St. Nicholas' Church in Bawtry - Part 1

 

The headstop at the west end of the north arcade

When originally planning my day out to Blyth, I expected to spend a good part of the day looking around the Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Martin at my leisure, before photographing 35 buildings for a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge. 

 

The route map of the No. 21 and No. 25 buses

On the day of my trip, due to a wedding taking place at the church and someone else having photographed most of the listed buildings, an hour and a half after I had arrived in Blyth, I was on the No. 25 bus back to Doncaster; however, there was plenty of time left in the day and I therefore stopped off at the historic market town of Bawtry, knowing that the No. 21 bus could also get me back to Doncaster. 

 

The church guide

 

The Grade I Listed Church of St. Nicholas was on my list of several mediaeval churches that I wanted to visit in Doncaster but, like many churches, it did not seem to be open other than for services and I expected that I would have to make special arrangements to get inside; however, I decided to go and have a look at its exterior and, much to my surprise, I found that it was also preparing for a wedding. 

 

A view west along the nave

With the permission of Reverend Becky Hancock, I set about taking a quick set of general record photographs of the interior, starting with the nave and the chancel, both of which have had their walls plastered and only the stonework to the columns and arches of the arcades are visible. 

 

The chancel

The monks of Blyth Priory originally started building the church c.1190, next to the wharf on the River Idle, when Bawtry was a very important inland port that linked to the River Trent, which goes back to the times of the Roman settlement on Ermine Street. 

 

The south arcade

 

I took a few photographs of the arcades, where the robust arches and the octagonal capitals most caught my eye, although I did notice that the north arcade has round columns. Having had no time to closely look at any of the details, as always I have relied on Pevsner, Historic England, the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture of Britain and Ireland and other resources to help me understand the architectural history. 

 

The north arcade

 

Pevsner, in his own often enigmatic way, starts his description with “A church with many unexplained details” and later describes the north side of the church as “a farrago of disjointed elements”, at which point I had to consult my Concise Oxford Dictionary. 

 

The south side of the north arcade

It would seem that the north arcade dates to c.1200 and that new octagonal capitals were added at a later date, although those on the south arcade have a different set of mouldings. The arches are considered to be in the Perpendicular Gothic style, but there is no specific reference to a more precise date in any of the above sources of reference material. 

 

The font

With wedding guests now starting to sit in the pews, I took a photo of the C17 font which, according to the church guide, may be made from limestone from the quarries at Roche Abbey, before photographing the headstops on the responds at the west end of the arcades and then going to look at the exterior.

 

A headstop at the west end of the south arcade

 

St. Mary's Church in Blyth - The Exterior

 

A grotesque.

According to the timings on my digital camera, I only spent 16 minutes taking a set of general record photographs of the interior of the Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Martin in Blyth, due to the wedding that was about to take place. 

 

The C13 south aisle

 

Once outside the church, I discovered that numerous wedding guests had arrived and were gathering outside the porch and other parts of the church, which I wanted to photograph, with the wedding photographer also setting about her work. 

 

A grotesque

 

Being aware that I had a limited amount of time before I had to catch my hourly bus back To Doncaster, my usual practice of systematically photographing the church while walking around it went out of the window. Instead, I just did my best to take general record photos, whilst keeping out of the view of the wedding photographer and also avoid having the wedding guests in my view. 

 

A grotesque

With the south aisle being constructed in one phase, there were no obvious changes in the pattern of masonry to note and, without getting close to look at the characteristics of the dolomitic limestone from which it is built, I mainly concentrated on the large grotesques that decorate the porch and the string course beneath the castellated parapet. 

 

A view from the south-east

 

Moving along to the east end, I noted that brick has been used for the finish of the east end of the church, following its demolition after the Dissolution in the mid C16, along with the cloisters. The area was subsequently the site of Blyth Hall, which was demolished in 1972 and redeveloped for housing, leaving the east and north elevations inaccessible to the general public.

