St. Mary's Church in Armthorpe - Part 1

A view from the south-west

Since commencing my investigation of the 70 mediaeval churches in South Yorkshire, at St. Helen’s church in Treeton back in February 2016, by April 2025 I had managed to visit 58 of these, as well as 72 others in the surrounding counties and further afield. 

 

A view from Doncaster Road

 

Following on from an afternoon spent in nearby Handsworth, I took advantage of a regular Wednesday morning crafting session to visit the Church of St. Leonard and St. Mary in Armthorpe, dated by Historic England (HE) as “C11, C12 and C15 restored and extended 1885 for patron Lord Auckland of Edenthorpe”. 

 

A view from the south-east

 

Entering the churchyard through the lychgate, I noted the north aisle, east windows, porch, weatherboarded bell turret and the rendered exterior, which are all part of the 1885 restoration and presumably account for the church only having Grade II listed status. 

 

A detail of the limestone used for quoins to the nave

 

After having a very quick look at the irregularly shaped quoins on the south-east corner of the nave, which are made of dolomitic limestone from the Upper Permian Cadeby Formation, I walked quickly around the exterior in an anti-clockwise direction to take a few general record photos. 

 

The east end

 

Passing the vestry (1976), which further detracts from the mediaeval origins of the church, I didn’t examine the limestone used for the C19 window dressings, and assumed that it was a further use of dolomitic limestone, but the honey coloured patina that has developed on the window dressings of the north aisle is more typical of Jurassic oolitic limestones. 

 

The north elevation

I have encountered Ancaster limestone many times, where used in the late Victorian restoration of mediaeval churches built with dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation, even though the latter was still readily available and it is possible that it has been used here. 

 

The west window of the nave

 

Moving round to the west end of the nave, the quoins and dressings look like they have been restored with the same limestone used for the C19 work, but it does not have a honey coloured patina. Usually, where Ancaster stone has been used, its distinctive ripple marks, sometimes referred to as ‘streaky bacon’ texture, are clearly seen, but my photo does not show these. 

 

A restored C12 slit window

 

Continuing to the south elevation of the nave, a restored round headed slit window provides evidence of the antiquity of the church and to the right of the porch, the HE description refers to a C15, cusped, square-headed 3-light window flanked by C12 round-headed slit windows., with a square-headed, ogee-traceried, single-light window to their right. 

 

Various styles of windows in the nave

HE further describe the chancel as having a “Small priest’s door with a chamfered, quoined surround and ogee-soffit lintel; on its left a square-headed, ogee-traceried, single-light window; on right a similar window of 2 lights”. Although some of the masonry and tracery have been restored at some time, plenty of the original dolomitic limestone is retained. 

 

The south elevation of the chancel

 

Returning to the C19 porch, much of the stonework on its south elevation and in the interior has been badly eroded and has had to be replaced in recent years, with efflorescent salts suggesting a problem with damp. In contrast, the limestone used for the original pilaster on the nave has not been affected to such an extent. 

 

The porch

 

Entering the porch, the round arched south door is dated by Pevsner to c.1200 and it has a very simple form, with no elaborate decoration and very plain capitals to the shafts, which have been replaced quite recently judging by the fresh appearance of the limestone.

 

The arch to the south door

Handsworth New Cemetery

 

A detail of the headstone of Private Charlie Rodgers

I spent just over 2½ hours having a walk around Handsworth to photograph several listed buildings, including St. Joseph’s primary school and Bramley Hall for a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, and finished my day by searching for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstones at Handsworth New Cemetery.

 

The headstones of  H. Price, K. Sharp and A. Evans

The headstones of Aircraftmen H. Price and K. Sharp of the Royal Air Force and Driver A. Evans of the Royal Army Service Corps, whose regimental crests I had already seen, are all made of Botticino ‘marble’, a Jurassic limestone from Brescia in Italy. This is solely used by the CWGC for replacement headstones made with a CNC milling machine, but the original mason’s worksheets don’t record the original material.

 

The cross of Rose Ann Dunn

 

As always, as a geologist with specialist interests in building stones, I take note of the various stones used for other headstones and memorials and I soon encountered the cross of Rose Ann Dunn (d.1947). I immediately thought that the colour and texture suggests that this was obtained from either Cornwall or Devon, where the Cornubian Batholith is widely exposed, but I didn’t examine it closely.

