St. Peter's Church in Barnburgh - Part 1

A general view from the south-east

Arriving back at St. Peter’s church after a quick exploration of Barnburgh, I started my investigation of the exterior by looking at the chancel, where the large 5-light east window has restored geometric tracery in the Decorated Gothic style. 

The east elevation of the chancel

On its south elevation, there are two large windows, whose jambs and reticulated tracery have been mostly restored, and a priest’s door, which all have original headstops. Softer beds in the yellow dolomitic limestone ashlar masonry have been differentially weathered and in many places are deeply scoured. 

The south elevation of the chancel

A period of substantial building is believed to have taken place c.1330, which includes the rebuilding of the chancel and the addition of the south aisle and the porch; however, although the pattern of the masonry appears to support this, the windows to the south aisle are Perpendicular Gothic and reflect later alterations – including the clerestory and castellated parapets – c.1410. 

The south aisle and chancel

Looking closely at the restored sections, the colour of the dolomitic limestone used for repairs is much lighter than the original material, which is uniformly yellow throughout the parts of the structure that I had seen so far and suggests that the unknown quarry source operated through the mediaeval period. 

Cavernous decay on the priest's door

The porch is a very prominent C14 addition to the church, with its moulded diagonal buttresses being topped with a narrow pointed convex arch and the bold castellated parapets and finials forming very distinctive features. 

The porch

Moving to the tower, the upper two stages were added in the C15 and they are built in ashlar blocks that are much larger than those seen in the C12 lowest stage, where the greyish patina is less well developed. 

The south elevation of the tower

Looking at the lowest stage, the upper section consists of blocks that are much more elongated than the lowermost stones, which are quite square, but the most noticeable feature is the abundance of highly reddened stones of the latter. 

A blocked Norman slit window

A closer examination shows that a large proportion of the stones in the bottom half of the Norman tower have delaminated and many have been replaced in recent times using stone, which on close inspection, is revealed to be a Jurassic oolitic limestone. Furthermore, eight modern stainless steel tie rods with anchor plates have been inserted into this section of the tower, which is an indication of structural instability.

Reddened stone with tie rods and anchor plates