St. Peter’s Old Edlington – The Interior

 

A view from the north aisle

My afternoon spent at Wadsley Common and the graveyard at Wadsley parish church was followed, on the Monday, by continuing my investigation of the mediaeval churches of Doncaster – this time the Grade I Listed St. Peter’s church in Old Edlington, which is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. 

 

A Goole Map view showing the locations of Treeton and Old Edlington

 

I had by now become used to taking three separate journeys by public transport, each way, which takes an increasing amount of planning and is sometimes combined with a good walk. Having visited the nearby village of Braithwell on the No. 10 bus the year before, I was dismayed to discover that this bus now started in the suburb of Bramley, instead of at Rotherham Interchange – a decision that the bus driver and I thought was particularly stupid and thankfully has been scrapped in the renamed X2 service. 

 

The south door

 

Having made arrangements with the keyholder a week before, when the weather forecast appeared to be good, I set off from Treeton with the threat of rain and, by the time I alighted from the No. 10 bus, it was raining steadily. Realising that I would not be able to walk to Edlington Brick Pit as planned, I had to complete my explore by the time the next hourly bus came along and I immediately entered the church by the south door. 

 

A detail of the south door with beakheads and chevrons

Although the external appearance is dominated by the Perpendicular Gothic elements, the chevron decoration and the beakheads that decorate the entire door surround are typically Norman and the church guide suggests a date of c.1190, with Pevsner preferring c.1200.

A view of the arcade and chancel arch

Once inside the church and looking east along the nave, I immediately noted the round chancel arch, but the two bay arcade has round piers and square capitals with Early English Gothic style pointed arches above them, which Historic England refers to as being early C13 in date.

 

The chancel arch

 

There is no artificial lighting in the church and the windows are made of polycarbonate, which both contribute to the low lighting levels, but I was still able to discern chevrons on the chancel arch. Also, there is a change in the pattern of masonry above the chancel arch, where the upper five courses, comprising much larger square blocks, relate to the raising of the roof and addition of a castellated parapet to the exterior in the C15. 

 

A detail of the north side of the chancel arch

Looking closely at the chancel arch, it has a raised plinth and short shafts that are commented on by the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain & Ireland (CRSBI), which also goes on to decribe the capitals in great detail, in contrast to Pevsner's brief reference to decoration with stylised leaves and intertwined bands. 

 

The capital on the south side of the chancel arch

 

Moving into the chancel, which is considered to be C12 by all of the authorities, I was surprised to see that the walls consist of very precise ashlar masonry that looks like an extensive Victorian restoration but, except for the very brief CRSBI reference to work to the plinth of the chancel arch, there is no mention of the church's restoration history. 

 

A view inside the chancel

 

Passing through the arch from the chancel to the north chapel, I just took a couple of record photos of the north aisle and, while studying these at a later date, I have been interested to see that the wall immediately west of the arch contains a few blocks of dark red/plum coloured sandstone, which I didn’t notice at the time. 

 

The north aisle

 

Looking above the east end of the arcade and the arch to the chancel, there are several crudely carved corbels that are part of a corbel table, which formed part of the external wall of the Norman nave before the north aisle was added in the C13. 

 

Corbels above the arch to the north chapel

 

With time moving on and with the exterior of the church still to photograph, I didn’t spent as much as time as I would have liked inspecting the interior and finished by taking a quick look at the wall memorial, which the church guide thinks is a member of Lord Wharton’s family. 

 

The wall memorial in the north chapel

 

The Wadsley Parish Church Graveyard

 

A detail of the headstone of Private F.W. Oakden

When first visiting Wadsley during a 7 mile walk from Walkley to Hillsborough, while undertaking a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, I walked around Wadsley parish church to take a set of photographs and encountered 4 Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstones.

 

The headstone of Corporal T.E. Addy

 

Since first finding the CWGC headstone of Private J.W. Wornes at St. John the Baptist’s church in Dronfield back in 2019, I have made a point of looking for these in the churchyards and cemeteries that I have encountered on my travels – principally to photograph the regimental crests. 

 

At the meeting point for the Wadsley graveyard tour

After taking a quick walk around Wadsley Common on my most recent visit exploration of Wadsley, I took advantage of the free tour of Wadsley graveyard – that extends to more than 6 acres - which is led by Tony Jordan, who largely manages the vegetation in places left overgrown for wildlife and other areas where wild flowers grow. 

