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| A general view of St. James' church from the east |
As I discovered at those dedicated to All Saints at Wath-upon-Dearne and Aston in Rotherham, it is not always easy to gain access to the interior of churches and, taking full advantage of the second weekend of the Heritage Open Days event, I decided to take the bus to go and look at St. James' church in Braithwell – a small village just inside the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, which I had never visited before.
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| A general view of St. James' church from the south-west |
Set on the Magnesian Limestone between Maltby and Conisbrough, I was interested in visiting another mediaeval church that I presumed would be built entirely of this stone, which I had seen in very many natural rock outcrops and quarries in SouthYorkshire, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire.
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| The Braithwell Cross |
Arriving in the village from Maltby, I could see from the top deck of the bus that the C12/13 Braithwell Cross is made from limestone and, passing along High Street, nearly all of the vernacular and agricultural buildings that I saw were built of similar limestone, with red pantile roofs – a distinctive characteristic of the architecture in this region.
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| Braithwell war memorial |
Getting off the bus, I had a quick look at the simple war memorial before quickly walking around the exterior of St. James’ church, which at first glance appears to be quite a simple C15 Perpendicular Gothic style, with dolomitic limestone ashlar masonry. The south aisle is built of rubble walling that, according to the church guide, is of late C14 age and built of both limestone and sandstone - including much stone that was recycled from the earlier Norman structure.
I noticed variations in the colour that were obviously different to the later ashlar masonry but, given the known colour variation in the limestone from the Cadeby Formation and its close proximity to a former centre of the production of ruddle, a red ochre, I didn't even think of looking closely at the various stones with my hand lens.
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| A view of the masonry on the south elevation of St. James' church |
I noticed variations in the colour that were obviously different to the later ashlar masonry but, given the known colour variation in the limestone from the Cadeby Formation and its close proximity to a former centre of the production of ruddle, a red ochre, I didn't even think of looking closely at the various stones with my hand lens.
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| A view of St. James' church from the south-east |
The chancel, originally built in Tudor times, was rebuilt in 1845 and has a blocked priest’s door and, to the north elevation, there is a late Victorian vestry and a small modern extension – none of which have any details of much interest.
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| The tympanum to the south door |
Entering the porch, the sandstone sundial is dated 1828 and, above the doorway to the church, the tympanum - c. 1120-1130 – is described in my version of Pevsner as a “haphazard assembly of rosettes and chip carved motifs", although the guide to the church provides another more detailed description by Rita Wood, a specialist in Romanesque sculpture.
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| An extract from the official guide to St. James' church |
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