St. John's Church in Wadworth - Part 3

 

Effigies of Edmund Fitzwilliam and his wife Maud

After an unsuccessful attempt to find a church guide, I continued my investigation of the interior of the Church of St. John the Baptist, in Wadworth, by looking at the north aisle, where the lower part of its wall and the window reveals have not been plastered.

 

Views of the north aisle

 

Except to take a single photograph of the simple round headed north door, which the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain & Ireland (CRSBI) includes in their description of the C12 ornamentation in the interior, along with the string course running along the bottom of the windows, I didn’t examine the squared and coursed walling. 

 

The north door

 

At each end of the 3 bay north arcade, the ornate capitals to the responds are obviously of a C12 design and contrast with the simply moulded capitals on the two circular columns, but the descriptions by the CRSBI far exceed my knowledge and interest in such architectural detailing. 

 

Capitals on the responds of the north arcade

 

Looking across the nave to the south aisle, the 6 bay blind arcade is a feature that I have never seen before in a church and which prompted Pevsner to describe St. John’s as “A large, important and in some ways surprising church” and regarded this arcade and those in the porch as “proof of a very ambitious and spacious Late Norman church.” 

 

The blind arcade in the south aisle

Except for a footnote in Pevsner’s description, which is repeated in the Historic England description, there is no mention of any restoration to the church but, according to the National Churches Trust website, the renewed chancel arch in 1829 was part of an extensive restoration.

 

Headstops on the renewed chancel arch

 

Moving into the chancel, I didn’t enter the sanctuary to take a close look at the reredos, which is not mentioned in my reference sources and only took a general record photo from a distance. When blowing up the high resolution image on my computer, however, I can see that the colonnettes are made of a veined dark red marble. 

 

The reredos

 

Looking at the colour of the stone used for the reredos and its very intricate carving, I think that this is Caen limestone from Normandy. First introduced to England by William the Conqueror, where it has notably been used in the Tower of London and Canterbury Cathedral, this stone was very popular with Victorian architects – as seen at St. John’s church in Ranmoor, St. Mary’s church in Walkley, St. Peter’s church in Birstall and at Leeds Central Library. 

 

The tomb chest of Edmund Fitzwilliam and his wife Maud

Set into the arcade between the chancel and the south chapel, there is an alabaster tomb chest with effigies to Edmund Fitzwilliam (d.1430) and his wife Maud (d.1443), which has unfortunately been damaged by graffiti and various scratches. 

 

Effigies of Edmund Fitzwilliam and his wife Maud

 

In the western arch to the south chapel, there is a plain dolomitic limestone tomb chest for their son, another Edmund Fitzwilliam (d.1465), and his first wife Katherine (d.1435). The slab has an inscription, which I didn’t see, and the visible side is decorated with quatrefoils. 

 

The tomb chest of Edmund Fitzwilliam and his wife Katherine

 

The south chapel is separated from the rest church by glass screens and, apart from taking a couple of quick snaps to record a general view of the chapel and the sedilia, I joined the many parishioners who were here for refreshments and the raffle. 

 

A view of the south chapel

 

With the next hourly No. 22 bus back to Doncaster arriving too soon to catch, I took time to drink my tea and chat with a few people at my table, before taking a photo of the C15 font on my way out and then going to photograph Wadworth Hall, its entrance gatepiers and west and east lodges then setting off on foot to Loversall. 

 

The C15 font

 

St. John's Church in Wadworth - Part 2

 

A detail of the effigy of a huntsman on the west wall of the tower

When walking around the exterior of the Church of St. John the Baptist, I had noticed various sections of rubble masonry which, based on Pevsner’s rather haphazard and confusing description, I thought must date back to the C12, but I had seen no obvious Romanesque details.

 

The porch

Approaching the porch, the pattern of the roughly coursed masonry seems to be consistent with that seen in the lowest section of the west end of the south aisle but its chunky double chamfered arch, together with a similar arch to the south door and its associated nailhead decoration, to me suggested that the architectural style had evolved from the Romanesque to Early English Gothic.

 

The south door

 

Entering the porch, Pevsner describes the round arched blank arcades and capitals to the shafts on either side as a surprise and attributes these to the late C12, which is consistent with all of the descriptions of round arches that I had seen in very many mediaeval churches. 

 

Blank arcades in the porch

 

Once inside a church, I usually systematically photograph the aisles and arcades but, on this occasion, my attention was immediately drawn to the various grave slabs that stand against the west wall of the tower and my investigation of the interior became a bit random - especially as I interupted this to take advantage of the coffee morning.

 

Grave slabs in the tower

 

The later C14 effigy to the left is of a huntsman, with a hunting horn and sword, which Pevsner thinks is probably a forester of Hatfield Chase. The yellow dolomitic limestone contrasts with the weathered twin semi-effigial ledger stone next to it, which was brought in from the churchyard in 1977, and the early C14 slab to the right. 

