Methley and Castleford

 

A detail of the HSBC bank on Bank Street

The church of St. Oswald in Methley is at the centre of an area known as Methley Church Side, a small agricultural hamlet including Church Side Farm that dominated the wider mediaeval township of Methley. While waiting for the bus back to Castleford, having already taken a good look at the exterior and interior of the church and its monuments, I took a few photos of the two Grade II Listed buildings that can be found here. 

 

The Club House

 

The early to mid C19 Club House - an old school with an integrated master’s house - is set on the main road just to the south of the churchyard and is built in a Coal Measures sandstone, similar to the one seen in the south aisle wall of the church, with a graduated stone tile roof. 

 

The Club House

 

Except for the Decorated Gothic style design, which includes a pointed window in the south wing, quatrefoil tracery, shouldered arches and trefoils seen along the east elevation, there isn’t a great deal to see and I quickly moved on. 

 

Church Side Farmhouse

The late C17 Church Side Farmhouse, opposite Methley Cricket Club, is a much more interesting building, with its symmetrical front and mullioned windows, large gable dormers and massive flues and chimney stacks that give it a very solid appearance. 

 

Church Side Farmhouse

While waiting for my bus from Castleford to Methley and later when waiting for the train back to Sheffield, I had a very quick wander around Castleford, mainly to see the Millennium Bridge, which crosses the River Aire just downstream of the Castleford Weir. 

 

The Millennium Bridge

From the footbridge, there are fine views of the weir and its fish pass, as well as the Grade II Listed road bridge, which is one of the two listed buildings in the town. It was completed in 1808 to the design of Bernard Hartley and is built with sandstone ashlar in a Classical style, with rusticated voussoirs and a vermiculated keystone. 

 

Castleford road bridge

There are also excellent views of the former Queen’s Mill, which is the largest stone grinding flour mill in the world, with 20 pairs of grinding stones. The milling of flour has taken place on this site for more than 900 years, with archaeological finds of timber wharves and wheat dating to the Roman settlement Lagentium, which suggests that the industry could be much older. 

 

Queen's Mill

“What can the architectural recorder say about Castleford? There does not seem to be a single building in the centre of the town worth mentioning” is Sir Nikolaus Pevsner’s introduction to Castleford and he only goes on to very briefly mention All Saints church, two other churches outside Castleford and the pithead baths. 

 

The Carnegie Free Library

I only had the time to take a very quick look at the principal shopping area around Carlton Street, but I thought that his judgement was very harsh – especially since I encountered the Carnegie Free Library, the Castleford Market Hall, a Wesleyan Methodist church and a couple of cinemas – including the Picture House - which would probably be listed in many other places.

 

Architecture in Castleford

I finished my very brief exploration of Castleford at Booth Street, where I encountered a large totem pole like sculpture entitled the Core of Castleford, by Tim Shutter, which is meant to represent the local geology and history and uses black granite and limestone.

 

The Core of Castleford

 

Monuments in St. Oswald's Church

 

Sir Robert Walton and his wife Cecily

 

As a geologist with experience of working in the building restoration industry and a particular interest in building stone, my visit to St. Oswald’s church in Methley was of great interest, but the church is probably best known for its effigies and monuments. 

 

The effigy in the north wall of the nave

 

The oldest of these are a pair of effigies of a layman and a priest, both unknown, who are thought to have been responsible for building the church in the C14. Carved in dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation, they were once part of the same monument but they were separated in 1901 and repositioned in niches with four centred ogee arches in the walls of the nave and south aisle. 

 

The effigy in the wall of the south aisle

 

In the Waterton Chapel, which was endowed by Sir Robert Walton on his death in 1424, but not built until 1484, the alabaster effigies of Sir Robert and his wife Cecily are placed on an elaborately carved tomb chest, which sits within a crocketed canopy with lion head headstops.

 

The monument to Robert Waterton

 

Pevsner describes the effigies as exceptionally finely carved and Sir Robert wears plate armour, with his feet resting upon a lion and his head on his helmet, which has a plume of feathers. He has a chain around his neck and about his waist is a richly jewelled belt, from which hangs a dagger. 

 

Sir Richard Walton and Lady Cecily

Lady Cecily wears a mantle fastened with cords, pointed slippers and a square headdress decorated with flowers and jewels. Her head is resting upon a cushion supported by angels and at her feet, there are two dogs wearing bells. 

