All Saints Church in Darfield - Part 8

An old window above the north arcade of the chancel

Entering the chancel from the Lady Chapel, at All Saints church in Darfield, my first view was of the north arcade, where its east arch cuts into a large 3-light flat headed window. Like its counterparts above the south arcade, the window was once on the outside. 

A view to the north arcade from the Lady Chapel

The apex of the arch is off centred to the west, with a step in the masonry above it running westwards to the same level above the west arch. This marks a change from irregularly coursed masonry in the spandrels to well squared and coursed masonry above it. 

A general view of the north arcade

At the west end of the arcade, the arch is built adjacent to a large dressed opening and cuts through a moulded squinch like detail above it, which itself has a small opening. The west capital appears to have been partly hacked off and, above and behind it, there is a small rounded section of rubble masonry that follows the curve of the arch, as is normally seen in a vaulted ceiling. 

A detail of the west end of the north arcade

Like the opening to the chancel wall at the end of the south side of the nave, they may relate to the position of rood stairs but I have found no mention of these features in the church guide, Pevsner or the Historic England listing. 

A general view of the south arcade

Turning round to look at the south arcade, it would seem that its double west arch and the masonry above it are the same age as the former external walls of the chancel. The line of the precisely squared splayed dressings to the west window continues down to the floor and the east arch is butted against it. 

An old doorway in the east wall of the chancel

Moving back down again to the east end of the chancel, its south east corner has some more puzzling masonry. Here a broad arch, with exaggerated voussoirs, is tucked away beneath a section of wall that has been hacked away to again reveal a rubble core. There is no obvious sign of a blocked doorway on the exterior, but an information panel in the chancel states that this once led to a vestry at the east end of the church. 

A joint in the masonry and reused Norman chevrons

Looking up at the junction of the east and south chancel walls, there is a butted joint that extends over twenty courses, with only one very long stone tying the sections together. To the west side of this, several blocks have chevron patterns, which is a typically Norman motif, and these are most likely to have been salvaged from the C12 church. 

The mosaic floor between the choir and sanctuary

Historic England cites Pritchett and Son of York as having done restoration work in the C19, but the only obvious Victorian work that I noticed was the floor to the chancel – a high quality mosaic floor, which I presume is made of various marbles from Italy and is dated 1897. 

Mosaic and Belgian red marble

The step to the altar rail is also made of a brownish marble, which has large patches of white and grey calcite. I am not an expert in decorative stones but, looking at a couple of my reference books, I think that it fits the description of a Devonian limestone from the Wallonia region of Belgium – Rouge Royal, Griotte or similar.

Belgian red marble forming the step to the altar rail

In the north-east corner of the chancel, there is a fine private memorial to Charles Bartholomew by his son, Charles William Bartholomew, who also gave the east window to the church in his honour. It has a green serpentinite surround, which encloses mosaic, an inscribed marble panel and a heraldic crest that is formed in what appears to be marble inlaid work.

The Charles Bartholomew memorial