Queen of the Stone Age

 

The Sadler Room at the Cooper Gallery

A few months before visiting All Saints church in Darton, I had a day out to Barnsley to look at the Woolley Edge Rock in the Burton Bank Quarry. When returning to the town centre, I had a quick walk around the central Conservation Area to take a few general photographs and was very interested to see the stone carving at the Civic Hall and Queen's Hotel on Eldon Street. 

 

The entrance to the Civic Hall

I had somewhere discovered that the sculptor responsible for the keystones at the Queen’s Hotel was Benjamin Payler, but I wasn’t aware of the connection with Catherine Mawe until I unexpectedly encountered the Queen of the Stone Age exhibition in the Sadler Room at the Cooper Gallery - having come back to Barnsley after looking for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones in Darton.

 

The Queen of the Stone Age exhibition

For several years, I have been travelling around South Yorkshire and the surrounding counties to photograph their various listed buildings and I have rarely seen any mention of the architectural sculptors in the very many Historic England listing descriptions that I have read. 

 

A portrait of Catherine Mawer by Andrew Wall

 

As a geologist and a photographer, I am always stopping to look at headstops, grotesques, gargoyles and any other stone carvings that appear before me on my walks and I was therefore interested to see how Andrew Wall saw the same buildings in Barnsley.

 

A portrait of Catherine Mawer by Scott Engering

 

The Queen’s Hotel has an exceptional set of carved keystones and, as I do with the architectural sculptures by Frank Tory & Sons in Sheffield, I would always be stopping to photograph them at different times of the day to get the best photo if I lived in Barnsley. 

 

Various prints at the Queen of the Stone Age exhibition

During a previous trip to Dewsbury, I had also discovered a wealth of wonderful architectural sculpture adorning the warehouses at the centre of the shoddy and mungo industries, but I have found out next to nothing about the artists that made them. 

 

Prints at the Queen of the Stone Age exhibition

 

It is a long time since I have had any of my photos turned into large prints and next time I wander around High Street and Fargate in Sheffield, I will take another look up at the work of Frank Tory and see if I can come up with any ideas for an exhibition.

A lion by Scott Engering

 

Commonwealth War Graves in Darton

 

The headstone of Private Matthew Adam Thornton

Having had a good look at All Saints church and the Grade II Listed grave slabs in its churchyard, I headed off to try and find the 24 Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstones that are recorded as being here. 

 

Shoeing Smith Corporal G. Popplewell

I did not have a plan with the layout of the plots and so I just systematically walked up and down the churchyard row by row, spotting their distinctive shape from a distance, and it wasn’t long before I found the Stancliffe Darley Dale sandstone headstone of Shoeing Smith Corporal G. Popplewell of the Royal Field Artillery, which is still in excellent condition. 

 

Private Matthew Adam Thornton

 

The headstone of Private Matthew Adam Thornton, of the Yorkshire Regiment, has clipped shoulders, which is a mark that the victim died ouside the core WWI or WWII dates maintained by the CWGC. These are known as Ministry of Defence (MOD) graves, but CWGC maintains the headstones on their behalf. 

Private G. Margison and Gunner J. Margison

Sometimes the CWGC headstones have a double, intertwined regimental crest where brothers are commemorated in the same place, as with Private G. Margison of the Pioneer Corps and his brother Gunner J. Margison of the 41st Searchlight Regiment. 

 

A detail of the Margison headstone

Whereas most of the headstones that I have encountered in this churchyard are made of Portland stone, I think that this is actually Botticino marble from Italy, which has been used for replacement headstones in recent years and are typically cut by a CNC milling machine. 

 

Gunner K. Howard

 

The headstone of Gunner K. Howard, who served in both the 43rd Searchlight Regiment and the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, is made in Portland stone and with a regimental crest that I can't recall seeing anywhere before. 

 

A detail of the Duke of Wellington's regimental crest

 

I certainly hadn’t encountered the Army Cyclist Corps, which I discovered on the Portland stone headstone of Private A. Shaw. I managed to find 19 of the 24 headstones listed on the CWGC website, most of which are made in Portland stone and whose regimental crests were familiar to me, but by now I had to catch my bus back to Barnsley. 

 

A detail of the headstone of Private A. Shaw

 

Making my way back towards the church, I couldn't help noticing the imposing monument to Henry Lodge, made in Scottish Rubislaw and Peterhead granite with a sandstone plinth. Next to it is a near cylindrical section made of a similar granite, but I am not sure if it relates to it. 

 

The memorial to Henry Lodge

 

I finished my rapid of tour of Darton at the unlisted war memorial, made of Crosland Moor sandstone from Huddersfield, at the north-west corner of the churchyard. I didn’t have to wait that long before the bus arrived and I was on my way to Barnsley - to see the exhibitions at The Civic and Cooper Gallery, before doing some shopping in the market and then returning to Sheffield on the train, before catching another bus to take me home to Treeton.

 

Darton war memorial

 

All Saints Churchyard in Darton

 

A footstone

When preparing for my day out to visit All Saints church in Darton, as usual, I entered a postcode into the British Listed Buildings website Photo Challenge and the results included 18 Grade II Listed graveslabs and one footstone in the churchyard. 