 

A plan of the burial plots at Wadsley graveyard

 

Having to date found 87 regimental crests and photographed more than 400 headstones at 43 churchyards and cemeteries, in preparation for this visit I managed to find a plan of the burial plots, which would make the task of finding the remaining 10 CWGC headstones much easier. 

 

The Wharncliffe War Hospital Memorial

Arriving before the meeting time of 14:00, I had a quick look around the graveyard and found the Portland stone memorial to 23 soldiers from the nearby Wharncliffe War Hospital, which had previously functioned as the South Yorkshire Asylum. 

 

A view along the nave at Wadsley parish church

 

Starting inside Wadsley parish church (1834), by Joseph Potter, Ian briefly described his role as a volunteer at the graveyard and showed us a range of plans, photographs and documents relating to its history that were on display and, before we set off on the walk, I took a couple of photos of its interior – most notable for the very tall cast iron piers used for the arcades. 

 

The headstone of Private F.W. Oakden

 

As we slowly wandered around the graveyard, I got distracted by the sight of a CWGC headstone that was on my list to photograph - Private F.W. Oakden of the Leinster Regiment. I just took a couple of photos, without examining the stone closely, but I thought that it is Stancliffe Darley Dale stone from the Ashover Grit, which developed a very good reputation as a building stone and has been used for many headstones and substantial war memorials. 

 

A worksheet by Lidster and Brammer of Worksop

 

However, he appears along with six other victims on the worksheet of the memorial masons Lidster and Brammer of Worksop, where ‘Woodkirk Blue’ is handwritten in red ink on the document – presumably indicating that this was the stone to be used for the memorials on the list. 

 

The headstone of Private L. Jessop

 

This worksheet also includes the headstone of Private L. Jessop of the Non Combatant Corps, which I photographed on my previous visit and had also identified as Darley Dale stone but, after having discovered that many of the CWGC headstones at Moorgate Cemetery in Rotherham are also made by Lidster and Brammer in Woodkirk Blue, I have since began to look at the CWGC sandstone headstones more closely. 

 

The headstone of Private F, Hague

As I later discovered with the headstone of Private F. Hague of the York and Lancaster Regiment, he appears on another original worksheet that also contains the names for other headstones found in this graveyard. The original unnamed sandstone had deteriorated to the extent that it had to be replaced in 2002, with the new worksheet stating Stancliffe Darley Dale as the stone used. 

 

A detail of the headstone of Private F. Hague

 

New replacement headstones how have their inscription and regimental crest cut by a CNC milling machine, which is extremely precise and lacks the aesthetic quality of the original hand cut work, but very often the CWGC record of these has not yet been updated to show the stone used. 

 

Private F. Salkeld and Second Lieutenant G.O. Howard

 

The twin headstone of Private F. Salkeld and Second Lieutenant G.O. Howard, of the York and Lancaster and South Staffordshire regiments respectively, appears to be an example of where the original headstone, presumably made with Woodkirk Blue according to the worksheet, has been replaced with a different type of stone. 

 

Private F. Salkeld and Second Lieutenant G.O. Howard

 

The Portland stone used here shows no sign of the shell fragments having weathered out, a very characteristic feature of the headstones that commemorate the victims of WWI, which are now 100 years old, and to a more limited extent those of WWII. 

 

A memorial to the buried inmates of the South Yorkshire Asylum

 

Although I wasn’t attentive to our guide as I should have been, while he told us about the 30 victims of the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864 - including 6 headstones that record the bursting of the reservoir – and the remains of over 2500 paupers from the South Yorkshire Asylum, buried beneath a large open area between 1872 and 1948 with no memorial.

 

The headstone of Benjamin Keeton

 

Benjamin Keeton was a well known cricket player in the area and, when he died in 1871, his widow complied with his request that his grave should mark his devotion to cricket – with stumps, a bat and a ball carved on it – but it caused some controversy, with the vicar and certain parishioners thinking it unsuitable and it was knocked down at one point. 