 

Sir Richard Walton and Lady Cecily

On the south wall opposite, there is the alabaster chest tomb and effigy of Lord Welles, who died at the Battle of Towton in 1461, alongside his first wife Cecily. The figure of Lord Welles is clad in armour, with his head on his helmet and his feet upon a lion, which is part of his crest. 

 

The monument to Lord Welles

The detailing is again of extremely high quality, which includes a chain round his neck, a belt with jewels and the garter with its motto on his left leg and the coat of arms of the Welles, which is carved in relief on the surcoat that he is wearing over his armour. 

 

Lord Welles

Lady Cecily is wearing a mantle that is embroidered with the arms of the Welles family and a mitred headdress on her head, which is resting upon a cushion that is supported with angels. At her feet, there are two very small dogs, one of which is pulling her mantle with its teeth. 

 

Lady Cecily

In the north-west corner of the chapel is the reclining figure of Charles Savile (d.1741), in the guise of a Roman soldier, with his widow Alathea mourning beside him. Carved in white Carrara marble, it is the work of Peter Scheemakers, a Flemish sculptor who worked for most of his life in London and whose monument to William Shakespeare is his best known work. 

 

Charles Savile and his wife Alathea

In the south-west corner, another Carrara marble monument depicts John Savile (d.1778), the 1st Earl of Mexborough, in his peer’s robes sitting cross legged on a large chest tomb. The work is signed and dated 1780 by Joseph Wilton, who was a founder member of the Royal Academy of Arts and whose work includes many famous Britons in Westminster Abbey. 

 

John Savile

On the east wall of the chapel, there is a large Carrara marble wall monument to Sarah Countess of Mexborough (d.1821) by Richard Westmacott (The Younger), whose work includes a number of statues and the pediment friezes at the British Museum and the Royal Exchange. 

 

The monument to Sarah Countess of Mexborough

Moving down the south aisle, the tall alabaster chest tomb with black marble Ionic columns, which is now next to the south door, was originally in the Waterton Chapel. It commemorates Sir John Savile (d.1607), his son Sir Henry Savile (d.1632) and his second wife, Elizabeth Wentworth. 

 

The monument to John Savile, Henry Savile and Elizabeth Wentworth

 

The monument is thought possibly to be the work of the Flemish Maximilian Colt, a court sculptor to King James I, and the owl in the Savile heraldic crest on the front of the tomb was later adopted by the city of Leeds, when Sir John Savile was elected as its Member of Parliament.

 

The Savile heralic crest

 

The Interior of St. Oswald's Church

 

A view east along the nave

Entering St. Oswald’s church by the south door, after a very quick look at its exterior, I then proceeded to quickly take general record photographs of the principal architectural elements - the nave, the south arcade, the south aisle, the tower arch and the chancel – before having a wander round to look at the details. 

 

The north wall of the nave

 

Since investigating St. Helen’s church in Treeton back in February 2016, I have surveyed the stonework of more than 100 mediaeval churches in South Yorkshire and the surrounding counties and, as a geologist with a specialist interest in building stones, this is the first time that I have been uncertain in distinguishing limestone from sandstone when recording my observations in this Language of Stone Blog. 

 

A east along the north wall of the nave

 

On this occasion, having noted the dolomitic limestone on the oldest parts of the exterior of the nave, I assumed that this is what I would find in the interior; however, a combination of the covering of the masonry by thick limewash and the lighting conditions has left me a bit uncertain and I would need to visit the church again.

 

The church guide

I have no formal training in standing buildings archaeology but, making good use of the Pevsner Architectural Guides, descriptions of Listed Buildings by Historic England, the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain & Ireland and books such as Saxon Churches in South Yorkshire and Medieval Churches of West Yorkshire, I am learning more about the subject everyday. 

 

The remains of a Saxon wall

Although none of the above mentioned authorities make any reference to elements earlier than the C13, the church plan marks the north wall and the chancel arch as being C12, with fragments of Anglo-Saxon foundations still being visible beneath the floor of the nave. 

 

The south arcade

Looking at the south arcade, which Pevsner assigns to the Decorated Gothic period (c. 1275 – 1350), I could recognise Upper Carboniferous Coal Measures sandstone beneath the fading limewash by its distinctive colour, but I would like to closely examine the stone.

