St. John's Church Throapham Revisited

 

A detail of an ornate coffin lid

After 15 months of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the restrictions in place still made it impossible to continue with my general investigations of the mediaeval parish churches in and around South Yorkshire but, following my trip to Keppel’s Column and Caesar’s Camp, I decided to make St. John’s church in Throapham the starting point for my next day out.

 

A plan from the Saxon Churches of South Yorkshire by P. Ryder

I first visited this redundant church in 2016, when exploring churches in South Anston and Laughton-en-le-Morthen, but only quickly looked at its exterior. This time, I obtained the combination for the lock from the Churches Conservation Trust and, when looking at the details inside the porch, noticed that some of the limestone was pink – which I later learned is a characteristic of some of the lowest beds of the Permian Cadeby Formation that lie on the Yellow Sands Formation here.

 

A grave slab reset in the porch

Entering the south door, I firstly had a look at the octagonal Perpendicular Gothic style font, made of limestone and comprising traceried panels with a castellated top and, looking down the nave, the arcades dated to c.1200 have cylindrical columns, but the slightly pointed arches indicate a transition from the Norman to the Early English style.

 

A view along the nave to the east

The C15 tower has a very tall arch and the west window is offset from the centre, so that a spiral staircase can be accommodated in the corner and a blocked arch is seen at the end of the north aisle, where the west bay has been truncated by the tower.

 

A view along the nave to the west

 

Looking along the aisles, there are very few features of note, but the masonry to the north wall appears to be interrupted by a course of very thin stones, which may mark a break in building work. Perhaps this is just coincidental or reflects damp in the lower part of the wall, but the limewash has largely fallen off and the yellow colour of the limestone can be clearly seen.

 

Views of the north aisle

Taking a closer look at the arcades, the capitals to the round columns are very simply moulded, with octagonal sections to the north and the only decoration seen is at the east end of the south arcade, where there is badly eroded nailhead decoration.

 

A detail of the nailhead decoration to the south arcade

 

Unusually, the clerestory contains windows on the south side only, which are wide and have three lights and Tudor arches. In the interior, the masonry is seen to be composed of very large well squared blocks that contrast with the older stonework below.

 

The clerestory

Moving through the wide slightly pointed arch into the chancel, which was completely rebuilt in 1709, there are several points of interest to be seen here, although there are no guides available nor does the Churches Conservation Trust website contain much information.

 

A view of the chancel

 

Several grave slabs are set into the floor, which are made of yellowish coloured dolomitic limestone and range in date from the C15 to the C18, with those in front of the altar being in the form of cross slabs, with the earliest one having an inscription in English and not Latin.

 

Cross slabs in the chancel

 

To the north chapel, which is now occupied the organ, the arch has headstops on either side that have lost a lot of their detail. Their noses look like they have been deliberately damaged, which was often inflicted by iconoclasts during the English Civil Wars.

 

Headstops in the chancel

The highlight of the church is the remarkable coffin lid, dated to c.1300, which has ornate foliage carved in high relief but has unfortunately been broken into two pieces. I have not seen anything like this before during my investigations and it certainly makes the church worth a visit.

 

The ornate coffin lid