 

The tomb of Ann and Elizabeth Harrison

 

The most elaborate memorial that we were shown was the tomb of Ann (d.1858) and Elizabeth (d.1873) Harrison, the original benefactors of this church, who were the daughters of Thomas Harrison (1758-1818), a prominent manufacturer of saws. 

 

The grave of Dr. T. Allan Taylor

 

Another grave is that of Dr. T. Allan Taylor who developed the high nickel alloy steel needed for the production of the jet engine by Frank Whittle in the 1930s. The inscription is cut into a slab of what looks like is probably the Brancliffe Edge variety of the Greenmoor Rock, but it was the turbine blades that most caught my attention on this occasion. 

 

Various Botticino marble headstones

 

When the tour had finished, I carried on with my search for the remaining headstones on my list and was interested to see that 6 of these are Italian Botticino marble replacements, with that of Private C.S. Rhodes of the Coldstream Guards possibly being made in Portland stone – another indication that the Woodkirk Stone used here was not very durable.

 

A detail of the headstone of Private C.S. Rhodes

 

A Further Exploration of Wadsley

 

Houses at the junction of Worrall Road and Rural Lane

Following on from my day out to Wadworth and Loversall, where I encountered further outcrops of the Brotherton Formation and had a good look at St John’s and St. Katherine’s churches, my first outing in July 2023 was to Wadsley in Sheffield.

 

The geology around Wadsley

 

In the past couple of years, I had visited the area a few times - to photograph its listed buildings as part of a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge that involved a 7 mile walk from Walkley to Hillsborough, a brief exploration of the geology of Loxley Edge and an investigation of its ganister industry with my friend Linda from the Sheffield U3A Geology Group. 

 

Wadsley and Loxley Commons

 

On this occasion, an event had been arranged by the Wadsley and Loxley Commoners - a very active community group that has undertaken archaeological surveys and manages the heathland here – and it provided a good reason to get out of the house on a Saturday. 

 

The datestone at Grove Cottages on Worrall Road

 

Alighting from the No. 58 bus from Sheffield at the Worrall Road/Dykewood Drive stop, which is now also served by the No. 57a Stocksbridge Flyer service, I started my day by taking a couple of photographs of the Edwardian Grove Cottages (1905) on Worrall Road, which I presume are built with the Loxley Edge Rock that was quarried less than 200 m away. 

 

Grove Cottages

Walking further down Worrall Road to No. 303, the wild colouration and orange iron staining and banding, which is quite typical of the Loxley Edge Rock, is partly obscured by the patina and dirt but it is clearly differentiated from the uniformly coloured stone that has been used to renew the stonework around the right hand ground floor window. 

 

No. 303 Worrall Road

 

On the opposite side of the road, the surface of the stonework lower part of the gable end to No. 274 Worrall Road has been weathered away, probably exacerbated by the recrystallisation of road salt in its pores. The orange to grey colour variation is quite clearly revealed and the sandstone is coarse to very coarse grained and shows good examples of graded bedding, cross-bedding and planar bedding. 

 

Walling at No. 274 Worrall Road

 

Making my way to the car park on Rural Lane, I headed west along the public footpath through the old quarries, which now consist of a ‘hills and holes’ landscape where the piles of rock waste are covered in heather. Without stopping to try and find the old quarry face, which the OpenStreetMap shows on the south-east side, I continued through woodland to an open area of grassland that the Wadsley and Loxley Commoners use to hold events. 

 

Google and OpenStreetMap views of Wadsley Common

 

Having had conversations with various committee members about the possibility of leading a walk in the future, to look at the geology, as well as talking with the archaeologist who had been undertaking a survey, I headed off towards Loxley Edge. 

 

Woodland with bracken at Wadsley Common

 

I was quite astonished to discover that the part of the common that I had previously visited during the winter was now covered in shoulder high bracken, which the Commoners struggle to control. I don’t know the paths very well and, being completely disorientated, I just made my way back towards the car park through an area of woodland that I had not previously explored. 

 

Loose blocks of Loxley Edge Rock at Wadsley Common

 

All along the paths and on the surrounding land, loose blocks of Loxley Edge Rock poke out the ground, which contribute to the thick covering of head that covers the slopes beneath the distinct escarpment formed by Loxley Edge. 

