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| A detail of the corbel-frieze |
Starting with a trip to Bolsover, I had a good look at north-east Derbyshire during July 2019, culminating with the church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Eckington, but I turned my attention to West Yorkshire for my next day out.
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| A general view of the south elevation |
A year earlier, a friend had told me about St. John the Baptist’s church in Adel, which is set 7 km north of Leeds city centre and has been described by Pevsner as “One of the best and most complete Norman churches in Yorkshire”.
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| A general view of the south elevation |
Arriving on the No. 28 bus, after a 45 minute bus journey that passes through some attractive and affluent suburbs on its journey, the walk from the terminus to the church passes through a modern development and I didn’t see the local building stone; however, the church is built in a yellowish medium grained sandstone, which is presumed to be from the underlying Huddersfield White Rock.
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| A general view from the south-west |
Unlike all of the others that I have visited so far, St. John’s church, dated 1150 -1160, consists of just a nave and chancel and there have been few alterations to the structure over the years, with those in mediaeval times limited to the square headed windows on the south elevation - the chancel in the C14 and the nave in the C15.
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| A detail of the west gable and the bellcote |
The bellcote was renewed in 1839 and the roof restored in 1843 by R.D. Chantrell, who is best known for the rebuilding of Leeds Minster, with further restoration carried out in 1879, when the slit windows to the east and west ends were renewed with wider openings and the vestry added.
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| The south portal |
The most interesting features of the exterior are the south portal, the corbel-frieze and the east gable, which contain the most extensive set of Norman sculptures that I have seen to date and have attracted the attention of various academics, which have provided interpretations of them.
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| A detail of the south portal |
The south doorway is composed of four orders, with animals on the shafts and beakheads and chevrons on the arches but the medium grained sandstone used is highly weathered, which has mainly occurred after the original porch was removed in 1816, and its details are partially obscured by a thick coating of limewash.
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| A detail of the sculpted gable to the south portal |
The gable above is also highly weathered but the figure of Christ surrounded by the Four Evangelists - in the symbolic forms of a man, lion, ox and eagle - a lamb above and snakes with multiple heads can be distinguished.
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| The frieze-corbel on the south elevation of the chancel |
The corbel-frieze and east gable are composed of 78 crudely carved human heads, grotesques and animals, some in the form of twins, which still retain much of their original detail, although three of the heads are now missing.
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| A detail of the corbel-frieze |
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