 

A detail of the memorial to Rose Ann Dunn

Another granite of a different character, without alkali feldspar phenocrysts, is used for the headstones of Private S.T. North of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, Private T.H.W.W. Brownett of the York and Lancaster Regiment and Gunner F.E. Faulkner of the Royal Artillery.

 

The headstones of S.T. North, T.H.W.W. Brownett and F.E. Faulkner

This looks very much like the granite used for Private J.T. Cawthorne of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, which I had seen at Handsworth Old Cemetery and considered to be very similar to Creetown granite – recorded as been used for the headstone of Driver C.W. Eagers of the Royal Engineers in Crookes Cemetery. 

 

The headstone of Private Charlie Rodgers

 

The same granite has been used for the headstone of Private Charlie Rodgers of the 9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers, whose regimental crest I had not seen before. The mason’s worksheet again does not provide any information, but the samples of the Creetown granite in the National Building Stone Collection provide a good match. 

 

Specimens of Creetown granite in the National Building Stone Collection

 

Coming to the headstones of Private T. Sharp of the Royal Army Medical Corps and Private E. Stickland of the Durham Light Infantry, I was at first quite puzzled by the very fine grained stone used for these, where its colour was obscured by dirt. 

 

The headstones of Private T. Sharp and Private E. Stickland

Looking more closely at the headstone, particularly where a small piece had broken off, I could see that the stone used is Welsh slate, which is the first time that I had seen this in more than 650 CWGC headstones that I had so far photographed. 

 

A damaged headstone exposing the Welsh slate

 

The Italian Carrara marble kerbed headstone, commemorating Elizabeth (d.1938) and Thomas Crapper (d.1947), appears to have been kept clean and well maintained, if the recorded dates are indicative of the date when this was made.

 

The headstone of Elizabeth and Thomas Crapper

 

Other Carrara marble headstones, which date to the 1950’s and 1960’s, have developed a grey patina and a saccharoidal texture, with some of the lead lettering having fallen off, and the headstone of Edith Crookes (d.1931) has weathered to the extent that the more resistant calcite veins stand proud and the lead lettering casts a distinct shadow. 

 

Various Carrara marble headstones

 

Portland stone is used for the headstone of Lance Corporal H.E. Brayford of the 65th West Riding Battalion Home Guard and the mason’s worksheet for this also lists Aircraftman H. Price and Lance Corporal Molly Carter of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. These were also presumably made with Portland stone, but they have since been reproduced with Botticino marble. 

 

The headstone of Lance Corporal H.E. Brayford

 

The detail of the Brayford headstone shows that the shell fragments are standing proud, with some loss of detail of the inscription and regimental crest. Portland stone is a durable material and a reproduction is made only when the inscription becomes illegible and any advanced decay my be explained by the close proximity of the Orgreave Coking Works, which closed in 1990. 

 

A detail of the headstone of Lance Corporal H.E. Brayford

Having found all the CWGC headstones, with the last being of Molly Carter, I made my way towards the exit and encountered the large memorials to Hector Morton (d.1918) and various members of the Shaw family (d.1908 to 2003), which are made with grey granites. 

 

the regimental crest on the headstone of Molly Carter

The Morton memorial looks like Rubislaw granite from Aberdeen whose dark variety, with a high content of black biotite mica, I am familiar with where used in various Victorian buildings. The Shaw memorial is made of granite that is much lighter in colour and contains less biotite, which is probably another Scottish granite. 

 

Memorials to Hector Morton (L) and members of the Shaw family (R)

 

Looking through the British Geological Survey (BGS) imagebase, there are slightly lighter varieties of Rubislaw granite and when uploading a detailed photo of the Shaw memorial granite to its image search, various Scottish granites were included in the search results; however, the results also included basalt, limestone, schist and various photomicrographs, which shows that this AI tool is far from being reliable.

 

A photo of granite uploaded to the BGS image search tool

A Further Exploration of Handsworth

 

Bramley Hall

A couple of days after a good day out to Old Whittington, a sunny Saturday morning quite spontaneously prompted me to catch  the No. 71 bus from Treeton to Harthill, an attractive village on the border of Rotherham and North East Derbyshire. 

