Residents of a picture postcard village made famous by TV smash All Creatures Great and Small have erupted in fury after a 15th century church tower was rendered in brilliant white paint creating “an abomination” that “looks more like a mosque”. Askrigg, nestled in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, is best known as the quintessential rural idyll of Darrowby in the original series chronicling the adventures of vet James Herriot.

But it now has a startling new look after the bell tower at Grade 1 listed St Oswald’s Church was given a limewash render to stop water leaking through its ancient brickwork. Village vicar Rev Dave Clark now stands accused of “bearing false witness” in his attempts to allay the worries of locals who had expressed fears the refurbished tower would resemble “a lighthouse in the Dales.” Last summer he told the Church Times the tower would be “rather a soft honey colour, in keeping with the newly cleaned masonry of the building.”

The work was done last year but the tower has been wrapped ever since in scaffolding and plastic sheeting through the winter.

But now, amidst bright spring sunshine, it has been unveiled to horrified gasps from many parishioners who are in agreement it is, in fact, a pristine shade of white.

It has been described by locals on social media as “an abomination”, “a hideous eyesore” and also likened to a Muslim place of worship rather than an ancient Anglican church dating back to the late Middle Ages.

One shocked resident exclaimed: “It looks like a mosque”.

Businesswoman Emma Brooke, 63, launched a “stop the rendering” petition last year which gained 438 signatures from the 500 strong population village.

Standing at the wrought-iron gates, Mrs Brooke said: “It’s a disgrace that this was ever allowed to happen and I’m afraid the vicar has to shoulder a lot of the responsibility.

“The last words to come from his mouth at a public meeting on the rendering of the tower was, ‘It will not be white’.

“Well, I’m sorry, but it’s white. It is entirely out of keeping with the beautiful landscape of the national park and it is every bit the eyesore that we all feared it would be.

“It’s staggering that this was allowed to happen, particularly in an area where you would expect planning regulations to be more stringent than normal.

“From the hills that surround the village it can be seen for miles and looks so out of place, particularly when the rest of the church has been left in its original state.

“No one in the village disagreed that work needed to be done to stop the clock tower being damaged, everyone wanted to save it. But when limewash rendering was discussed it seemed the worst possible option and there were several others discussed.”

Mrs Brookes said villagers were assured their considerations would be addressed at a consultation meeting held last May before work began.

But she says when they arrived they found they were greeted with “a fait accompli” and there was nothing more they could do.

She added: “Now the wrapping and scaffolding is down we can see it properly and all our original fears have been confirmed.”

A fellow villager, who lives near the church, said: “This whole process puts me in mind of the ninth commandment, Exodus 20:16 – thou shalt not bear false witness.

“I’m afraid that’s what has happened here. We were told we’d be consulted and we weren’t, we were told the render would be the colour of honey and it just isn’t.

“The vicar and the diocese have some explaining to do because they’ve changed the character of a beautiful village.”

Phillip Halton, 73, who was born and raised in Askrigg, said: “There were a lot of tradesmen in and around the village who offered all sorts of solutions other than this one, which was by a great distance the worst.

“It has disfigured the church, changed the face of the village and it is quite horrendous.

“To say that people are disappointed with the vicar and the diocese is an understatement, it’s hard to comprehend what has been done here.

“It’s a grade one listed building in a national park, no one will ever convince me this was an appropriate thing to do to it.”

Rev Dave, as he’s known to his flock, is dismayed at the flak flying his way.

He said: “To hear and to read ‘Dave Clark is a liar’ is disappointing and it is actually upsetting. Some of the things written online about me have been very personal and that’s difficult.

“However I have broad shoulders and I accept that people feel strongly about this issue and that as the vicar I am the focal point for that.

“We are not diminishing anyone’s distress over this, but I feel there would have been greater distress if the tower had fallen down or if the bells came loose and fell through the floor.”

Rev Dave said the parish council had been fully involved in the process along with National Park chiefs and said a 10-year process prior to work beginning garnered advice and guidance of experts from around the world.

He added: “We have talked to masons, professors, researchers and have had the invaluable help of the Damp Towers Project, which is the longest running architectural preservation project in history.

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“It has been running since 1989 to find solutions to problems with towers like ours which was being ruined by water – and we get a lot of it in the Yorkshire Dales.

“We did everything we could to make the colour as sympathetic as possible to the surroundings. The render was mixed with Askrigg stone, chosen specifically to tone the colour.

“With my hand on my heart I can say it is not white and when you look at it properly you can see that. Given time it will weather and fade down.

“It’s important to note that the church was rendered for 600 years. It’s only the last 150 years that have seen it without, the render was removed in the 1850s by the Victorians.

“It is bound to be a talking point. As you drive through the dale it’s a case of “ta-daaa” there is the tower. But that’s what it was always supposed to do, it says: “look, here is the house of God.”