St. John's Church in Throapham

A detail of a gargoyle on the tower

The church of St. John in Throapham is set in a tiny hamlet on the edge of the Magnesian Limestone outlier, which is largely occupied by the village of Laughton-en-le-Morthen, but it is now disused and in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

A general view of St. John's church

With its isolated position and the need to obtain a key to obtain access to its interior, this church was low down on my list of mediaeval churches to explore in Rotherham; however, taking advantage of a sunny day when visiting the church of St. James in Anston, I got off the bus to take a very quick walk around its exterior - when on the way to Laughton-en-le-Morthen to have another look at its church and historic buildings.

A general view of the south aisle and clerestory

Approaching the east end from the main road, St John's church is dominated by its castellated 15th century tower and, apart from the north aisle and windowless clerestory, it has the typical appearance of a Perpendicular Gothic style church; however, undertaking further desktop research, I have since discovered that it was originally an aisleless church that has a pre-Conquest or Overlap date and that the chancel and porch were built in 1709.

A relocated Norman doorway inside the porch

Looking at the stonework in general, which is all Permian dolomitic limestone, it has developed a uniformly grey patina and – although the ashlar masonry to the tower appears slightly paler in colour than the rest of the fabric – the stone is generally free of yellow colouration, which is often found in the historic buildings in and around South Yorkshire.

A view of the tower

At the time of my visit, I didn't have the time to take much notice of variations in the size and shape of blocks and bed heights or other details that help to unravel its construction history but, when examining my photographs, there are differences in various parts of the structure - which I would certainly investigate further during any future visit to see the interior of this church.

A general view of the west and north elevations