St. Michael's Church in Wragby - Part 2

 

The chancel

After a quick look at the exterior of St. Michael’s church in Wragby, before going inside the church, I had a wander around the churchyard to photograph the Grade II Listed Hollings, Hammond, Calverley and Crawshaw, Nettleton and Cruse monuments, which date from 1679 to 1741 and I thought were mainly of interest for their styles of letter cutting. 

 

The south door

Entering the porch, the late Perpendicular Gothic style of the Tudor period is evident in the pointed four centred arch to the south door of the church, which has very weathered headstops; however, I was more interested to see what the Ackworth Rock looked like, in a sheltered position. 

 

A detail of Ackworth Rock in the porch

 

The cross-bedding and the generally uniform pale muddy grey/brown colour is quite evident and, when entering the church, I could immediately see that the stone used in the south and 

north arcades and the walling and clerestory is very similar in colour.

 

The south arcade

 

Having discovered that the church website provides no information about it history, I went in search of a church guide, but found nothing for the tourist whatsoever. With the church being on the edge of Nostell Priory, which is very popular with tourists, this is very surprising and a great contrast to St. Lawrence’s church in Eyam, where there is a well stocked bookstall. 

 

A view east along the nave

 

Moving into the nave and looking east, there is no variation in the octagonal columns and the masonry rising to the clerestory on both sides comprises large ashlar blocks that are laid in quite regular courses and the windows are all identical. 

 

The north arcade and clerestory above

 

Although well proportioned and elegant, for me, one of the attractions of visiting old churches is to see variation in the styles of the columns, their capitals and the mouldings to the arches and the effect here is a bit monotonous – as I have also experienced at large churches such as Rotherham Minster and the Church of St. John the Baptist in Tideswell, which are essentially built in the Perpendicular Gothic style. 

 

A capital in the north arcade

Continuing to the east end of the church, the same simple detailing without any decorative carving is seen in the chancel arch and the three bay arcades to the north and south chapels. It is therefore surprising to see that the arches from the aisles to the chapels have headstops in the form of very crude figures that are quite incongruous. 

 

Headstops on the arches to the north and south aisles

In the south chancel wall, there is a very weathered panel of Permian dolomitic limestone that Pevsner described as unrecognisable but, because of its round arches and the style of figures, the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland (CRSBI) attributes it to the C12. 

 

A Romanesque panel in the chancel

 

Although the subject is not really appropriate to this Language of Stone Blog, the highlight of my visit was the internationally renowned collection of Swiss stained glass panels, ranging in age from the C16 to C18, which were acquired 1828-1829 by Charles Winn but there is no mention of them anywhere in the church. 

 

Panels of Swiss stained glass

Returning to the nave to look at the tower arch, just below the roof timbers, there is a distinct change in the masonry that can be seen in the both the colour and the difference in the surface finish of the stone blocks. An old roofline is also visible and this would confirm the assertion by Peter Ryder, in the Medieval Churches of West Yorkshire, that the tower dates to the C14.

 

A change in masonry styles and an old roofline

 

Before leaving the church, I stopped to photograph the Norman font, which was brought to Wragby from Auburn, a village on the Holderness coast of the East Riding which was lost to the sea. I didn’t notice this at the time, but it is made of Jurassic oolitic limestone and only part of the font is decorated with a chevron pattern, which the CRSBI suggests is for reasons of economy and that it would have been originally set against a wall.

 

The Norman font