 

A view west along the nave

Turning to view the west end of the nave, the very tall tower arch is obviously of a much later date - the post c.1350 Perpendicular Gothic period – and together with the chancel arch and its surrounding masonry, my first impression was that has Permian dolomitic limestone and not Carboniferous sandstone has been used for the walling. 

 

The chancel

Moving into the chancel, I was too distracted by the wonderful grotesques to take much notice of the Guisely gritstone used for its C20 extension - as described on the church website – and I assume that these dolomitic limestone carvings, thought to date from the mid C14,  were reset in the chancel during one of the 1874 and 1903 restorations. 

 

Various grotesques in the chancel

 

Further fine sculpture is  seen in the heads of lions, forming the stops to the mouldings of a square headed crocketed canopy, beneath which lies the table tomb of Sir Robert Waterton (d.1425) and his wife Cecily - just one of many excellent monuments in the church.

 

The canopy of the tomb of Sir Robert Waterton

St. Oswald's Church in Methley

 

A detail of the coat of arms on the vestry

On the second weekend of the Heritage Open Days festival, following a very busy week that involved a trip to Palterton and Scarcliffe, a recce and field trip in Clowne with the Sheffield U3A Geology Group and a brief exploration of Woodhouse, I set off on another journey that entailed two buses and a train each way – this time to see St. Oswald’s church in Methley, West Yorkshire. 

 

The geology around Methley

Taking the No. 140 bus from Castleford, I soon arrived at the lowland area between the River Calder and the River Aire, where the bedrock geology comprising siltstone and mudstone of the Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation – including several coal seams that have been widely worked in the region - is covered with Quaternary river terrace deposits. 

 

The tower

Alighting from the bus on Church Side, my first sight of the tower and the north elevation of the church brought to mind Pevsner’s description of it as “An important church, but alas far too restored and renewed” – having immediately noticed large sections of yellowish, sawn sandstone ashlar walling that clashes with older, blackened sandstone with a tooled finish. 

 

A view along the north elevation

As a geologist, with experience of the building restoration industry and possessing specialist skills in stone matching, I wasn’t very impressed by the architect’s choice of stone for repairs; however, from an archaeological point of view, I was very interested to see several isolated blocks of weathered dolomitic limestone from the Permian Cadeby Formation. 

 

The north elevation

With the times of the buses at the back of my mind, I quickly walked clockwise along the north wall of the nave, to take a few general record photographs, but I didn’t stop to closely examine the stonework; however, from these photos, I can clearly see that the oldest masonry comprises weathered dolomitic limestone, but a succession of alterations and repairs have been undertaken with different sandstones. 

 

The north porch and surrounding masonry

The principal features of the church are dated by Historic England and Pevsner to the C14 and C15 – based on the Decorated Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic styles of the window tracery and other features – with ‘heavy’ restorations undertaken in 1876 and 1901. 

 

Views of the windows and masonry on the north wall of the nave

 

All of these various ‘restorations’ have entailed the use of sandstones that have a provenance that is unknown to me; however, according to the geological memoir for the Wakefield district, the principal sources of building stone in this area were from the Thornhill Rock and the Woolley Edge Rock – both of which are found within a few kilometres of Methley. 

 

The vestry

Continuing to the east end, the vestry is marked on the church plan as dating to the C19 and was presumably added during the 1874 restoration. The sandstone masonry has the same pattern of tool marks and the general blackened appearance as the stone used for the first phase of restoration to the tower, as does the east wall of the chancel, which was extended in 1926. 

 

Various crests on the vestry

The church website briefly describes these late C19 and C20 alterations to the east end of the church, referring to Oulton stone (Thornhill Rock) used for an extension to the chancel and Guiseley stone for a subsequent new sanctuary, organ chamber and vestry.

 

The east end

Moving round to the south elevation, the Waterton Chapel is assigned a date of c.1483-84 by Pevsner, but its masonry has been completely renewed, with the ashlar blocks and the ornamentation above the east window retaining very sharp profiles. 

 

The east wall of the Waterton Chapel

The south aisle, which was added in the first half of the C14 and has Decorated Gothic style windows, is the only part of the church where there is a substantial amount of original masonry. The light brown Coal Measures sandstone, which has moderate iron staining, is quite weathered in places and has been replaced by new blocks of stone, with the parapet completely renewed. 

