Great Ouseburn is 4 miles SE of Boroughbridge. The village, which at one time had forest liberty status, takes its name from the river Ouse.
The church of St Mary has nave, aisles, chancel and S chapel, all of various dates. Inside, polychromy is visible under the whitewash on the pillars of the N aisle - red, white and black in irregular patches, with a foliage sprig in black recognisable in one place.
The lower part of the W tower is basically 12th century, but much-restored; there are round-headed arrowslit windows at the bottom, and the mid-tower windows seem to have had their arcuated lintels re-cut to a point. The only relevant feature is the tower arch, which is probably late twelfth century (Leach and Pevsner, 2009, 289-90).
