The Interior of the Porch

The south door

Once inside the porch, the principal feature here is the south door of St. Helen's church, constructed in dolomitic limestone and set on a Rotherham Red sandstone plinth course. Again, its date is not certain – 12th or 13th century - and the possibility of it being removed from another part of the church has been debated.

Details of the condition of the door jambs and shafts

In places, the limestone is in an advanced state of decay and previous repairs to the shafts have been undertaken in Jurassic limestone, similar to that used in the outer doorway of the porch, and also in a badly matching medium grained sandstone of unknown provenance.

The child's coffin

The pattern of tool marking of the sandstone masonry immediately surrounding the door is quite different to that found on the exterior of the porch, as well as that of the adjoining south aisle; however, there is no evidence to suggest that the masonry is of different age - it is possible that the roughly tooled surface was never meant to be seen and was originally coated with lime wash.

Stone decay in Rotherham Red sandstone

Although both the sandstone and the limestone to the exterior of the porch are in relatively good condition, within the porch they have been subjected to severe cavernous decay and, not too far into the future, these will be have to be carefully repaired using matching stone. 

Stone decay in Jurassic limestone