St. Andrew – The 14th Century Onwards

A plan of St. Andrew's church that shows several phases of construction

On the exterior of St. Andrew's church in Bolton upon Dearne, there is no evidence of obviously Norman masonry - although the internal arcade dates to c.1200 - and the next phase of building took place with the addition of the chancel and the north aisle to the nave, in the 14th century.

A general view of the east and west elevations

The chancel has been generally described as the lower half being built in irregular snecked rubble, with coursed dressed stone above. It has also been noted that patching and repairs of the walls blocks has been undertaken throughout the church, with horizontal tooling being characteristic of early 19th century work.

A general view of the south elevation of the chancel

An issue of Building News, dated 8th November 1867, refers to a pamphlet that describes some of the architects responsible for the restoration of several mediaeval churches around Sheffield as “Northern Vandals”, which includes St. Andrew's church.

The blocked south door to the chancel

The east window of the chancel, considered to be 14th century in date, has been restored in a style that reflects the original design; however, the details of the south door have been 'restored' in a manner that no modern conservation architect would accept nowadays – with both the workmanship and materials being of very poor quality.

A general view of the north aisle

Moving on to the north aisle, the fine details of another infilled doorway of 14th century date at the west end of the north aisle have also been obliterated - like the windows on the south elevation of the chancel - but the simple square headed windows with mullions, which are considered to be from the 17th century, have been left untouched.

An old doorway to the north aisle

Looking up at the tower, it is considered to have been built in the 15th-16th century in gritstone, with the late Perpendicular Gothic Style windows being well defined – and with the battlements and crocketed pinnacles being less prominent than those seen in towers of an earlier date.

A view of the tower from the north-west

In just an hour, it is possible to see a wide variety of architectural details and a juxtaposition of sections of walling that must have kept the author of Saxon Churches in South Yorkshire very busy for a long time and - for any professional with interests in the restoration of historic buildings - the bituminous paint, which has been applied to extensive areas of solid masonry, provides a good example of how not to conserve the fabric of a Grade I Listed church.

Saxon masonry adjoining the north side of the tower