All Saints Wingerworth - The Interior

 

12th century decoration on the chancel arch

As a geologist, with a particular interest in historic architecture and the building stones used in them, my walk around Wingerworth had provided a good introduction to the Deep Hard Rock – a Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation (PLCMF) sandstone formation that is very rich in iron. 

 

The south door

 

I had only stopped very briefly to photograph various listed buildings for the British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, without getting close enough to examine any of the sandstones. Once inside the porch of All Saints church, having had a quick look at the exterior, the high iron content of the sandstone in the Norman round arched doorway is obvious - with its general yellow/orange colouration and dark rusty brown blotches. 

 

A scalloped capital to the south door and surrounding masonry

 

Surprisingly, without using a hand lens, I could see that the sandstone used for the weathered scalloped capital and some of the adjoining blocks is very coarse grained – a characteristic that I don’t normally associate with sandstones from the upper part of the PLCMF.

 

A detail of the scalloped capital

 

Entering the nave of the original church, my first view was of the column to the arcade, with its simply moulded capitals, beyond which is the long nave of the modern extension of 1964, which was designed by Naylor, Sale & Widdows and constructed with precast concrete arches. 

 

A view of a column to the arcade with the modern nave beyond

 

Looking east down the nave of the old church, the walling has been plastered or limewashed, obscuring archaeological evidence of its construction history, but the stonework of the arcade and to the chancel arches is better exposed. 

 

A view east along the old nave

On the westernmost arch of the arcade, there are well preserved remnants of painted decoration of unknown age, which consist of red scrolls on a blue background. Having visited over 120 mediaeval churches, I have seen very occasional examples of decoration with red ochre but nothing as extensive as this. 

 

A detail of painted decoration

 

Moving down to the east end, the round chancel arch is very simple, as are all of the doorways and the arcade, which leads the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture for Britain and Ireland (CRSBI) to suggest that the church dates to c.1100. There is a squint to the north side of the arch and above it there is a very rare rood loft, with a staircase that provides access to it. 

 

A view of the chancel arch, squint and rood loft

 

Continuing to the chancel, I was quite amazed to discover that the soffit of the chancel arch is covered in further examples of painting, which is believed to date to the C12 and consists of a series of roundels, in which there are the head of Christ and four saints. 

 

The painted decoration to the chancel arch

 

Once inside the chancel, again there is no bare stonework to see but in the north wall, which has a few wall memorials made of various marbles, has a blocked door with a rounded arch that is presumably contemporary with the other Norman elements, but I have seen no reference to this. 

 

The blocked north door of the chancel and wall monuments

 

Tucked away in the north-east corner of the sanctuary, there is a recumbent effigy of a priest, which is dated to C.1200 and is made with Magnesian Limestone. Although there isn’t much information on this effigy, the city of York was a centre for making these during the C13, using limestone from the Cadeby Formation at Tadcaster. 

 

The effigy of a priest

 

Before returning to the former nave of the old church, I was interested to see a further example of painted decoration to the east side of the chancel arch, which is not mentioned by Historic England, Pevsner, CRSBI or the church guide. 

 

Painted decoration to the east side of the chancel arch

 

Retuning to the nave, I noted the lead lined sandstone Norman font, which is in the form of a large simple tub on a later octagonal plinth, before going to have a quick wander around the modern extension to the church. 

 

A view of the font

During my travels around Sheffield, to photograph its listed buildings, I have visited St. Mark’s church in Broomhill and Christ Church in Fulwood, where these Victorian churches were modernised by George Gaze Pace and I was therefore very interested to see the various marbles used for the flooring and the stained glass. 

 

Views of the modern nave

 

I finished my rapid visit to All Saints church by taking a few quick snaps of the Hunloke Mausoleum, which was added to the mediaeval church in 1783 and has since been incorporated into the modern church - with part of it now being used as a vestry.

 

The Hunloke Mausoleum