Hooton Roberts Revisited – Part 1

St. Mary's Church in Sprotbrough - Part 2

 

A detail of a ledger stone

Entering the Church of St. Mary the Virgin by the north porch, having previously had a look at the masonry on the exterior and walked around Sprotbrough to photograph its listed buildings for the British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge, I was very surprised to see that the wedding dress here was just one of many others that were part of an exhibition. 

 

The entrance to the north porch

 

Having seen various phases of building on the exterior, I was disappointed to see that all of the walls have been plastered and that the archaeological evidence for these are obscured. With many parts of the church also not being easily accessible due to the dresses, I just took a few quick snaps of the principal elements and spent most of my time looking at the details. 

 

A view east along the nave

 

Pevsner describes the arcades and chancel arch as being Perpendicular Gothic in style, with Historic England adding that the piers are octagonal with moulded capitals, but the church guide draws attention to the semi-circular respond and late Norman style capital at the east end of the north arcade, which are considered to be from the original chancel arch and dated to c.1170. 

 

The Norman style capital at the east end of the north arcade

 

I took a few photographs of the wall memorials to William Wrightson (d.1760), the builder of Cusworth Hall, and of Lionel Copley (d.1766) - both of which are made with white and grey Italian marbles – and the alabaster memorial to Richard Heber Wrightson (d.1891), who subsequently inherited Cusworth Hall. 

 

Various wall memorials

Moving down to the chancel, the remains of the C13 window and the sedilia have been whitewashed but, carefully making my way around the wedding dresses, I did manage to find a few objects of interest to this Language of Stone Blog. 

 

The chancel

The sanctuary seat, which was found buried in the rectory garden, has tracery and a caryatid bust of a bearded man that are considered by Pevsner to make it certainly of at least a C14 date, but it is also thought that it may be a considerably older seat that has been reworked. 

 

The sanctuary seat

Set into the chancel floor are various polished black Carboniferous limestone ledger stones, which commemorate Maria Copley (d.1732), Godfrey Copley (d.1761) and Sir Lionel Copley (d.1806). As a geologist, I struggle to make the family connections and it really needs an experienced genealogist to determine where these fit into the history of the Copley family and the now demolished Sprotbrough Hall.

 

Carboniferous limestone ledger stones in the chancel

 

Belgium has a long history of supplying such limestone from Tournai and other regions in Wallonia, with the records for the port of Hull showing that very many ledgers were imported during the C17 and C18 - as evidenced at Hull Minster, where there are many C17 ledger stones. 

 

A detail of a ledger stone

Set against the south wall of the chancel, an alabaster slab with incised figures of Philip Copley (d.1577) and his wife Mary is laid on a tomb chest. There is no information on its history and whether it too was buried to escape damage during the Reformation or by the Roundheads in the English Civil Wars, but much of the detailing of Philip is now lost. 

 

The alabaster slab depicting Philip Copley and his wife Mary

 

I finished my brief tour of the interior of the church at St. Thomas’ chapel, which was enclosed within the south aisle in the early to mid C14 and contains two canopied niches, with ornamented ogee arches. Against the south wall is an effigy of a knight, which the guide suggests may be the executed son of Lady Isabel Deincourt, although the 1322 date conflicts with Pevsner and Historic England, which refer to it as belonging to the C13. 

 

The effigy of a knight in St. Thomas' chapel

As with other effigies of this approximate date, many of which were made in workshops in York using dolomitic limestone from Tadcaster, the proportions of the body aren’t anatomically correct; however, the chain mail, surcoat, belt, sword and shield are reproduced in fine detail. 

 

A detail of the effigy of the knight

 

On the north side of the chapel is the effigy of Lady Isabel herself (d.1348), which I couldn't photograph in its entirety because of the wedding dresses on display. The effigy was originally under the south canopy but it has been resited to the north canopy, which was recently restored. 

