Selby Abbey - The 12th Century

Details of the Norman north door at Selby Abbey

When investigating the construction history of mediaeval churches, my experience as a geologist and of the building restoration industry - with a specialist interest in building stones - has proved invaluable, and it enables me to readily distinguish different phases of heightening, enlargement, major restoration and general repairs.

My old copy of Pevsner for West Yorkshire

As an informal student of standing buildings archaeology, however, I am very dependent on resources such as Pevsner, and Historic England listings and to learn about the various mouldings, tracery and other details that help with the dating, as well as church guides, although information concerning the external fabric can often be very sparse in the latter.

The official Selby Abbey guide

Furthermore, not being paid to undertake a professional survey and being restricted by public transport timetables, I usually only have time to assess the principal features of the structure whilst walking around the building to make a thorough photographic record. 

A general view of the south elevation of Selby Abbey

When arriving at Selby Abbey, I immediately realised that the sheer scale of the building would prevent me from assessing its fabric in detail especially since, in addition to the usual extension and enlargement over the years, two major phases of rebuilding followed the partial collapse of the tower in 1690 and a great fire in 1906 and various sections of the masonry and carved details have been restored in the years since.

The west front of Selby Abbey

On this occasion, the Historic England list entry strangely omits a full description of the architectural details on the exterior of Selby Abbey but unlike the last ecclesiastical building of this size that I visited - Rochester Cathedral – I had a copy of Pevsner which has enabled me to analysis the fabric in some detail.

Chevrons and geometrical designs to the Norman west door

The oldest part of the abbey date back to the 12th century and, looking at the west front, the magnificent round arched doorway is typical of the late Norman style, with its elaborate use of chevrons and other geometrical designs and five orders of shafts with waterleaf capitals. Although sections of the arch and various shafts have been renewed, the stonework appears to be largely original like the west front of Rochester Cathedral, which has fine figurative sculpture carved in soft Caen stone.

The west door with flanking flat buttresses and a blank frieze above

Above the doorway, there is a blank frieze with trefoil arches and, to either side of the west door, there are tall round headed windows and four flat buttresses, each with a niche that is now filled with a modern statue. Another tall Norman window can be seen in the west end of the north aisle and the north door inside the porch has exactly the same style as the west door, but with only four orders of shafts.

Details of the Norman north door

The north transept provides further evidence of the Norman abbey, with another example of a round headed window, with a billet moulding, and flat buttresses that flank the large  window in the Perpendicular Gothic style, which was inserted much later.

A view of the north transept from the west

On the south side, the Norman flat buttresses and corbel table are preserved along with the general walling but, like the north transept and most of the north aisle, it is the later arched windows with their cusped lights and tracery that visually dominate this part of the structure.

Norman masonry to the north aisle with later windows

Finally, the crossing tower still retains its two Norman lower stages, the lowest with simple round arches and the one above much more elaborate with chevrons and shafts with capitals. The dolomitic limestone for these stages is generally pale grey in colour and contrasts very strongly with the upper stage, which was added by John Oldrid Scott and is much more yellow.

The crossing tower