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| An ironstone nodule at St. Margaret's church in Swinton |
Arriving back home in Treeton after my long weekend in London, I had to spend a few days editing the photographs that I had taken, but it wasn’t long before I had my next afternoon out – to explore the historic architecture and building stones of Swinton, starting at St. Margaret’s church.
Taking a No. 22 bus from Rotherham, I alighted at the Rockingham Road/Warren Vale stop, which is set on the edge of the Oaks Rock – a swathe of Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation sandstone that strikes WNW-ESE and runs up from the River Don to Wath upon Dearne, Wombwell and Monk Bretton on the outskirts of Barnsley.
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| The south elevation of St. Margaret's Church in Swinton |
Continuing down the hill for nearly a kilometre, without passing much of great interest, I arrived at the main entrance and walked up to St. Margaret's church, which was built in 1817 and - except for the tower - then destroyed by a fire in 1897 and rebuilt by E. Isle Hubbard in 1899.
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| Fire reddened sandstone on the tower |
I don’t know if the church has ever been cleaned but, surprisingly, much of the late Victorian masonry is blackened and hides the characteristics of the sandstone, yet the much older Georgian stonework in the tower is not dirty.
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| The west elevation of the tower |
Getting closer, I could see evidence of the fire in the reddened masonry in the tower just above the apex of the nave roof and, walking around to the west elevation of the tower, I was able to get a better idea of the sandstone that has been used here.
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| The upper stages of the tower |
Looking up to the upper stages of the tower, the ashlar masonry is more yellow/orange in colour than any of the locally used sandstones from the Coal Measures that I recall seeing in Rotherham - with its patches of darker, slightly ‘wild’ colour variations.
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| Iron nodules in the surround to the west door |
It was only when I had a close look at the surround to the west door, did I notice that the medium grained sandstone contains a scattering of ironstone nodules, which look very similar to those seen in the Mexborough Rock at Darfield and also in the Rotherham Red sandstone further south.
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| Iron nodules in the surround to the west door |
Looking at the BGS Strategic Stone Study map, although there were a couple of quarries on the Oaks Rock, a concentration of nine quarries have been marked in the area immediately to the east of Mexborough town centre and I think that these are likely to be the source of stone for the tower.
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| An extract from the British Geological Survey Strategic Stone Study |
I had a quick wander clockwise around the church, but the north elevation was mainly obscured by trees and I only took a few general photographs of the east end of the church to add to the British Listed Buildings website.
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| A general view of St. Margaret's church in Swinton |
At one place on the south aisle, I had a brief look at the low level masonry beneath a window, where the projecting plinth course has weathered to reveal cross-bedding. Small orange ironstone nodules are scattered throughout the light brown/yellowish sandstone and, due to the use of hard cement for repointing, many of the stones above the plinth have deteriorated.
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| A detail of the masonry on the south aisle |
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