All Saints Church Youlgrave - Memorials

A detail of the effigy of Thomas Cokayne

During my investigation of mediaeval churches, in South Yorkshire and the surrounding counties, although I have principally concentrated on the fabric and the building stones that have been used in their construction – to further my interests in standing buildings archaeology - I like to see their various memorials. 

War memorials in the nave

As a geologist, the Neoclassical wall memorials made from white and black marbles generally don’t interest me and I much prefer the wild colours and textures that can been found in alabaster, which was once extensively mined in Derbyshire and worked in Nottinghamshire. 

Monuments to church vergers

All Saints church in Youlgrave has several fine examples of alabaster, with the most recent examples being found in the simple plaques in the south aisle, which commemorate church vergers and the more elaborate memorials to WW1 and WW2, which can be found in the north wall of the extended nave. 

The memorial to Roger Looe and his family

In the north aisle, the Jacobean wall memorial to Roger Rooe of Alport, who died in 1613, shows him and his wife on their knees facing each other across a prayer desk, with their eight children in a line below. The tradition of the time was to paint the alabaster but, here, the colours on the various figures have largely disappeared. 

The reredos in the north aisle

At the east end of the nave, there is an altar whose reredos commemorates Robert Gilbert and his wife Joan, who died in 1492. The central figure of a Virgin and Child is flanked by Robert to the left, with his seven sons and Joan, to the right, with her ten daughters. 

The tomb of Thomas Cokayne

Moving into the chancel, the chest tomb depicts Thomas Cokayne in the full armour of the period, who died in a fight with Thomas Burdett in 1488 after a quarrel over a marriage settlement. It is unusual in that the effigy is much smaller than those typically seen, which is apparently because he died before his father. 

The effigy of Sir John Rossington

The oldest memorial in All Saints church, also in the chancel, dates to the C14 and is thought to depict Sir John Rossington, who is holding a heart in his hands, has his legs crossed and his feet resting on a dog; however, on this occasion, the stone is not alabaster but Permian dolomitic limestone, which I have often seen in South Yorkshire and the surrounding counties.

A detail of the effigy of Sir John Rossington