St. Mary's Church in Sprotbrough - Part 1

 

The south elevation of St. Mary's church

My walk around Sprotbrough, to photograph its listed buildings, took only an hour and this left me plenty of time to look around the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, which Pevsner describes as having nothing earlier than the late C13 but the church guide refers to a date of c.1170. 

 

The north elevation

 

Pevsner again refers to a Decorated Gothic lower part of the tower, with the upper stages being in the Perpendicular Gothic style and the Historic England listing describes it as C13 and C14 with C15 and C16 alterations and additions. 

 

The old roofline

 

Looking from a distance at the east elevation of the tower, a steeply pitched old roofline can be clearly seen, which records the form of the church before the upper part of the tower and the clerestory and parapets were added to the nave. 

 

The north porch

 

Starting at the north porch (1632), which is built in dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation that is quite yellow, I was surprised to see a wedding dress in the doorway, but continued in an anti-clockwise direction around its exterior to the tower. 

 

The tower

The west door, which is part of the Decorated Gothic tower, has a flat ogee arch to the head and above this is a relieving arch. The limestone to the surround has been heavily restored, with stone and ‘honest repairs’ using brick slips - as advocated by SPAB - and the new stone seems to be very susceptible to decay by efflorescence. 

 

A detail of the west door

 

Moving around to the south elevation, there is a very noticeable difference between the squared and coursed masonry to the south aisle and the large ashlar blocks that are used for the clerestory and castellated parapets. In 1474, Sir William Fitzwilliam left £40 for the building of the upper part of the tower and, according to the church guide, the clerestory was added in 1516 and the flat headed windows to the elevation were presumably inserted at the same time.

 

The south elevation

 

Looking closely at the masonry, there is a quite a large proportion of yellow limestone blocks that have proved to be less durable than the pale creamed coloured limestone, with the development of cavernous decay. Although the Yellow Sands Formation below the Cadeby Formation is not mapped in the area, such yellow limestones tend to be very sandy in nature and seem to be more susceptible to weathering. 

 

A detail of the south elevation

 

The pattern of the masonry to the chancel is the same as in the south aisle and, based on its large windows with Y-tracery, this can be dated to the C13. The masonry to the ground floor to either side of the priest’s door, however, has deteriorated considerably compared to the masonry above, which has had extensive repairs with limestone, brick slips and sand and cement undertaken at various times in the recent past. 

 

The chancel

Continuing to the east end, the large east window to the chancel has a four centred arch in the Tudor style, which has replaced a larger C13 window, of which there are remains of the mouldings and head stops at a higher level. 

 

The east window

 

Making my way along the north elevation, without stopping to look closely at the stonework, I took a few photographs of the heavily weathered gargoyles at the base of the parapet to the tower, before having another look at the south porch. 

 

A gargoyle on the tower

 

The south porch, with its timber framed gable and stone slate roof, is not assigned a date by Pevsner or Historic England, but it has an unusual detail to its west window, where the stone used for its round head is described in the church guide as being reminiscent of crude Saxon work. 

 

The south porch