 

A plan of the church before the demolition of the east end

 

While at the east end of the church, I was available to distance myself from the wedding guests and took a few quick snaps of some of the headstops, whose ears stick out in a comical fashion, before photographing more grotesques and trying to obtain a good view of the south elevation.

 

Headstops on the south aisle

 

The churchyard has several trees growing in it and these, together with the very tall south aisle, makes it difficult to get good views of the clerestory which, as I had discovered in the interior, is above the tribune, but I managed to find a place where I could see part of it.

 

A view of the south elevation

 

Getting close enough to zoom into the clerestory, without interfering with the wedding party, from my photo it looks like the corbel table has some crude sculptures of a type that I had seen before at Adel, Old Edlington, Whitwell and Steetley; however, I didn’t get near enough at the time to take detailed photos and, surprisingly, the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture for Britain and Ireland does not have an entry for this ancient church. 

 

A view of the clerestory

 

Moving round to the C15 Perpendicular Gothic style tower, I was interested to see how ornamented it is, with the Historic England (HE) listing describing the various features of the west door as follows: "moulded jambs and arch, with inner order of fleuron decoration. Over is a hood mould decorated with worn crockets and rising to a crocketed pinnacle with decorated finial. Above is a slightly projecting canopy". 

 

The west door of the tower

 

The HE listing descriptions are typically very bland and often miss out features such as the sculpture, which I find interesting, but the field worker who wrote this goes into much more detail than usual and his account of the upper part of the tower is another example of this: “The top of the tower is embattled with centre and corner crocketed pinnacles. The merlons are conjoined by single open-work crocketed and cusped arches”. 

 

The upper stage of the tower

 

Looking at the fabric of the church from a distance, I could see that the dolomitic limestone from the Permian Cadeby Formation is generally off white in colour, which develops a light grey patina, but cream/yellowish blocks are also scattered throughout the masonry.

 

A geological map showing the locations of Blyth and Roche Abbey

 

Roger de Busli, the founder of the priory church, held the Honour of Tickhill and this included the manor of Maltby, which was later held by his great nephew Richard de Busli – the co-founder of Roche Abbey. Quarries along the gorge supplied the limestone used to build the abbey and other churches, including St. Mary’s church in Tickhill, which makes it very likely that St. Mary’s church in Blyth, 7 km away as the crow flies, was also built with it – a conclusion that was also reached by the Southwell & Nottingham Churches Project (SNCP). 

 

Views of restored masonry

 

The SNCP refers to restorations in 1861 and in 1885, with the upper stage of the tower being rebuilt in 1929-30, but I didn’t notice any obvious Victorian restoration, however, when most of the wedding guests finally went inside the church, I got close to the stonework and the recent restoration work is noticeable not only by the sharp machine sawn profiles but also from the dark cream/buff colour of the limestone used. 

 

A specimen of dolomitic limestone with dolomite rhombs

At the base of the wall, I found a couple of pieces of limestone that are both cream/buff in colour. The smaller piece has a finely crystalline texture, which gives a fresh surface a sparkle, which the Stone in Archaeology Database suggests is due to dolomite rhombs. The larger piece, although also crystalline, lacks this sparkle and has an open texture with voids that must have a calcite lining, because they react with hydrochloric acid. 

 

A specimen of dolomitic limestone with calcite lined voids

I finished my very quick exploration of the church by taking a couple of photos of the shafts on either side of the entrance to the porch, which are made of a uniformly yellow coloured stone that has disintegrated considerably in the lower sections. If it wasn’t for the fact that people were still hanging around the porch, I would have examined it with my hand lens and obtained some loose flakes with my Joseph Rodgers penknife, so this stone still remains a bit of a mystery.  

Shafts at the entrance to the porch

St. Mary’s Church in Blyth - The Interior

 

A view along the old nave

Approaching the Priory Church of St. Mary and St. Martin, having taken photos of half a dozen listed buildings in Blyth for the British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, I was dismayed to find that preparations were being made for a wedding and that, after 2½ hours of travelling by bus and train, I might not get to see its interior. 