 

The Grade II Listed graveslabs in All Saints churchyard

 

Using the British Listed Buildings map and the approximate locations provided by the Historic England listing, I set out to look for these – mainly graveslabs that are laid directly in the ground, with a few others that are slightly raised – while the sun was shining.

  

The graveslab of Nicholas Carr

The graveslabs that I was searching for range from 1653 to 1759 and algae, lichens and moss have become firmly established, which makes it often very difficult to read the inscriptions and distinguish the listed graveslabs from those of other family members. 

 

The graveslabs of Denton and Brown

 

After a few minutes of searching, it became very overcast and eventually started to rain and, having made some inroads into my list of graveslabs to photograph, I had a good look at the interior of the church before coming back out into the sunshine to find the rest. 

 

The Gibson graveslab

 

I am by no means an expert in the history of letter cutting, but I always like to see Old English style text and the interchangeable use of 'here lieth and here lyeth’ and how the English language changes into the modern form as time progresses. 

 

The Swift graveslab

 

My objective was to obtain a set of general record photographs for the British Listed Buildings website and I didn’t spend any much time looking at the inscriptions or the moulded surrounds and other finer sculpted details, which can often be seen on the corners. 

 

The graveslabs of Webster and Traviss

Eventually, with the sun still shining, I managed to find all of the graves on my list to photograph, but very many of them are laid out in family groups. I can't see any reason why I should see them again, but if I did I would use the Historic England map to find them next time.

 

Various graveslabs

 

Before I set off to explore further parts of the churchyard and then to look for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones, I had a very quick look at the Grade II Listed gritstone cross base and shaft, which is possibly mediaeval.

 

The cross base and shaft

 

All Saints Church in Darton - Part 2

 

A view along the nave from the chancel

I timed my visit to All Saints church in Darton to coincide with their coffee morning, which is held from 10:00 – 12:00 every Saturday and, when I introduced myself to one of the attendees as I entered the porch to get out of the rain, I was kindly offered the use of an umbrella to use while photographing its exterior. 

 

The porch

 

When returning to have a look at the interior, I obtained a church guide and from this, Pevsner and the Historic England descriptions, my understanding is that the church was built in a single phase between 1480 and 1517 - albeit with slight changes in the late Perpendicular Gothic style. 

 

The church guide

 

Although I encountered variations in the colour and texture of the coarse sandstone used in its fabric, there was no breaks in the masonry that would interest a standing buildings archaeologist and an immediate impression of the aisles and arcades, once inside the church, is that the shape, mouldings and decoration of columns all very uniform. 

 

The view when entering All Saints church

Looking along the south arcade, I immediately noticed that the ‘striped’ sandstone used for the octagonal piers has the same variation in colour as I had seen on the exterior and it displays both plane bedding and cross-bedding. 

 

The Darton imp

 

At the east end of the south aisle, there is a decorative feature on the easternmost arch of the arcade, which the church guide refers to as the Darton ‘imp’. I only had a quick walk around to take a set of general photographs, but I can’t seeing any other decorative features. 

 

A view east along the nave

Walking quickly up and down the nave, looking at the colours and textures of the sandstone used for the arcades, I didn’t want to disturb anyone who was taking part in the coffee morning at the west end and just took a few photos from the east end of the north aisle. 

 

A view west along the north aisle

 

Compared to the piers and dressings to the arcades, the masonry is quite roughly finished, but the same variations in colour and texture are similar to those seen elsewhere in the church and I didn’t look very closely at any of the stonework. 

 

The entrance to the rood loft stairs

 

An interesting feature at the east end is the rood loft stairs, which comprises a spiral staircase that is built into the north wall of the aisle, instead of being incorporated into the arcade – as is usual in the mediaeval churches where I have seen entrances to the rood screen. When photographing the exterior of this part of the north aisle, I had been slightly puzzled about this odd protrusion to the wall, which didn’t seem to serve a purpose. 

 

An external view of the rood loft stairs

 

Entering the Lady Chapel, also known as the Beaumont chapel because it contains a memorial dating to 1731 that commemorates Thomas Beaumont, a benefactor to the church, and his descendants. Looking at this from some distance, I could quite clearly that it is lightly veined white Carrara marble from Italy, which was very popular as a material from this time onwards. 

 

The Beaumont chapel

 

I didn’t spend much time looking around the chancel and just took a few record photographs and didn’t get as far as the sanctuary, where the church guide says the original Norman altar - recovered from the churchyard in the 1920’s – is now incorporated into the main altar. 

 

The chancel and sanctuary

 

In the south Silvester chapel, the white Carrara marble monument to John Silvester (d.1722) - Lord of Birthwaite and Kexborough - is tripartite in form, with a central standing figure and a seated female figure to each side, one with two children. 

 

The monument to John Silvester

Silvester lived at Birthwaite Hall, which he purchased from the Burdett family and, as well as being responsible for the construction of a school in Kexborough, he was originally a blacksmith at the Tower of London and  the inventor of a chain made to go across the Thames. 

