St. John's Church in Ault Hucknall III

 

A detail of the tomb of Anne Keighley

From a very brief inspection of the exterior of St. John’s church, I discovered crinoidal limestone and sandy dolomite in the fabric, which as a geologist appealed to my specialist interest in building stones, and the masonry in the west end left me wondering about its construction history. 

 

The blocked west door

Once inside the church, I was a bit disappointed to see that that all of the walls are plastered, which conceals any evidence of the various phases of construction – as seen in the changes in the styles of masonry on the exterior – but I was interested to see that the framed Certificate of Excellence attached to the blocked west door referred to an Anglo-Saxon arch and tympanum. 

 

A view east along the nave

 

Turning around and looking down the nave, the broad west round tower arch with chevroned voussoirs immediately caught my eye. Pevsner describes the outer label as “consisting of jumbled up ornamental bits”, but a much more helpful description of what is thought to be a post-mediaeval reassembly of the sections is provided by the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture (CRSBI). 

 

A view of the west tower arch

 

The church guide goes further and considers that it was used as a visual aid in preaching and teaching and suggests that it portrays the Creation, the fall of Adam, the Flood and the Sacrifice of faith made byy Abraham. Given that the well defined carvings on the chancel arch and capitals at St. John's church in Adel and others of a similar date have been the subject of great academic debate, I think that this is highly speculative to say the least. 

 

A detail of the tower arch

 

The Derbyshire Historic Environment Record entry for Ault Hucknall notes that the nave is long and narrow, which is considered to be indicative of a pre-Conquest (1066) building and, when referring to the tall narrow round chancel arch, Pevsner thought that “one would prefer to attribute it to a pre-Norman date, if its masonry were not un-Saxon in character.” 

 

The chancel arch

 

Continuing into the chancel and sanctuary, the floor was laid with Minton tiles during the 1885-88 restoration by William Butterfield, which have been used in conjunction with polished crinoidal limestone from the Eyam Limestone Formation.

 

The floors in the chancel and sanctuary

Moving in to the Cavendish Chapel, the large tomb (1627) of Anne Keighley 1st Countess of Devonshire sits beneath the east Savage Widow, which dates back to 1527. The tomb is constructed of what looks to be dark grey Carboniferous limestone and Derbyshire alabaster, with corbels and figures of five muses - Modesty, Prudence, Love, Obedience and Piety. 

 

The tomb of Anne Keighley

 

These materials were most probably obtained from the family estate that the mother of William Cavendish, Bess of Hardwick, had acquired through marriages to Sir William Cavendish and George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury - as with the polished limestone slab on the tomb of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, who was one of England’s great philosophers. 

 

The tomb of Thomas Hobbes

 

Returning to the nave, the two bay north arcade is considered to be C11 in date, which has a rectangular pier that Pevsner describes “like a chunk of wall with the plainest of capitals like an arch impost and unmoulded arches.” 

 

The north arcade

 

He also assigns the south arcade to the C14, whereas the church guide states that these arches are a fine example of Early English architecture; however, another unusual composite rectangular pier that separates the two easternmost arches is not reported by any of the many ‘authorities’ that have visited this church, which just shows that it is essential for any surveyor to take the time to examine the details.

 

The south arcade

 

After taking advantage of the refreshments on offer during the Heritage Open Days festival, I finished my very brief exploration of St. John’s church by looking at a mason’s mark that was shown to me by one of the volunteers who were in attendance. 

 

A mason's mark

St. John's Church in Ault Hucknall II

 

A detail of the tympanum above the west door

A quick walk around the exterior of St John’s church revealed that, like most mediaeval churches, it had been extensively altered and extended over the years, with the west elevation being particular interesting – with a late Perpendicular Gothic window to the south aisle, a Decorated Gothic window to the nave and a tympanum to a blocked doorway and a round headed window that date back to the C11. 

 

The west elevation

The tympanum and the head have been the subject of considerable debate over the years, with the Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire - Vol. 1. The Hundred of Scarsdale (1875), by J. Charles Cox, providing a comprehensive description without attempting to interpret them. 

 

The blocked west door

Further confirmed by Pevsner and the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture (CRSBI), it seems that the tympanum has a nimbed centaur on the left, which may be Saint Margaret emerging from the body of the devil, with a quadruped with a long neck, a beaked head and clawed feet on the right, along with a smaller creature that may be the Agnus Dei. 