 

A possible delf at Wadsley Common

 

In a few places there are noticeable hollows, which could be old delves that provided stone before the large quarries were developed during the second half of the C19. I didn’t have my Estwing hammer with me, but I managed to obtain a sample of very reddened medium grained sandstone, which sparkles in the sunshine. 

 

A specimen of reddened Loxley Edge Rock

 

I continued back to the car park and headed back down to Worrall Road where I took a few more photographs of the Wadsley Almshouses and the old school, before stopping at Wadsley parish church, where I joined a free tour of the graveyard.

 

A graveyard tour at Wadsley parish church

 

St. Katherine's Loversall - The Interior

 

A view of the nave and arcade

Ever since I started exploring the mediaeval churches of South Yorkshire and the surrounding counties back in 2016 - starting at St. Helen's church in Treeton - I firstly walk around the exterior to make a general photographic record of each elevation and note the various phases of construction. If there are any features that particularly catch my eye, I then return to these and photograph the details. 

 

The guide to St. Katherine's church

 

At St. Katherine’s church in Loversall, I spent less than 15 minutes looking at the exterior from some distance, from which I was able to determine several phases of building by looking at the size, shape and colours of the various stones in the fabric. Entering the church, after the service by the Romanian Orthodox Church had finished, I introduced myself, obtained a church guide and then had a wander around. 

 

A view east along the nave

 

Only when preparing my Language of Stone Blog posts to describe my visit 16 months later, have I looked at my copy of Pevsner for the West Riding of Yorkshire, the Historic England listing description, the entry in the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain & Ireland (CRSBI) and the church guide – where it is said that Sir George Gilbert Scott took down and rebuilt the entire nave and south aisle. 

 

The north wall of the nave

 

Looking at the north wall of the nave and above the chancel arch, the masonry looks original to me and the masonry immediately above the arcade, which is considered to be Perpendicular Gothic (c.1375-1560) is of a similar pattern, with a distinct change in the masonry that coincides with the clerestory. Although the windows look like they have been restored in the Victorian fashion, perhaps the wall has not been completely rebuilt and has been refaced? 

 

A view of the clerestory

 

Although I have acquired a certain amount of knowledge about the dating of arches and arcades, I am not a trained architectural historian and rely on the reference material such as Pevsner and the Historic England listing descriptions, but neither of these adopt a systematic approach to dating the various elements of a mediaeval church. 

 

A view west along the nave

When the masonry is not plastered, as on the exterior, it is very often possible to determine the relative ages of phases of building by observing the way that the shape, size and degree of tooling to the stone blocks and regularity of courses changes over time - with rubble and ashlar masonry being the extremes. 

 

The arcade to the south chapel

Entering the chancel, the walls are plastered and although the CRSBI highlight the remains of the splay of a rounded C12 arch and my observations of the masonry on the exterior suggest that this is possibly of the same date, no archaeological evidence in the interior of the chancel is visible. 

 

The effigy of William de Middleton

 

In the south chapel (c.1530), which has wide pointed arches forming the two bay arcade, the early C14 effigy of a knight immediately caught my eye. The church guide states that it is very probably William de Middleton, who is depicted with his sword and shield but, quite unusually he is not wearing his helmet or armour. 

 

A detail of the effigy of William Middleton

 

As with very many mediaeval churches that I have visited, St. Katherine’s has very limited storage space and the south chapel doubles up as a utility room, where I was very surprised to see what I thought was a kitchen worktop is actually a table tomb - which is decorated with quatrefoils and may commemorate John Wyrall. 

 

The table tomb in the south chapel

Returning to the chancel, I stopped very briefly to look at the quite crudely carved head on the impost to the south side of the chancel arch which, except for the headstop on the arch to the south door, is the only figurative sculpture that I noticed inside the church. 

 

The south impost of the chancel arch

Continuing west along the nave, I took a few more photographs of the arcade, clerestory and the wall of the south aisle which, like the north wall of the nave, looks like it is the original masonry and that it has been refaced and not rebuilt. 

 

A view of the arcade and south aisle

 

Being conscious that I had to catch the hourly No. 22 bus back to Doncaster, I only spent 45 minutes exploring this very interesting church, which I would like to examine again in greater detail with a standing buildings archaeologist. 

 

The C12 font