 

The south aisle

 

I finished my very brief examination of the exterior at the south porch, which is not mentioned in Pevsner, simply referred to as C19 in the Historic England description and marked on the plan in the very basic church guide as 1300-1350.

 

The porch

A Further Exploration of Woodhouse

 

Inver granite used for the headstone of L. Dickinson

Inbetween undertaking a recce and leading the Sheffield U3A Geology Group on their field trip to the Clowne Greenway and Markland Grips, I spent a couple of hourson a Sunday afternoon in nearby Woodhouse, to further explore its historic buildings. 

 

The lodge at Woodhouse Cemetery

Starting at Woodhouse Cemetery, to photograph the gateway, lodge and chapel for the British Listed Buildings website, I was interested to discover during subsequent research that these were built in 1878 to the design of the architects Innocent and Brown, who were responsible for very many of the Sheffield Board Schools that I had been surveying for the last nine months. 

 

The chapel at Woodhouse Cemetery

 

The dressings are all made of pale cream oolitic limestone from the Jurassic Lincolnshire Limestone Formation, very probably Ancaster stone, but the walling stone is well bedded Coal Measures sandstone, which contains siltstone beds that are differentially weathered. 

 

Floriated stops to the door surround at Woodhouse Cemetery lodge

Quite often, architects favour particular types of stones in their projects, with CJ Innocent making extensive use of the medium grained, well bedded Crawshaw Sandstone for the Sheffield Board Schools, which was extensively quarried at Bole Hill in Crookes and Walkley; however, the stone used in these is uniformly buff coloured and, almost without exception, is still in good condition. 

 

A detail of the chapel at Woodhouse Cemetery

 

While at the cemetery, I investigated the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWG) headstones to see if I could find any new regimental crests. I was interested to see a memorial commemorating both Serjeant J. Gavins and Private F. Gavins of the Durham Light Infantry and Northumberland Fusiliers respectively, which is made in a granite that I had seen at Crookes Cemetery and Abbey Lane Cemetery – possibly the French Vire Blanc or Glenaby granite. 

 

The headstone for Serjeant J. Gavins and Private F. Gavins

The headstone of Private R.R. Jackson of the Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) is made out of similar granite but, as with the above memorial, it is very difficult to see and photograph the details of the regimental crest. 

 

The headstone of Private R.R. Jackson

 

The headstones of Private C.H. Clarke of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and Gunner L. Smith of the 97 (The Kent Yeomanry) Field Regiment are made in Portland limestone, which is the stone most commonly used by the CWG. 

 

The headstones of private C.H. Clarke and Gunner L. Smith

 

Although the regimental crest of the Royal Artillery on the headstone to Driver L. Dickinson is now familiar to me, it was the first time that I had encountered Inver granite from Crathie in Aberdeenshire, which once supplied stone for the Balmoral Estate. This granite differs from the other granites in the cemetery in that it has feldspars that are both white and light pink in colour. 

 

The headstone of driver L. Dickinson

Leaving Woodhouse Cemetery, I headed back towards the centre of Woodhouse and on to Beighton Road, where I photographed the Grade II Listed No. 53 and its gateposts, c. 1830, which I assume is built using the local Pennine Middle Coal Measures Formation sandstone that was formerly known as the Woodhouse Rock. 

 

53 Beighton Road

Along Beighton Road, there are various houses built in a similar light brown, massive cross bedded sandstone, which is iron stained to varying degrees. None of these buildings are listed and it is therefore assumed that the cheapest local stone has also been used to build these. 

 

Various houses in Woodhouse

 

Making my way along Beighton Road, I finished my short investigation of the building stones of Woodhouse by taking a very quick look at the former Woodhouse East Board School, which at the time of my visit was being converted into apartments. 

 

The rear elevation of the former Woodhouse East Board School

The Sheffield architect, J.D. Webster was commissioned by the Handsworth School Board for this and two other board schools and it was completed in 1899. In style, it is very plain with a symmetrical front elevation, projecting wings at each end and gables that contain tall triple light windows, a band course and are topped with a simple finial. 

 

The front elevation of the former Woodhouse East Board School

I couldn’t get close enough to take a good look at the sandstone used for the walling but, even when dirty, it doesn’t look like Crawshaw Sandstone to me, although the dressings are probably medium grained massive Stoke Hall sandstone from Derbyshire, which has been used in very many of the Sheffield Board Schools. 

 

An inscribed gatepier at the entrance for girls