 

Decorative stones in the interior of All Hallows church

 

I had visited All Hallows church a few times and examined the Rotherham Red variety of the Mexborough Rock in an old quarry, which is set a short distance to the east. I had no reason to further explore Harthill and just wanted to get out of the house for a couple of hours and, although I had another look at the decorative stone used in the chancel, I can't really add anything more to my previous Language of Stone Blog posts. 

 

St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic primary school

With the fine weather continuing, my next trip on the following Monday also just required a short bus journey - this time to Handsworth, which I had explored a few times during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020. Alighting from the No. 95 bus, I proceeded to St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic primary school, where I took a few photos for the British Listed Buildings website. 

 

The rear of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic primary school

I then popped into the churchyard of the adjacent St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic church to photograph the rear elevation of the school and here I discovered a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstone made of Portland stone, which commemorates Bombardier J.W. Foreman of the Royal Artillery. 

 

The headstone of Bombardier J.W. Foreman

 

Retracing my steps and crossing Handsworth Road, I had quick look around Handsworth Old Cemetery, where there is the CWGC headstone of Private J.T. Cawthorne of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. The worksheet doesn’t mention the stone used, but it looks very similar to the Creetown granite, which I had seen used for the headstone of Driver C.W. Eagers of the Royal Engineers in Crookes Cemetery. 

 

A detail of the granite used for the headstone of Private J.T. Cawthorne

 

I took a few general photos of substantial later Victorian memorials, where various granites have been used, including pink Peterhead granite, which is easily recognisable. The grey granites are probably from Aberdeen, but I didn’t examine them closely and the red granites used for the simple headstones looks quite different to the Peterhead granite, but my photos don’t show their dates and I can't determine their mineralogy and texture from them. 

 

Granite memorials in Handsworth Old Cemetery

 

Making my way down the public footpath past the allotments and on to Bramley Hall Road, where Bramley Hall, dated by Historic England (HE) to the early C18 with rear addition (c.1875) and mid C20 alterations, is surrounded by an estate of inter-war semi-detached houses. 

 

Views of Bramley Hall

Returning to Handsworth Road via Bramley Lane, I took a couple of photos of the Jeffcock Memorial Water Trough and Drinking Fountain (1900), which are made with pink Peterhead granite and grey granite from the Cornubian Batholith respectively. 

 

The Jeffcock Memorial Water Trough and Drinking Fountain

I stopped again at the entrance to St. Mary’s churchyard, where the Portland stone war memorial is set into the churchyard wall that is made of sandstone which, like that used for Bramley Hall, was probably obtained from a sandstone in the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation.

 

Handsworth war memorial

I had first visited St. Mary's church a couple of times in 2016, when my days out were mainly spent investigating the mediaeval churches of South Yorkshire and noted that the rebuilt chancel arch (c.1870) has alternate voussoirs made of Rotherham Red sandstone. On this occasion, while having a quick look at the east end, I could see that it has also been used for the renewal of the tracery and window surround to the north window of St. Katherine’s chapel. 

 

The north window of St. Katherine's chapel

At the east end of the chancel, set within a round cornered enclosure with an ashlar plinth and wrought iron railing, contains 4 chest tombs of various styles, dated by HE as 1658, mid C19 and 1889. One of the C19 tombs is made of a red sandstone that again looks like Rotherham Red sandstone which, in my experience, is not used for monuments.

 

Chest tombs at the east end of the chancel

Earlier in the year at the Sheffield Heritage Fair, I met various representatives of the Handsworth Museum and Historical Society, based in the stable block to the former Handsworth vicarage, which I never knew existed, and after taking a photo of the old vicarage, which now holds weddings and events, went to look at the museum. 

 

The former Handsworth vicarage

 

Having been offered a cup of tea, I got talking to the various members of the society who were in attendance, I was surprised to see Chris Ellis of the Diocese of Sheffield turn up, who I had met several times during the Church Explorers Week event that he had organised the previous year. 

 

Sunny Meadows Nursery

From here, I set off down Handsworth Road on my way to Handsworth New Cemetery and was again very curious to see that Rotherham Red sandstone is used for the quoins and dressings to the Sunny Meadows Nursery, which has walling built with the ‘ginger nut’ hued sandstone that is used for most of the historic architecture in Handsworth.