 

The entrance to the churchyard

 

When undertaking a survey of a church, I start by walking around its exterior to note the various phases of construction but, on this occasion, because of the imminent wedding I didn’t take a single photograph and only recall seeing a Perpendicular Gothic style tower and a rebuilt south aisle that has later Early English Gothic style intersecting tracery to the windows. 

 

A view east along the south aisle

 

Introducing myself to Reverend Tissington, I was given permission to look around and I immediately set about very quickly photographing the architectural elements of the church. I was immediately surprised to see that the south aisle is the part of the church that functions for the congregation and not the traditional nave. 

 

The church guide

 

I didn’t have any time to read the basic Heritage Inspired produced black and white leaflet, but I later discovered that this stems from a longstanding dispute between the monks of the priory and the first parochial vicar, William de Flecham, who was appointed in 1256. This resulted in the widening of the south aisle, which was used as the nave for the townspeople and the original nave was used by the monks. 

 

The south arcade of the original nave

 

The original nave is very impressive, with its very tall arches to the arcades, a tribune above and the high level clerestory. Founded in 1088 by Roger de Busli, who held the Honour of Tickhill and was tenant-in-chief of numerous manors in Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire and other counties, the priory is one of the oldest examples of Norman architecture in the country. 

 

Another view of the south arcade

 

The church guide states that the columns all have slight differences in style, which reflects the transition from the Anglo-Saxon to the Norman style but, except for one crudely carved face, I was too busy taking a set of general record photographs that I didn’t record any of the details. 

 

A capital with a crudely carved face

 

The separation of the church for the monks and the parishioners continued into the C15 and a wall was built to separate the now demolished east end and the existing west end, to which another tower was added. This wall was decorated with a Doom painting, which was covered after the dissolution of the priory, but was rediscovered in 1985. 

 

The Doom painting

 

Returning to the west end of the nave, I stopped to take a few photos of the tribunes and clerestories, which rise to a vaulted ceiling that dates to c.1230. On the south side, the tribune arches are open and enclosed by the tall south aisle, which replaced the original galleried aisle.

 

A view of the south side of the old nave

 

The north side, however, has had its tribune arches infilled with windows, which is explained in the entry on the Southwell & Nottingham Church History Project (SNCHP) website as being the result of the removal of the gallery and the vaulted aisle being reduced in height. 

 

A view of the north side of the old nave

Walking back along the old nave, I was struck by just how tall the tower arch is compared to the very many other mediaeval churches that I have visited. When first approaching the church, although I did notice the height of the tower, which the SNCHP compares to St. Mary’s church in Tickhill and describes as having lofty proportions, I didn't appreciate the scale of the interior.

 

A view west along the old nave

Before returning to the south aisle, where I was now very conscious of the gathering of groomsmen and various other members of the wedding party, I took a couple of quick snaps of the C17 font, which has a cherub as part of its decoration. 

 

A cherub on the font

 

Quickly making my way to the east end of the south aisle, I just took a few general photographs that included several wall monuments - which I did not have time to examine - the east end where blocked arches led to the south transept and a view west along the aisle. 

 

Views of the south aisle

 

I finished my very quick tour of the interior, which took only 16 minutes, at the effigy of a knight, which dates to c.1240 and is thought to be Percival Fitzwilliam. Most of the body is covered with a large shield, but the cylindrical helmet with a visor that he is wearing is quite unusual and I wish that I could have got a closer look.  

An effigy of a knight with a cylindrical helmet

A Day Out to Blyth in Nottinghamshire

 

Burrows on a face bedded stone in a gate pier to the former Blyth Hall

A busy September 2023, which included three events organised for the Heritage Open Days festival, ended with a day out to Bakewell and Ashford-in-the-Water, where I photographed nearly 40 listed buildings for the British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge and encountered a considerable variation in the physical properties of the Carboniferous Limestone, used to build most of them. 