 

The tympanum

 

The interpretation panel mentions that conservation work was carried out in 2014, which included consolidation of flaky surfaces and, presumably, the application of a lime based shelter coat, which is a traditional method of treating decaying stone sculpture. 

 

A detail of crinoidal limestone used as a voussoir

At the time, I didn’t take much notice of the stone used in the tympanum and surround and just took a set of general record photographs, assuming that it was dolomitic limestone from the Permian Cadeby Formation; however, when zooming in to my high resolution photos, it appears that the limestone contains not only fragments of brachiopod shells but also crinoid ossicles – characteristics of the reef knolls of the Lower Carboniferous Eyam Limestone Formation. 

 

A detail of the incised lintel

The incised lintel below, which Cox thought was not part of the original doorway, is described by Pevsner as being a scene of St George and the Dragon, although the church guide suggests that the figure may be St. Michael the Archangel; however, according to the interpretation board, the book Ideas and Images 12th Century Sculpture by Mary Curtis Webb states this is in fact Christ. 

A detail of the incised lintel

Cox also refers to an article in the Gentleman’s Magazine (1799), which suggests the possibility of St. John’s “being one of the few ancient stone churches built by the Saxons?” and, in his description of the west window of the north aisle, Pevsner considered it to be more Saxon in its style than Norman. 

 

A detail of the west window in the north aisle

 

I can’t comment on the symbolism or the wide range in age that is ascribed to the sculpture by various scholars but, when looking at the masonry on the west end, I think that a very experienced standing buildings archaeologist needs to take a good look at its construction history. 

The west end of the nave

Looking at the walling in the west end of the nave, which is the oldest part of the original church, the south-west corner is clearly defined by a near continuous set of quoins that is butted by the C14 north aisle and its C15 parapet. 

 

The upper part of the west end of the nave

 

Above the Decorated Gothic window, which is presumably contemporary with the south aisle and - according to Pevsner - the clerestory, the very large quoins have been replaced with much smaller ones and there is a distinct change in the size, shape and courses of the blocks. 

 

The masonry surrounding the west door

 

Below the window, the masonry surrounding the west door becomes highly irregular, which in places appears like a random jumble of stones. I have encountered several Norman doorways with sculpted tympanums and an Anglo-Saxon porticus at All Saints church in Laughton-en-le-Morthen, but I have not seen such poor quality transitional Anglo-Norman masonry like this before.

 

The junction between the nave and the north aisle

 

In the masonry on the left hand side of the west door, a couple of very large stones in the lower part of the wall have the appearance of quoins, but beyond these the irregular stonework passes laterally into more regularly squared and coursed blocks that form the lower part of the north aisle. 

 

The junction betwen the nave and north aisle

 

Above the round headed window, the pattern of masonry again changes to smaller more regular blocks that seem to be a different sandstone, judging by the subtle change in colour and the greater degree of differential weathering, with distinct scouring in places. The position of the latter corresponds approximately to the masonry on the north elevation of the north aisle, which was restored in sandy dolomitic limestone by William Butterfield. 

 

A recycled fragment of a string course

Just to the right of the window, a small fragment of decorative masonry is described by CRSBI as a simplified palmette, which is possibly part of a string course. I spent less than 30 minutes walking around the exterior to get a general appreciation of the structure, but the west end deserves a thorough investigation and, as I discovered when surveying All Saints church in Pontefract, a photogrammetric survey to highlight the various patterns of masonry would be beneficial. 

 

An unexplained feature in the west elevation

Before going to look at the interior of the church, I noticed a couple of other interesting details in the stonework to which I can’t give an obvious explanation. One of the blocks contains a perfectly circular hollow that looks like a pothole, but I don’t think is natural, which is next to a section of masonry that consists of blocks of sandstone that have been worked and rubbed down into quite regular polygonal shapes.

 

A detail of the polygonal shaped blocks masonry to the nave

 

St. John's Church in Ault Hucknall I

 

The Church of St. John the Baptist

Continuing with my day out to Ault Hucknall, having walked across the fields from Glapwell and eaten my lunch while sitting on a chest tomb, I introduced myself to the Heritage Open Days co-ordinator of the day at the Church of St. John the Baptist and proceeded to take a set of general record photographs while walking clockwise around its exterior. 

