St. Mary Worsbrough - The Interior

A view east along the nave

My long day out in Nottingham provided me with an opportunity to learn some more about its Triassic geology and, in the churches of St. Mary and St. Peter, its building stones but, just a few days later, I was back investigating the Upper Carboniferous sandstones of Barnsley.

A view west along the nave

Having been unable to gain entry to the interior of St. Mary’s church in Worsbrough two weeks earlier, due to delays with my bus, I returned again to find that a funeral had been planned for that day, and so my plans were again disrupted.

The north arcade

The walls of the aisles and the arcades have been plastered, leaving only the columns and arches with exposed stonework to provide clues to the relative dating of the principal structural components in the church.

The south arcade

Pevsner considers that the north arcade is C14, and notices differences from the south arcade, but the church guide suggests that it is C15 – along with additions that I had described in its exterior. Both of the 2 bay arcades are built with octagonal columns and capitals, with wide arches that are barely pointed, and it is only by very closely observing the details of the mouldings etc. that an expert architectural historian can make such a judgement.

A view of the chancel arch from the nave

Moving to the chancel, a close examination of the detailing – especially on the eastern side – shows that the chevrons and other patterns are irregularly arranged, which indicates that the original Norman chancel arch has been rebuilt.

A detail of decoration on the chancel arch

The enlargement of the chancel, with the addition of the St. Catherine’s Chapel and the Lady Chapel, involved the construction of wide nearly round arches as seen in the arcades and on the north wall of the sanctuary, there are two openings – one at low level, which appears to be an altered doorway and another at high level, whose origin and use is unknown.

Miscellaneous openings in the sanctuary

The plastered walls again prevent a better understanding of its standing buildings archaeology but the Norman window in the north wall of the sanctuary, seen only as a narrow slit on the exterior, has a wide splay and the thickness of the stone wall is clearly seen.

The Norman window in the sanctuary

Due to the arrangements there made for the funeral, I was able to enter the vestry, which contains a carved Norman stone that depicts a centaur, however, the doorway to the vestry has a flat headed, four centred ogee arch that is a characteristic of the Tudor period.

The doorway to the vestry