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| The tower of All Saints church |
Having undertaken more preparation for my travel to Hooton Pagnell than anywhere else, to take into account the irregular nature of the No. 203 bus service, which runs from Doncaster to Wombwell, I set off early on 24th August 2022 with a packed lunch prepared, Neither of the First Mainline No. 73 or X54, which is now run by TM Travel, buses turned up in Treeton and my day out was stopped dead in its tracks.
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| The steps leading up to All Saints' churchyard |
Much to my great annoyance, the same thing happened two weeks later, and I had to wait until Wednesday 21st September, after visits to Ault Hucknall, Eyam, Wragby and Nostell Priory, before I was finally able to attend a coffee morning at All Saints church. Alighting from the bus outside the church, the small flight of steps up to the churchyard provides an immediate reminder that Hooton Pagnell is sited on the edge of the Permian Magnesian Limestone escarpment.
My first sight of the church was the lower part of the west tower, with the porch of unknown mediaeval date beyond, which sources such as Pevsner, Historic England and the Corpus for Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland date as late C11 and Peter Ryder included it in the Saxon Churches of South Yorkshire.
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| A view east along the south elevation |
From this viewpoint, I could not see the junction between the rubble masonry in the tower and the nave and the chancel beyond, but these authorities agree that they form a single phase of building. The Domesday Book does not record a church but, as I later discovered from the church guide, in 1089 a church was granted by Ralph Paganel to the Priory of the Holy Trinity in York.
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| C11 masonry on the west elevation of the tower |
Moving clockwise around the tower, the lowest stage has some herringbone masonry, which is often considered to be the mark of a late Anglo-Saxon or transitional post Norman Conquest style and is shown Ryder’s church plan as C11 masonry, along with the nave and the chancel.
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| The plan in Saxon Churches in South Yorkshire by Peter Ryder |
Looking up the tower, without the string course seen on the south elevation, the rubble masonry passes upwards into large ashlar blocks for the upper stages, which were added in the C14 together with a diagonal buttress, but the window was added by John Loughbotough Pearson during the restoration of 1876.
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| A view up the west elevation of the tower |
Pearson was not known for being sensitive to the mediaeval fabric of the churches that he worked on and the north aisle, with its 3-light square headed windows, was rebuilt during this ‘restoration’. I didn’t look at the dolomitic limestone masonry closely, but the light buff coloured stone and the yellow sandy varieties are quite obvious.
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| The north elevation |
Whilst in the north-east corner of the churchyard, I took advantage of its main entrance, with its lychgate, to take a very quick diversion to look at some of the unlisted houses in the vicinity, before returning to the church to briefly inspect its south elevation.
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| The south elevation |
From a distance, it is isn’t that easy to distinguish the change in the masonry style, from Norman to Early English, when the chancel was extended during the C13 but, when getting closer, the line of quoins that mark the end of the Norman chancel is quite clear.
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| Masonry on the south wall of the chancel |
A drawing of an old painting of the church, before Pearson’s restoration, is included in the Saxon Churches of South Yorkshire, which shows just how much the south elevation of the nave, in particular has been changed – with two Gothic arched windows, designed with Y-tracery, replacing a variety of square headed windows.
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| All Saints church before the 1876 restoration |
Further examples of herringbone masonry can be seen in the rubble fabric that forms the south elevation of the C11 chancel but, being aware that time was moving on, I didn’t study it in any detail and just took a few general record photographs.
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| Herringbone masonry |
Before entering the church, I also took a couple of quick snaps of the C14 gargoyles on the tower which, along with a very weathered headstop, were the only decorative elements that I seen when quickly walking around its exterior.
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| Gargoyles on the tower |
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