 

A general view

 

Since first investigating the Grade I Listed St. Helen’s church in Treeton back in 2016, I have visited more than 100 mediaeval churches and, as a geologist with specialist skills in stone matching, I have taken particular note of their building stones. Also, having once surveyed the stonework at All Saints church in Pontefract for Ed Dennison Archaeological Services Ltd, I have developed an interest in standing buildings archaeology. 

 

The west end

With no formal training in this discipline, I have relied mainly on the Buildings of England by Nikolaus Pevsner and Historic England listing descriptions to learn about their architectural styles and, looking at the west end from a distance, I could see that there have been many changes to St. John’s church over a period of 400 years in England’s history – from the C11 to the C15. 

 

The north elevation

 

Already noting that the church is built with a Coal Measures sandstone and not dolomitic limestone from the Permian Cadeby Formation, as is usually seen in churches built upon the Magnesian Limestone escarpment, I moved on to the lean to north aisle, where there is a distinct change from the stone used for the window dressings and the walling above them. 

 

Red sandy dolomite used in the 1855-1858 restoration

The trefoil lancet windows were replaced during the restoration (1885-88) by William Butterfield and use a reddish sandy dolomitic limestone, which has a very similar texture to the buff/pink variety seen in the adjacent farm buildings, where softer clay beds have been differentially weathered. 

 

Red sandy dolomite used to restore lancet windows

 

The original stonework is a medium to coarse grained cross-bedded and plane bedded Coal Measures sandstone, which contains a substantial amount of clay ironstone nodules. It has been formed into large well squared blocks that can also be seen in the lower part of the west end, which has an early Norman window in the upper part. 

 

Sandstone with clay ironstone nodules

 

Taking the steps up to the doorway to the tower, which quite unusually is on the first floor, I noticed a block of stone with chevrons, which seems to be part of the original wall to the north aisle. Romanesque details like these are often found when an early church has been rebuilt and the masonry reused in the later structure, but it seems that this fragment is contemporary. 

 

A block of stone with a chevron pattern

 

Moving round to the east chancel wall, the reddish sandy dolomite seen in the north aisle has again been used. Although the Historic England description refers to the replacement of the lancet windows in the north aisle, there is no mention of major work to the east end but, as only Coal Measures sandstone is used in the mediaeval fabric, the use of the same stone suggests that this is part of Butterfield’s restoration. 

 

The east wall of the chancel

Continuing to the south elevation, which is not mentioned by Historic England or Pevsner, it is the Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire - Vol. 1. The Hundred of Scarsdale - by J. Charles Cox (1875) that provides the most information about the later alterations in the Perpendicular Gothic style. 

The south elevation

To quote, “The south porch, all the square-headed windows of the south aisle and south chapel, together with the east window of the chancel, the roofs of the aisle, the upper storey of the tower, with its embattled parapet and crocketted pinnacles, and the rest of the battlements and pinnacles that ornament the south side and the chancel, are all of the last style of Gothic architecture.” 

 

A detail of the masonry to the two stages of the tower

 

No specific mention is made about the walling but, standing at a distance, it is possible to see subtle differences in the colour and texture of the stone used for the walling of the upper stage of the tower and the lower stage and the walling to the south aisle. 

 

A view along the south elevation

When referring to the interior, Pevsner assigns a C14 date to the south arcade, which would have been built during the extension of the church by the addition of the south aisle. If the south aisle wall had been completely rebuilt in the C15, both it and the new south porch would presumably have the same style of masonry; however, although the porch has battlements and buttresses in a similar style, the walling itself is very roughly squared and coursed rubble and is not bonded with the well coursed and squared masonry of the south aisle.

The porch

A Day Out to Ault Hucknall - Part 1

 

Rose Cottage

 

My brief visit to Notre Dame High School in Ranmoor, to take a few photos for an illustrated talk that I was due to give to the Ranmoor Society, was the culmination of a very busy August -  mainly spent getting to know the geology of Rotherham, Sheffield and Doncaster a little bit better. 