 

The effigy of Lady Isabel Deincourt

 

At the time, I was too busy trying to get a couple of decent photographs of the effigy from a very restricted angle but, according to the church guide, Lady Isabel’s hands are clasping the heart of her husband, William Fitzwilliam.

 

 A detail of the effigy of Lady Isabel Deincourt

 

St. Mary's Church in Sprotbrough - Part 1

 

The south elevation of St. Mary's church

My walk around Sprotbrough, to photograph its listed buildings, took only an hour and this left me plenty of time to look around the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, which Pevsner describes as having nothing earlier than the late C13 but the church guide refers to a date of c.1170. 

 

The north elevation

 

Pevsner again refers to a Decorated Gothic lower part of the tower, with the upper stages being in the Perpendicular Gothic style and the Historic England listing describes it as C13 and C14 with C15 and C16 alterations and additions. 

 

The old roofline

 

Looking from a distance at the east elevation of the tower, a steeply pitched old roofline can be clearly seen, which records the form of the church before the upper part of the tower and the clerestory and parapets were added to the nave. 

 

The north porch

 

Starting at the north porch (1632), which is built in dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation that is quite yellow, I was surprised to see a wedding dress in the doorway, but continued in an anti-clockwise direction around its exterior to the tower. 

 

The tower

The west door, which is part of the Decorated Gothic tower, has a flat ogee arch to the head and above this is a relieving arch. The limestone to the surround has been heavily restored, with stone and ‘honest repairs’ using brick slips - as advocated by SPAB - and the new stone seems to be very susceptible to decay by efflorescence. 

 

A detail of the west door

 

Moving around to the south elevation, there is a very noticeable difference between the squared and coursed masonry to the south aisle and the large ashlar blocks that are used for the clerestory and castellated parapets. In 1474, Sir William Fitzwilliam left £40 for the building of the upper part of the tower and, according to the church guide, the clerestory was added in 1516 and the flat headed windows to the elevation were presumably inserted at the same time.

 

The south elevation

 

Looking closely at the masonry, there is a quite a large proportion of yellow limestone blocks that have proved to be less durable than the pale creamed coloured limestone, with the development of cavernous decay. Although the Yellow Sands Formation below the Cadeby Formation is not mapped in the area, such yellow limestones tend to be very sandy in nature and seem to be more susceptible to weathering. 

 

A detail of the south elevation

 

The pattern of the masonry to the chancel is the same as in the south aisle and, based on its large windows with Y-tracery, this can be dated to the C13. The masonry to the ground floor to either side of the priest’s door, however, has deteriorated considerably compared to the masonry above, which has had extensive repairs with limestone, brick slips and sand and cement undertaken at various times in the recent past. 

 

The chancel

Continuing to the east end, the large east window to the chancel has a four centred arch in the Tudor style, which has replaced a larger C13 window, of which there are remains of the mouldings and head stops at a higher level. 

 

The east window

 

Making my way along the north elevation, without stopping to look closely at the stonework, I took a few photographs of the heavily weathered gargoyles at the base of the parapet to the tower, before having another look at the south porch. 

 

A gargoyle on the tower

 

The south porch, with its timber framed gable and stone slate roof, is not assigned a date by Pevsner or Historic England, but it has an unusual detail to its west window, where the stone used for its round head is described in the church guide as being reminiscent of crude Saxon work. 

 

The south porch

 

A Walk Around Sprotbrough

 

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin

Since starting my investigation of the mediaeval churches of Rotherham at St. Helen’s church in Treeton, back in February 2016, I have visited well over 100 churches and a few cathedrals in South Yorkshire and the surrounding counties of Derbyshire, West Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire – all undertaken by public transport. 

 

Mediaeval churches to visit in South Yorkshire as at 10th June 2023

By June 2023, my travel to the 22 mediaeval churches still on my list to visit in South Yorkshire required a bus from Treeton to Sheffield, then a train to either Barnsley and Doncaster, before catching another bus to an outlying village and then reversing the process on the return journey. 

