The Chantry Chapel of St. Mary

A general view of the Chantry Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin

Having already explored most of the mediaeval churches that I could easily get to by bus from Treeton – and had to use a train to get to Worksop - I decided to take another train to Wakefield in West Yorkshire, where I would find a cathedral and one of only four remaining chantry chapels in England that are built on a bridge.

A general view of the Chantry Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin

The Chantry Chapel of St. Mary the Virgin, built along with the bridge between 1342-1356, with a hiatus in construction following the Black Death, is largely constructed of sandstone, with the windows and string courses being built of what appears to be dolomitic limestone.

A general view of the lower section of the south elevation

The upper half of the chapel, however, was originally over-restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott, including the whole west front, which has been reported as being rebuilt in Caen stone - a Jurassic limestone that was extensively imported from Normandy to build castles and cathedrals in the south of England after the Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066. This proved to be a costly error, as the whole of the west front was again restored in sandstone less than 100 years later.

A detail of the north elevation

Looking at the sandstone that has been used to build the bridge, and parts of its chapel, it is strongly cross-bedded, with gradations in the sediment from medium to fine, with the latter being of quite a different colour. Furthermore, its differential weathering gives the stone a very distinctive appearance, which I had recently seen in the remains of the barbican at Sandal Castle - and several years ago when briefly visiting Nostell Priory, as part of my investigation of the building stones of All Saints church in Pontefract.

New headstops carved out of dolomitic limestone

The geology around Wakefield comprises a series of Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation sandstones - including the Oaks Rock and the Woolley Edge Rock – with the latter being cited in the British Geological Survey memoir as a major source of building stone in the area; however, with the River Calder providing access to quarries near to Huddersfield, it is not easy to determine the provenance of the sandstones without the benefit of documentary evidence.

A British Geological Survey map of the area around Wakefield