 

A Google Map view showing the locations of Treeton and Blyth

 

Two weeks later, I set off to visit the Church of St. Mary and St. Martin in Blyth, Nottinghamshire, which after some searching I discovered was open on a Saturday morning. Although only 20 km from Treeton as the crow flies, my journey involved a bus to Sheffield, a train to Doncaster and another bus to Blyth - a distance of nearly 60 km. 

 

The Great War (1914-1918) by Peter Hart

 

Setting off from Treeton to Sheffield at 8:14 am, I caught the first available train to Doncaster where, while waiting for the hourly No. 25 bus, I used the time to buy a new book from Waterstones to keep me occupied during the 57 minute long journey, before finally arriving in Blyth at 10:47. 

 

The solid and drift geology around Bawtry and Blyth

In the past, I had driven from Sheffield and Rotherham to North Nottinghamshire and Lincoln several times, when I passed through both Blyth and Bawtry and was well aware that they are both set on the Triassic Chester Formation. Furthermore I knew that the vernacular building materials are essentially red brick and pantiles, with dolomitic limestone from the Permian Cadeby Formation used only for churches and other prestigious buildings.

 

My Photo Challenge for Blyth

When first considering making this trip the previous year, the Photo Challenge post code search produced 35 results for Blyth and I was hoping to have a good exploration of the village, but someone had already beaten me to it and, once alighting from the bus, I immediately set about finding the 7 buildings that had for some reason been ignored. 

 

The listed buildings on my Photo Challenge in Blyth

 

Of the 6 buildings that I could gain access to, it was only the Grade II Listed C18 Greystones that had any interest to this Language of Stone Blog, with the front being rebuilt in dolomitic limestone ashlar during the C19.

The rear elevation of the Hospital of Saint John the Evangelist

Towards the southern end of the village green, I took a couple of photographs of a stone building that has a mullioned window in the eastern end of the north elevation. I didn't investigate further, but this is actually the Hospital of Saint John the Evangelist. It was founded in c.1199 at nearby Hadsock, before it was rebuilt on the current site in 1446 using reused limestone blocks - some of which are thinly bedded and reddened.

 

A geological map of the area between Letwell and Blyth

I have noted reddened limestone like this in historic buildings most recently during a trip to Whitwell in Derbyshire, but also in Letwell a few years ago. Both of these villages are set on the Sprotbrough Member of the Cadeby Formation, which is overlain by the red calcareous mudstone of the Edlington Formation. 

Gate piers on Little Lane

 

Walking along Little Lane, I note that the gate piers to a large stuccoed house are built with limestone and different sandstones – one with the typical colouration of a Coal Measures sandstone and another that looks to me like Rotherham Red sandstone; however, although the use of the latter would be considered very unusual so far from its source, I was keen to get to the church and didn’t look closely at it. 

 

The memorial on the village green

 

On the village green, there is a memorial that commemorates the death of the aircrews of Wellington and Halifax bombers that crashed near to Blyth in WWII. It was built in 1997 in the form of a cairn, using what look to be reclaimed road setts, with a concrete cap and inscribed plaques that may be made from polished larvikite.

 

The gateway to the now demolished Blyth Hall

 

Before entering the churchyard, I went to have a quick look at the Grade II Listed entrance gateway (c.1770) to the now demolished Blyth Hall, which is built with dolomitic limestone. Looking closely at the masonry, the limestone blocks are often edge bedded or face bedded and the massive limestone contains thin bands that are differentially weathered. 

 

A detail of the gate pier at the entrance to Blyth Hall

 

In other blocks, there are severely disrupted beds, which makes me think that these may relate to emergent surfaces, volume changes due to shrinkage and variable crystalline cementation etc, rather than sedimentary structures that I associate with typical clastic sediments. Also, some face bedded blocks have circular structures what I think might be burrows, with these appearing as pipe like sections in one of the normally bedded blocks.

 

Details of the limestone used in the entrance gateway to Blyth Hall