 

Listed buildings to photograph

 

Following on from my walk along Totley Brook to look at is geology, my next day out was the village of Sprotbrough, principally to visit the Grade I Listed Church of St. Mary the Virgin but, as has now become a matter of routine, also to photograph its historic buildings as part of the British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge. 

 

An old cross base

 

Alighting from the No. 219 bus on Melton Road, my first stop was to photograph an old resited cross base near the junction with Spring Lane, which is probably late mediaeval and comprises a block of massive dolomitic limestone from the Permian Cadeby Formation. 

 

The mounting steps on Main Street

 

Heading south down Thorpe Lane, I came to the St. Mary’s church, which I will describe later, and next stopped to photograph the Grade II Listed mounting steps, a K6 telephone box and the wrought iron gates to Home Cottage on Main Street. 

 

Views of the Old Rectory and its entrance

Turning down Boat Lane, the stuccoed Old Rectory (c.1850) was the next building on my list to photograph, along with its boundary wall and gate posts, which are made of massive limestone – as with other walls that I seen so far in the Sprotbrough Conservation Area. 

 

The village pump

To the east of No. 41 Boat Lane is the C19 village pump, which was originally sited on main Street, but was moved to this site in November 1987. The Remains of the pump shaft, with a cuboidal stone bucket platform, is set in a gabled recess with projecting side piers and the Copley arms carved on a sandstone slab. 

 

A small outcrop of well bedded dolomitic limestone

 

Near to the bottom of Boat Lane, a few small outcrops of limestone poke out of the bank on its east side, where there is no path. Even though I didn’t take my Estwing hammer with me, taking care to avoid the traffic coming up the road, I managed to obtain a sample of fine granular buff limestone with a very feint pinkish tinge. 

 

A sample of dolomic limestone from Boat Lane

 

Reaching the Don Gorge, I stopped on Sprotbrough Bridge to photograph the Grade II Listed Toll House (1849), which was built for Sir Joseph William Copley in dressed massive Carboniferous sandstone, with ashlar quoins. 

 

The Toll House

 

Heading east along this part of the Don Gorge, which I had last visited when surveying the crags and old quarries along Engine Wood for the Doncaster Geodiversity Assessment, I went in search for the Grade II Listed Sprotbrough Pump. 

 

A view east along Sprotbrough Lock from Sprotbrough Bridge

I could only see a few sections of wall of the pump house, which was built by Joseph Copley to pump water 150 feet up to Sprotbrough village - to power a fountain in the grounds of the now demolished Sprotbrough Hall, which had been inspired by the Emperor Fountain at Chatsworth. 

 

The remains of Sprotbrough Pump

 

Retracing my steps back to Sprotbrough Bridge, I continued along Nursery Lane until I reached the C17 Boat Inn, a very popular public house that occupies an old farmhouse at the centre of a range of large farm buildings, which are built with limestone walls and red pantile roofs. 

 

The Boat Inn

 

Walking back up Boat Lane to the centre of Sprotbrough, I took a diversion to the late C17 stuccoed stable block to Sprotbrough Hall, before continuing back up to Main Street, where I had a look at some of the older unlisted buildings, which are mainly rendered, before having a quick look at the Millennium Stone Cross.

 

The Millennium Stone Cross

Arriving at St. Mary’s church, I had a quick walk around the churchyard and came across a Calvary cross whose design reminded me of the crucifixes that were erected in Hickleton by the 2nd Viscount Halifax but, looking closely, I could see that it is actually a war memorial. 

 

A detail of the war memorial

 

It is made from a very coarse grained pisolitic variety of dolomitic limestone from the Permian Cadeby Formation, which I had only seen in small outcrops at Hooton Pagnell, but had never encountered before as a building material.

 

Pisolitic limestone used for the war memorial shaft