 

Arches in the tower

 

The late C15 tower has all of its masonry exposed and it has a very tall Perpendicular Gothic style arch leading to the nave and, although considerably shorter, the arches to the aisles are also tall and the same details of the chamfers and mouldings indicate a single phase of construction. 

 

The north arcade

 

Looking down the nave, the north arcade has round columns, which are considered by Pevsner and the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland (CRSBI) to date to c.1190-1200, but its arches are pointed and therefore later; however neither of the above authorities or Historic England assign a date to them. 

 

The south arcade

 

The columns and capitals in the south arcade are octagonal and therefore later than the north arcade. The arches on both of the arcades are pointed and look like they have the same double chamfers, which presumably indicate that they were built at the same time, but it is only the church guide that gives a later C14 date for the south arcade. 

 

Views of the clerestory

 

The stonework to the walling above the arcades are plastered and the change in masonry style on the north side of the clerestory, which can be clearly seen on the exterior, are unfortunately obscured and the Romanesque, Decorated Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic phases of building cannot be determined. 

 

The west window to the north aisle

 

When walking around the exterior, although I thought that the poorly coursed rubble walling seen in the chancel, the aisles and the north clerestory were probably dated to the C12, the oldest stone dressings that I noted were the Early English windows, which have Y-tracery or are tall lancets. 

 

The westernmost window in the south aisle

 

In the interior, the west window of the north aisle is obviously round headed and therefore dates to the C12 and the CRSBI goes on further, to state that the windows in the west end of the south aisle are actually altered round headed windows of the same date. 

 

The west window of the south aisle

 

St. John's Church in Wadworth - Part 1

 

The Church of St. John the Baptist

Approaching the east end of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Wadworth from Old School Lane, I firstly encountered Wadworth war memorial, which is in the form of a short Celtic cross. It is made with a dark grey rough hewn granite, with a polished panel into which the names of the fallen are inscribed, which I think is probably the Rubislaw variety from Aberdeen.

 

Wadworth war memorial

 

The east wall of the chancel, which I think dates to the C12, is built with coursed rubble walling, where the individual irregularly shaped stones are thinly bedded and cream/buff to yellow in colour, with the very occasionally reddened stone. This is very similar to the dolomitic limestone that I had seen in vernacular architecture in the village and I presume that this has been quarried locally from the Brotherton Formation. 

 

The east wall of the chancel

 

It contrasts with the massive pale cream limestone with a grey patina, which has been used for the quoins and for the c.1300 Y-tracery and dressings of the window. The upper part of the wall has been altered, with very large blocks of yellowish limestone ashlar masonry being used for this. 

 

A detail of the masonry to the east wall of the chancel

 

The south chapel, which according to Pevsner was built a generation later and has unusually tall mullions and tracery with mouchettes, is built in limestone that is similar to the dressings on the east wall of the chancel, but contains a high proportion of thinly bedded stones. 

 

The east end of the south chapel

 

The masonry to the east end of the south chapel is very uniform in colour and, although the thinner beds are not typical of the stone obtained from it, this is very probably from the Cadeby Formation, which has been quarried extensively at Warmsworth and along the Don Gorge to the north-west and Stainton to the south. 

 

Quarries on the Cadeby Formation in the vicinity of Wadworth

 

Set against the wall of the south chapel are a few Coal Measures sandstone headstones, one of which has eroded away to reveal a greyish coloured body of the sandstone, but I was more interested in the pattern of weathering to the inscription and the surrounding stone. 

 

Weathering of a Coal Measures sandstone headstone

 

The north chapel is dated to c.1300 addition, with the roughly coursed rubble masonry being similar to the chancel, but the quoins and northern part of the east end is built with much larger blocks of squared greyish limestone blocks, which are similar to those seen in the south chapel.

 

The east end of the south chapel

 

When I visited St. John’s church very briefly back in 2007, when undertaking surveys for the Doncaster Geodiversity Assessment, I was very impressed by the grotesques and, before continuing my walk anti-clockwise around its exterior, I took a few photographs of these. 

 

Grotesques on the chancel

 

Standing back to photograph the north elevation, the colour high level ashlar masonry to the chancel looks incongruous, compared to the rest of the stonework, and I suspect that this may be part of a programme of recent essential restoration. It contains a flat headed window with Tudor style four centred arches to the lights, which fits in with C15 phase of the building mentioned by Historic England, but it looks very different to the masonry on the north side of the clerestory. 

 

The north elevation

 

Although Pevsner mentions that the Norman church had a north aisle, neither he or Historic England make any specific reference to the exterior; however, looking at the size and shape of the blocks, the masonry looks more similar to the north (c.1300) and south (early to mid C14) chapels than the east wall of the chancel.