 

Treeton and Ault Hucknall

 

Although the weather in early September 2022 had been fine, it wasn’t until the start of the Heritage Open Days festival that I had another day out. Since 2016, I had attended several events in the Sheffield area, with trips further afield to the mediaeval churches in Barwick-in-Elmet, Scarcliffe and Methley and, although initially I thought that the logistics of travel would be prohibitive, I decided to visit the Church of St. John the Baptist in Ault Hucknall – a C11 church that I had briefly visited 30 years ago. 

 

An Ordnance Survey map showing the location of Ault Hucknall

After taking the X54 and X17 buses to get me from Treeton to Chesterfield, I caught the Stagecoach Pronto bus, which I had previously used for a day out in Mansfield and, after alighting in Glapwell, I went to find a footpath marked on the Ordnance Survey map that would take me to Ault Hucknall Lane and on to Ault Hucknall. 

 

A panormic view from the Magnesian Limestone escarpment

 

Now on the Magnesian Limestone, I made my way along Lime Tree Avenue in the housing estate to the escarpment, where I expected a clear view downhill to the west; however, from this point of view and when heading along the ill defined public footpath to Ault Hucknall Lane, I couldn’t immediately explain the landforms that I was seeing around me. 

 

The footpath from Glapwell to Ault Hucknall

I hadn’t undertaken any research on the geology before setting off, but the distinctly reddened soil below the escarpment reflects the underlying calcareous mudstones, which form the base of the Permian strata here; however, it was only when I later referred to a British Geological Survey map did I learn that the red mudstone just separates the main body of the Cadeby Formation from an outlier upon which Ault Hucknall is set. 

 

The Magnesian Limestone escarpment from Glapwell to Huthwaite

 

I had encountered elongated outliers, bounded by SW-NE trending faults at Pontefract and Conisbrough an erosional remnant at the island like outcrop at Laughton-en-le-Morthen but, from Glapwell to Huthwaite, the limestone plateau has been dissected by ancient tributaries of the River Meden, which flowed east from the watershed and cut down through the Permian Cadeby Formation to expose the underlying calcareous mudstones.

 

Another view of the public footpath from Glapwell to Ault Hucknall

Continuing my walk to Ault Hucknall, the land owner had ploughed the public footpath, which made the walk across the heavy red calcareous clay soil after recent rain quite difficult, despite wearing a good pair of stout walking boots. 

 

Ault Hucknall

 

Eventually arriving at Ault Hucknall Lane, which has no footpaths, I met a young couple who had taken a bus to Glapwell and were undertaking a return journey of 6.5 km to Hardwick Hall with their two young children, one of whom was in a pushchair. I was very impressed by their dedication and it made me realise that, although it would entail an even longer out day from Treeton, I could get there if I really wanted to. 

 

Views of the farm at Ault Hucknall

Coming to Ault Hucknall which, consisting of a church, two houses and a farm, has been described as England’s smallest village, the Old Manse is a modern building of no interest and I just took a few record photographs of the farmhouse and the farm buildings. 

Walling stone in the south range of the farm

Passing the south range of the farm buildings, I stopped to have a good look at the dark buff/pink coloured walling stone, which looks nothing like the typical dolomitic limestone of the Cadeby Formation or any sandstone from the underlying Coal Measures. 

 

A detail of the walling stone

 

Carrying on along the Ault Hucknall Lane, I stopped again to look at the boundary wall of the church, which is built with a soft iron rich Coal Measures sandstone that contains well developed Liesegang rings and dense bands of ironstone.

 

The boundary wall to St. John's churchyard

Apart from its different colour, it contains well defined beds that have differentially weathered, which is quite typical of the White Mansfield stone – a variety, of the Cadeby Formation that is classified as a dolomitic sandstone. I had also encountered a very similar stone in the window dressings of St. Leonard’s church in Scarcliffe – approximately 3 km to the north-east of Ault Hucknall. 

 

Rose Cottage

Next to the church is Rose Cottage, which is again built in Coal Measures sandstone with a stone slate roof. I can only speculate on the source of this sandstone, but the quarries on the nearby Hardwick Estate are a distinct possibility. With 15 minutes before the church opened, which I learned was every Saturday and not just on the Heritage Open Days, I took the opportunity to eat my packed lunch.

 

The Church of St. John the Baptist