St. Leonard's Church Scarcliffe - Part 3

 

A detail of carvings to the lintel above the south door

Continuing my investigation of the exterior of St. Leonard’s church in Scarcliffe, I moved on from the tower to the west end of the nave, where the very tall triangular headed cross window is assigned a C19 date by Pevsner, but which is inserted into coursed and squared masonry that looks similar to that used in the C13 east end of the chancel.

 

The west end of the nave and the porch

Above and to the top right of this, the masonry changes to very large well squared ashlar blocks, which pass up into the castellated parapet - presumably the C16 work that is mentioned in the Historic England listing description. Immediately to the right of the window, there is a section of C12 rubble masonry that is partly obscured by the porch and above which is further C16 ashlar and a small rectangular window. 

 

Norman masonry above the porch

To the east of the porch, the walling is composed entirely of very large ashlar blocks and contains three flat head windows. To the west, the window has two lights, with cusped segment headed lights and short mullions rising from the apex of each light. 

 

the windows in the east end of the nave

The two windows to the east of this very late Perpendicular Gothic style window are also flat headed, but only have mullions and these are considered by Pevsner to be late C16 or even early C17, but Historic England does not offer an opinion on their date. 

 

The south door

Entering the porch, the C12 south door has one order of colonettes with scalloped capitals a roll-moulding in the arch, large square jambs and a large lintel with inscribed wheels, six pointed stars, rosettes and saltire crosses. 

 

The carved lintel to the south door

 

The door surround is built in yellow, presumably sandy limestone, which is quite weathered in places despite the protection from the elements by the porch. The church guide mentions that an unspecified treatment was applied to the stonework back in 1966, but there is no reference to the success or otherwise of this attempt at conservation. 

 

Advanced decay of the stonework to the south door

Much of the stonework to the jambs is in an advanced state of deterioration, with cavernous decay and the right hand capital, which is carved from pink sandy limestone, is in a very poor condition and it has lost all of its detail. 

 

The condition of the left and right capitals

 

Various sections of stone to the right jamb of the porch have been replaced quite recently, with the stone being a surprisingly good match; however, some of these new stones are already affected by efflorescence and are showing early signs of decay.

 

Efflorescence in limestone used for recent repairs