St. Leonard's Church Scarcliffe - Part 1

 

The C12 priest's door in the south wall of the chancel

Having had a good look at the rock outcrops and the various building stones in the vernacular architecture of Palterton and Scarcliffe, I then proceeded to St. Leonard’s church, which was being opened to the general public as part of the Heritage Open Days festival. 

 

A general view of the south elevation of St. Leonard's church

The Grade II* Listed church was founded c.1150 by Ralph de Aincourt, along with daughter chapels in Palterton and at Scarcliffe Lanes, but was extended c.1250 with the building of the west tower, enlargement of the chancel and addition of the north aisle. Further alterations were made in the late C16 and the tower was rebuilt in 1842, with restoration work being undertaken later in the C19.

 

Rubble masonry surrounding the priest's door in the chancel

I was immediately attracted to the Norman priest’s door and the surrounding lower level stonework in the chancel, which consists of irregular rubble masonry that has extreme variation in the shape, size and colour of the individual building stones and contrasts with the surrounding walling. 

 

The priest's door

Pevsner asserts that the obviously Norman style detailing is renewed but the crude headstops look original and, according to the church guide, Dr. John Charles Cox in his Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire (1875) states that the chevron pattern had only recently been revealed, after lime plaster was removed during recent work to the church. 

 

The south elevation of the chancel

Looking at the window surrounds, the colour of the stone to the dressings of the Early English lancet window are very similar to those of the Norman rubble masonry, but the dressings of the large late Perpendicular Gothic windows either side of it have weathered to a greyish colour, which is more typical of limestone from the Cadeby Formation. 

 

The Early English lancet window

I didn’t have time to study the masonry in any detail but, from my photographs, I can see that there are changes in the regularity in the heights of courses and the degree of squaring, which provide evidence of phases of alteration and the raising of the chancel over the years. 

 

The north elevation of the chancel

 

Moving anti-clockwise round the east end of the church, the north wall of the chancel also has several points of archaeological interest. The irregular rubble walling forming the oldest masonry, which has a limewashed/plastered upper section, clearly stands out against the surrounding roughly coursed and squared stonework. 

 

The north elevation of the chancel

To the east, the chancel was extended in the C13 and a close examination reveals an infilled tall lancet window, with its dressings still being visible. Above the limewashed walling, three courses of ashlar blocks rise to the level of the hopper heads and extend to the east end, with a further four thinner courses of squared and rock faced stone forming the parapet. 

A detail of the north elevation of the chancel

 

A small Early English lancet window provides further evidence of alteration of the Norman chancel in the C13 and a Decorated Gothic (1250-1350) window, which interrupts the original stringcourse, has been added at a later date. Also, a downpipe partially obscures a blocked square headed door, which again cuts through the stringcourse but is of uncertain date. 

 

A blocked door in the north wall of the chancel

Continuing along to the lean-to north aisle, the pattern of the roughly squared and coursed rubble masonry seen in its east end doesn’t look different to that of the adjoining nave; however, a closer look reveals that the masonry of the aisle has been simply butted onto the existing masonry of the nave, where the quoins at its east end can clearly be seen. 

 

The east wall of the north aisle

Quite an unusual feature, which I have not seen before and is presumably the result of the raising of the adjoining churchyard by the large number of burials, is a trench that has been cut along the length of the north elevation to improve the drainage. 

 

A drainage trench on the north elevation

 

This prevented me from having a very close look at the masonry along the north aisle, which has three very simple square headed windows. None of these have any tracery, but the large central window has two lights separated by a mullion – suggesting that they are part of the late C16 alterations very briefly referred to in the Historic England listing description. 

 

A view of the north aisle