 

Rotherham Red sandstone dressings at Sunny Meadows Nursery

Headstones at St. Bartholomew's Church

 

The regimental crest of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)

As I am by now accustomed to doing when preparing a British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, which includes a visit to a church, I had looked on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website to see if their were any of their headstones in St. Bartholomew’s churchyard and found that 16 were located there.

 

The CWGC headstones in st. Bartholomew's churchyard

Of these, there were only two regimental crests that I was not yet familiar with – the Air Training Corps and the Seaforth Highlanders – and having found a map of the graveyard on the Whittington History website, I was surprised to discover that the grave references on the Excel spreadsheet downloaded from the CWGC website don’t seem to match up with the areas marked on this map. 

 

A map of St. Bartholomew's graveyard

 

Before looking round the interior of St. Bartholomew’s church, I had a quick look around the part of the churchyard to the south of the church and was curious about the provenance of the stone used for the very large grave slab used to commemorate various members of the Whittam family, where the dates of death recorded range from 1827 to 1879. 

 

A grave slab for members of the Whittam family

An expert might be able to assign an approximate date to the making of this headstone – and others near the lychgate that are delaminating - particularly in relation to the arrival of the railway in the area, which enabled better quality stones to be brought in from further afield. 

 

Delaminating headstones

The geological memoir refers to the Wingfield Flags as having once supplied paving stones and gravestones from its flaggy beds and the church guide records that it was used for the walling of the 1863 church and, when briefly looking at the building stones used for the exterior church, I concluded that the same stone has been used for the original tower and the walling used for the church that was built in 1896. 

 

The headstone of Driver E. Burgin

When wandering around the churchyard to the south of the church, I came across the headstone of Driver E. Burgin of the Royal Army Service Corps, which is made from Portland stone. I had hoped to use its CWGC grave reference to help me to find the other headstones, but there isn’t one and I resigned myself that I would have to randomly criss-cross the extension to the churchyard in search of the others. 

 

The regimental crest of the Royal Army Service Corps

 

When talking to the local historian Philip Morris, while drinking a cup of tea, he told me that he had undertaken considerable research on the CWGC headstones and that he had produced a booklet that highlights the lives of the men and woman who are commemorated here. 

 

A booklet by Philip Morris

He then kindly offered to show me the location of the 15 headstones still on my list, but firstly pointed out the large fir trees, which mark the position of the Norman church that was demolished to make way for the church built a few metres to the north in 1863

 

Yew trees marking the position of the Norman church

 

In Staveley and Brimington cemeteries, which I had visited a couple of years earlier, I discovered that nearly half of the CWGC headstones were made with Hopton Wood limestone, which was quarried from the Lower Carboniferous Bee Low Limestone Formation near Wirksworth. 

 

Headstones made with Stancliffe Darley Dale gritstone

The next 10 headstones that I found are made of Stancliffe Darley Dale medium grained gritstone, which I had seen many times before in Derbyshire and  South Yorkshire. Approaching the headstone of Cadet G. Hughes of the Air Training Corps, the texture of the stone suggested that it might be a Botticino marble replacement of the original headstone, but it is in fact Portland stone, which is quite weathered with a loss of some fine detail. 

 

The regimental crest of the Air Training Corps

The headstone of Private C.E. Buxton of the Seaforth Highlanders, with its fine stag’s head crest, is also made of Portland stone, as are those of Signalman A. Matchett of the Royal Signals, Private J. Wright of the Pioneer Corps and Lance Corporal J. Elliott of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. 

 

The regimental crest of the Seaforth Highlanders

While finding the CWGC headstones, Philip talked about his work to record all of the graves in the churchyard, which he has researched in depth, and he told me that he had just started to lead walks and that a stonemason had told him about some of the stones in the graveyard.

 

Headstones of A. Matchett, J. Wright and J, Elliott

 

I explained that, as a geologist, I also lead walks and give talks about the various stones used for monuments and headstones and pointed out Carrara marble and various granites that are in the graveyard, including the pink Peterhead granite from the Aberdeenshire coast. 

 

A headstone made of pink Peterhead granite