 

A detail of the Silvester monument

The floor of this chapel is apparently paved with mediaeval grave slabs, carved with crosses, which have also been incorporated into the external fabric - although I didn’t look closely enough at the stonework to notice any of these. 

 

The chancel arch

 

Stopping very briefly to photograph the chancel arch, where there is nothing particularly interesting to see, I said my goodbyes to people that I had talked to during my brief visit, had a quick look at late C19 font and then set off to photograph the 19 Grade II Listed graves in the churchyard. 

 

The font

 

All Saints Church in Darton - Part 1

 

A headstop on the east window of the south aisle

A few days after my visit to Hooton Pagnell, where I visited All Saints church, photographed many historic buildings and had a good look at its geology, my next excursion by bus and train was to All Saints church in Darton, which I had first seen from the No. 96 bus on the way to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park from Barnsley. 

 

The geology around Darfield

 

All Saints church is set on the edge of the outcrop of the Haigh Moor Rock, with the 1854 Ordnance Survey map showing an old quarry just to the north-east of the railway station and the Darton Quarry a few hundred metres to the south-west of the church but, as shown on the Building Stones Database for England map explorer, the greatest concentration of quarries in the area was along the escarpment of the Woolley Edge Rock. 

 

Quarries around Darton

The earliest record of the church, which was built by a member of the De Lacy family of Pontefract, appears in 1150 but virtually nothing remains of this and the structure we see today was completely rebuilt between 1480 and 1517 by Thomas de Tykyll, Prior of Monk Bretton Priory. It was not restored in the Georgian or Victorian periods, which makes it one of the most complete and unaltered late Perpendicular Gothic churches in South Yorkshire. 

 

All Saints church

 

According to the church website, it is one of 5 sister churches that share the same design, with the others being at High Hoyland, Cawthorne, Silkstone and Royston. I haven’t been to High Hoyland, which was rebuilt in the C17 and early C20, but I have seen the others and the towers are all very similar, although there are differences in the clerestory at Royston and at Cawthorne the nave and aisles look quite different, with C13 and C19 work being prominent. 

 

The tower

 

Walking anti-clockwise around the exterior to take a set of general record photographs for the British Listed Buildings website, I could see that the broad four centred arches to the south aisle and the flat headed windows to the clerestory are in the late Perpendicular Gothic style. Although quite blackened in places, I could see that masonry has the light brown to rusty brown colours that are common in Coal Measures sandstone. 

 

A view from the south-east

 

Taking a closer look at the east end of the south aisle, I could see that the sandstone is quite coarse grained, strongly cross-bedded, with ‘wild’ colouration from grey to rusty brown. The walling stone here contrasts with the much finer grained, laminated Coal Measures sandstone which has been used for the grave slabs that are attached to the wall. 

Grave slabs on the east end of the south aisle

On the east end of the chancel, I could get a much better look at the stonework and noticed that the cross-bedding and ‘wild’ colour variation is very pronounced, with graded finer iron rich sediment often concentrated along the foresets and the differential weathering of these producing quite a distinctive texture. 

 

The east wall of the chancel

At the vestry, which forms an extension of the building to the east of the Lady Chapel, the very coarse texture can be appreciated close up, which can be a feature of the Woolley Edge Rock. The geological memoir describes it as massive and being sometimes coarse grained and having a closer resemblance to the Lower Coal Measures sandstones or Millstone Grit than to any of the other Middle Coal Measures sandstones. 

 

A detail of masonry in the east wall of the vestry

 

Continuing to the north aisle, the windows are square headed, to which Pevsner assigns a later date than the south aisle, but the same variation in the physical characteristics of the coarse sandstone can be seen; however, as very often seen in the masonry on the north elevation of buildings in the UK, the damp environment attracts green and red algae and this obscures the colour variation seen in the stone, which is also quite blackened. 

 

The north aisle

 

I had previously seen exposures of the Woolley Edge Rock in a road cutting at Worsbrough Bridge and the Burton Bank Quarry in Barnsley and, based on visits to Wakefield Cathedral, the Chantry Chapel of St. Mary, St. Helen’s church and Sandal Castle – where I have seen very distinctive 'striped' sandstone - I am inclined to think that this sandstone has been used at All Saints church and not the Haigh Moor Rock. 

 

A description of the Haigh Moor Rock in the geological memoir

The masonry in the tower is much cleaner than that seen in the rest of the church, with the wild colour variation being clearly visible. Apart from the concentration of iron rich sediment along certain beds, clay ironstone pellets are also present, with many of these being weathered away to leave a void in the stone.
 

The west wall of the tower

 

To the arch of the blocked arch at the east end of the south aisle, the square heads of the clerestory windows and the entrance to the porch, there are very weathered headstops in the form of human heads and grotesques. 

 

A grotesque headstop on the south clerestory

The sandstone used for the fabric of the building is far too coarse grained for it to be intricately carved and, although I could not get very close to examine them, it appears that the stone used is Permian dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation, which outcrops approximately 17 km to the east of Darton.

Headstops on the porch