfire – all in the beautiful surroundings of Rydal Hall.
This Sacred Encounter is an opportunity to remember and celebrate our interconnectedness. We will join in a circle and declare communion with all things and the divine thread running through creation.
Meet at Rydal Hall Café entrance. Please bring food to share for a Jacob’s Join lunch and wear suitable clothing.
Please read the Sacred Encounter FAQs or contact [email protected]

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Rushbearing
Rushbearing is a celebration of the Parish Church, and its patron saint St Oswald. Prior to the laying of the pew wooden floors and slate aisles in the church, the floor was rough earth covered in rushes. Each year the first covering with new rushes was the occasion for a festival.
The first mention of Rushbearing was in 1680 in the Warden's accounts 'for ale bestowed on those who brought rushes and repaired the church, one shilling’.
Grasmere Rushbearing in its present form goes back to the 1840s. Traditionally the Bearings are shapes representing biblical and religious themes, today Bearings come in many shapes and sizes.

Join us for a service of choral evensong with St Oswald Voices, accompanied by Ian Hare on our renowned early 20th century organ, to celebrate the feast day of our patron saint.
Everyone is Welcome! FREE

The Lake District Summer Music Festival brings world-class musicians to beautiful venues across Cumbria, offering chamber music concerts, young artist performances and inspiring masterclasses in a stunning Lake District setting each summer. Details of this Festival Concert to be confirmed

Soak in nature, share food and conversation around a campfire – all in the beautiful surroundings of Rydal Hall.
August is a month of holidays - a time to rest, recharge and revive. This Sacred Encounter focuses on the principle of the Sabbath as a pattern building rest into the everyday. It is an opportunity to do nothing, to relax, and to let God minister to us through nature.
Meet at Rydal Hall Café entrance. Please bring food to share for a Jacob’s Join lunch and wear suitable clothing.
Please read the Sacred Encounter FAQs or contact [email protected]

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“Grasmere Song” is a festival of singing masterclasses and workshops, championing singing for everyone and providing professional level coaching for emerging and mid-career artists, benefitting from the tutelage of international soloists Thomas Allen and Roderick Williams, manifesting in this concert given by participants. Tickets on the door https://grasmeresong.co.uk/event-listing/

A moment of reflection in a day full of activity. Join us for a special service celebrating Grasmere Sports, a cherished tradition for nearly 200 years. From fell running to Cumberland wrestling, this historic event reflects the strength, spirit, and community of Cumbria.
Open to all – whether local, visitor, competitor or spectator, come and be part of this treasured Lakeland tradition.

Join us for a bank holiday Monday lunchtime recital with Ian Hare, Director of Music at St Oswald's, on our renowned early-20th-century organ by J. J. Binns, built as a First World War memorial. FREE event Everyone welcome!

Soak in nature, share food and conversation around a campfire – all in the beautiful surroundings of Rydal Hall.
Autumn is a time of harvest, when fruit is abundant and ripe. Expressing our thankfulness draws us into peace and rejuvenation. As we walk in this Sacred Encounter, we look for blessings all around us, gathering to give a collective thanks for all that nature provides.
Meet at Rydal Hall Café entrance. Please bring food to share for a Jacob’s Join lunch and wear suitable clothing.
Please read the Sacred Encounter FAQs or contact [email protected]

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You're warmly invited to our Harvest Festival service — a joyful celebration of the season’s abundance, with music, reflections, and a gathering of community. With St Oswald Voices.

Soak in nature, share food and conversation around a campfire – all in the beautiful surroundings of Rydal Hall.
October is the month of autumn glory, when Lake District trees glow with ever deepening colour. This month's Sacred Encounter delves into this wonder, using our imagination to enter a mystical world and rediscover a childlike enchantment in nature. We will tell a story together, giving voice to the divinity in everything.
Meet at Rydal Hall Café entrance. Please bring food to share for a Jacob’s Join lunch and wear suitable clothing.
Please read the Sacred Encounter FAQs or contact [email protected]

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Remembrance Service with the Last Post, a time in silence, reading of the Roll of Honour, and laying of poppy wreaths. Followed by an Act of Remembrance at the War Memorial on Broadgate Recreation Ground LA22 9RJ. Everyone is warmly invited afterwards for refreshments at Rothay Garden Hotel.

Soak in nature, share food and conversation around a campfire – all in the beautiful surroundings of Rydal Hall.
This month’s Sacred Encounter is an opportunity to remember those who have made sacrifices for us and to celebrate their lives by walking up a small local hill, to make a cairn.
Meet at Rydal Hall Café entrance. Please bring food to share for a Jacob’s Join lunch and wear suitable clothing.
Please read the Sacred Encounter FAQs or contact [email protected]

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Soak in nature, share food and conversation around a campfire – all in the beautiful surroundings of Rydal Hall.
The Winter Solstice is the time of maximum darkness, but also the time when light begins the slow journey to ascendancy. At the darkest hour we need hope, and today's Sacred Encounter symbolises the sure hope of life over death, and light over darkness.
Meet at Rydal Hall Café entrance. Please bring food to share for a Jacob’s Join lunch and wear suitable clothing.
Please read the Sacred Encounter FAQs or contact [email protected]

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Traditional readings and carols in a beautiful candlelit church, with music from St Oswald Voices. Mulled wine and mince pies served after the service. Everyone is welcome.

Join us in Rydal on Christmas Day for a joyful service of carols, readings and prayer. All are warmly welcome to celebrate together in peace, hope and community on this special morning.

Join us on Christmas Day for a joyful service of carols, readings and prayer. All are warmly welcome to celebrate together in peace, hope and community on this special morning.

We all have a mother, and so all have a mother within us. Come celebrate Mothering Sunday together and receive a joyful spring posy.

Taizé is a small town in the Burgundy region of France where a monastic community, founded in 1940 by Brother Roger Schütz, has been the focus of worldwide Christian pilgrimage. The community is well-known for it's simple, chant-like style of worship and prayer, and is especially popular with young people, with over 100,000 people making pilgrimages to Taizé every year to pray, study and work.
St Mary's Rydal have held Taizé -style services since the 1980's. At the turn of the millennium the Rydal Hall Community and a group from St Mary's visited Taizé. Today we meet on the first Sunday of the month at 7pm, excluding January and August. In winter (November, December, February through April) we meet in Rydal Hall chapel and in summer (May through July, September, October) at St Mary’s Church Rydal. Quiet reflection, Taize chants and readings given by members of the congregation are enjoyed in soft candlelight. Everyone is welcome.