The Church of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert

The west end of the church of St. Mary and St. Oswald

The prime purpose of the Rotherham Deanery Pilgrimage undertaken on the 6th July 2019 was to attend a formal service in the church of St. Mary and St. Cuthbert; however, this church interests me because it occupies the nave of the former Bolton Priory, which was torn down after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 and is now preserved as a ruin. 

Bolton Priory before and after the Dissolution

With only an hour to explore a building that once had the dimensions of Selby Abbey, and to investigate the geology and geomorphology of the nearby River Wharfe, I could only take a quick set of photographs and wasn’t able to look for the details that show its C12 origins.

A map of the bedrock geology around Bolton Priory

Although I don’t know the quarry sources, Bolton Abbey is set on the boundary between the Carboniferous Limestone and the overlying Millstone Grit Group and the entire structure is built of gritstone, often with a distinctly red colouration. 

The south elevation of the church of St. Mary and St. Oswald

The nave to the priory, now the current church, was built in the late C12 and C13, along with the north aisle, and the six tall arched windows have plate tracery with a quatrefoil, characteristic of the C13, with the blind arcade to the north cloister wall considered to be late C12. 

A detail of the blind arcade

The cloisters themselves have been completely removed, along with all of the buildings on the south side of the priory, but an old roof line can still be seen and the outline of the building plan can be partially determined from the remains of the foundations. 

Decoration around the west doorway

Moving to the west end, the main entrance is in the partially built west tower, which was started in 1520 but came to an abrupt halt during the Dissolution and it remained without a roof until 1984. Despite the coarse grained nature of the gritstone generally preventing finely detailed carving, the plinth to the west end and the surround to the west door is highly decorated. 

The north aisle and clerestory

To the north elevation, the clerestory has well squared and coursed walling, with simple pointed arched windows from the C13, but the upper section of the north aisle has been rebuilt, with better quality ashlar walling and C14 Decorated Gothic windows, with reticulated tracery.

An ornate niche on the north aisle