St. Nicholas' Church in Bawtry - Part 3

 

A headstop on the east window of the north aisle

Moving round to the east end of the north aisle of the Church of St. Nicholas, the general pattern of the rubble masonry seems to be quite consistent with that surrounding the C12 north door, but the arched window with intersecting tracery - characteristic of the late Early English to early Decorated Gothic style – although not mentioned by Pevsner, is dated by Historic England and the Southwell & Nottingham Church History Project to c.1300. 

 

The east end of the north aisle

 

Furthermore, just to the left of this window is a section of masonry that appears to consist of quoins which, applying the same stratigraphic principles that I learned as a geologist – i.e. relative dating according to its position in the landscape/building - indicate that this is older than the masonry above and to the north of it.

 

Old quoins in the east end of the north aisle

 

Continuing to the east wall of the chancel, which is rendered and therefore no other archaeological evidence can be seen in the masonry, there is a large C13 window with headstops and dogtooth ornament to its hood mould. Joseph E. Morris considered that the mullions were part of the original window and therefore of the same date, but the consensus now is that these are a later alteration. 

 

The east window of the chancel

 

Looking along the south aisle, the immediate impression is that the masonry comprises large dolomitic limestone ashlar blocks, typical of the Perpendicular Gothic style of the C15, which has a completely different character to the north and east elevations. 

 

A view along the south aisle

According to the church guide, the Lady Chapel was added to the east end of the south aisle in the C16 which, looking at the construction of the south chancel arcade in the interior, comprises two bays. The square headed window of the east end is matched by three windows of the same style on the exterior, before changing to windows with a wide Tudor arch on the east side of the south door and the west end of the aisle. 

 

Views of the north aisle

 

I didn’t examine the masonry at the time, but from my photos I can’t see any obvious changes in the size and shape of the ashlar blocks between the east and west ends of the south aisle and the cusped tracery to all of the windows looks the same. The only variation that I can see is in the walling to either side of the south door, which seems much more irregular than the rest of the aisle, which may possibly have been rebuilt at the same as the Lady Chapel was added.

 

The south door

 

Retracing my steps back to the east end of the south aisle, I took another look at the clerestory above, where the ashlar masonry surrounding the west window and the mullions have been renewed with a stone that appears to be the same as that used on the north side. 

 

A restored window and surround in the clerestory

From start to finish, I only spent 25 minutes photographing the interior and exterior of this very interesting church, which deserves another visit to take a much closer look at the various details. Before leaving the churchyard to further explore Bawtry, I was interested to see that the two windows at the east end of the clerestory have a detail that I have never seen before. 

 

Tracery in windows at the east end of the clerestory