Wadsley Parish Church

 

The west elevation of Wadsley parish church

During my walk around Wadsley, to photograph various historic buildings for the British Listed Buildings website, I had spent no more than a couple of minutes at each building to record its principal architectural features, but I took more time to wander around the exterior of the Grade II Listed Wadsley parish church, built in 1834 to a design by Joseph Potter. 

A general view

When approaching this church – which is quite unusual that it is not dedicated to a saint - I immediately noticed the great contrast between the blackened sandstone ashlar of the original church and the buff coloured sandstone used in the new office and toilet block (2003). 

 

A view of the north elevation

These extensions have apparently proved controversial amongst local residents, for reasons not yet fully explained to me, but I am just surprised that no effort had seemingly been made to follow established stone matching practice in the building restoration industry – which would most likely be undertaken using resources such as the Triton Stone Library, rather than follow the impractical and academic Historic England guidelines that were published  a few years later in 2006. 

 

A general view from the north-east

As a geologist with specialist interests in identifying and matching stone, first learned in the building restoration industry in London, I know that a typical conservation architect will specify that “all materials used for repairs shall match the existing as closely as possible” – with this being equally applicable to extensions of listed buildings.

 

The chancel

 

I had spent the day observing the colour and texture of the sandstone used in a wide variety of historic buildings walking up to Wadsley from Malin Bridge. The Loxley Edge Rock used for most of these has some very wild colour variations, with various shades of grey to orange/brown giving it a distinctive ‘patchy’ appearance. 

 

The vestry

Although I have no documentary evidence to reinforce my observations, the church is very likely to have been built in the Loxley Edge Rock from Wadsley Quarries and, although the sandstone in the original building is very blackened, the vestry (1897) clearly shows this colour variation. 

 

Loxley Edge Rock in the chancel

On the east end of the chancel, there are places where the characteristic very coarse texture and extreme colour variations of the Loxley Edge Rock can be seen in the relatively clean stonework with the naked eye. Presumably, the architect, English Heritage (now Historic England) case officer and the stone contractor all had the opportunity to undertake a simple stone matching exercise here, with samples of potentially suitable stone. 

 

A detail of the Loxley Edge Rock (21 mm diameter coin)

This would have clearly shown that the stone selected for the new extensions was a very poor match and scant regard to the prominent iron banding in the original has been made. Perhaps the fact that the church was not going to be cleaned affected the choice of the uniformly coloured sandstone, which is from the Millstone Grit Group of Derbyshire or West Yorkshire; however, although I think this goes against established practice, I have been informed that this was actually a delibrate decision, which was approved by all parties concerned.

 

Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones

Having had a good look at the fabric of the church, I noticed a few Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones and went to see if there were any regimental crests that I did not know. The headstone of Private L. Jessop of the Non-Combatant Corps was the first example of Woodkirk Blue sandstone that I had seen - from Morley in Leeds - with that of Corporal T.E. Addy of the Royal Army Medical Corps providing an example of the use of Italian Botticino marble.

 

A detail of the Woodkirk Blue headstone of Private L. Jessop