 

The north elevation of the tower

 

Furthermore, the stonework of the nave comprises poorly coursed rubble, with the pattern changing to squared and coursed masonry above it when the clerestory was added in the late C15, together with the castellated parapets and crocketted finials, which coincided with the building of the tower with limestone ashlar in the Perpendicular Gothic style. 

 

The tower

 

On both the north and south sides of the tower, just above the aisle roofs, sections of masonry remain from the original tower and above these are old rooflines, projecting angled bands of masonry and corbels, which presumably relate to the chambers that are said by Pevsner to have formerly existed above the aisles. 

 

An old roofline and corbels

Moving round to the south elevation, the south aisle to the west of the porch is built with poorly coursed masonry in the lowest section, but the upper part is squared and coursed, with a lancet window that is typical of the Early English Gothic style. 

 

The west end of the south aisle

 

Continuing beyond the south porch, the south aisle is built with ashlar walling that has uniformly sized blocks and windows that have wide triangular arches, which are on the verge of being four centred and have foiled heads to the lights. 

 

A detail of the south aisle window heads and the clerestory

 

Unlike the north elevation, where coursed rubble walling comprises the lower part, the clerestory is built entirely of ashlar masonry that has a similar block size and pattern to the aisle below. All of the limestone used for the ashlar to the tower and other Perpendicular Gothic elements are uniformly grey, yet the south side of the clerestory has a high proportion of cream/yellow coloured blocks, which may be evidence of modern restoration.

 

The south aisle and the south chapel

  

A Brief Exploration of Wadworth

 

The village sign in Wadworth

 

Following on from my day out to Anston, I took advantage of the coffee morning that is held on the last Saturday of the month at the Church of St. John the Baptist at Wadworth in Doncaster, which I had very briefly visited when undertaking surveys for the Doncaster Geodiversity Assessment. 

 

The geology around Wadworth  © BGS

Catching what was then the hourly No. 22 bus from Doncaster, the A60 road crosses the red marl of the Edlington Formation before rising up to Main Street in the old part of the village, which is set on the edge of the Brotherton Formation. 

 

Buildings at the junction of Main Street and Walnut Street Hill

 

Alighting at the Main Street/Ratten Row stop, I firstly photographed the group of buildings at the junction of Main Street and Walnut Tree Hill, where the front elevations are built with yellowish roughly squared and coursed limestone walling that, as seen from a distance, appear to be built with quite massive blocks. 

 

The Main Street elevation

On the Main Street elevation, however, the lower section of the walling is built with rubble walling where the limestone is very thinly bedded, which is highlighted by differential weathering. In places, the walling is built directly on very large irregular blocks of massive limestone containing well defined cross-laminations, which I think is bedrock. 

 

Massive limestone forming foundations of the walling on Main Street

 

Where the path slopes away to the north, this is underlain by what is obviously very thinly bedded limestone, which is disintegrating to such an extent that it has been partly rendered and sand and cement has been used to fill in the joints of the larger blocks. 

 

Thin bedded limestone foundations and sand and cement rendering

 

The sample that I collected has a bed height of 3 cm, is buff coloured and very finely crystalline, with a cellular texture where the pores are lined with a black substance that, in the limestones of the Cadeby Formation, are considered to be a manganese oxide.

 

A sample of limestone from the Brotherton Formation

 

Retracing my steps along Main Street, Nos. 1-5 are built out of cream/buff/yellow limestone, which have generally thinner courses than the above buildings. In my previous post, when describing the quarries that I encountered when undertaking the Doncaster Geodiversity Assessment, beds of this height do occur in the Brotherton Formation, but they constitute a minor component of the beds seen in the quarry faces. 

 

Nos. 1-5 Main Street

 

Walking up Old School Lane towards the church, the return wall of No.5 Main Street have obvious lamination that is not usually seen in limestone from the Cadeby Formation, as does the adjacent boundary wall. Looking at the 1901 Ordnance Survey map, where the buildings shown essentially coincide with those now in the Wadworth Conservation Area, three quarries are marked at the edge of the villages, which could have suppied stone for the older buildings in the village. 

 

The 1901 Ordnance Survey map

 

Further up School Street, Wadworth Village Hall (1840) and the old school house on the opposite side of the road are built using very well squared and coursed cream coloured limestone, which looks typical of the building stone obtained from the Cadeby Formation. 

 

Wadworth Village Hall and the old school house

 

Arriving at St. John’s church, which I will describe in my next Language of Stone Blog post, I unexpectedly got the opportunity to visit St. Katherine’s church in Loversall, which was open for a Romanian Orthodox church service, and I was therefore unable to explore Carr Lane at the east end of Wadworth – where I wanted to photograph various old farm buildings for the British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge. 

 

Listed buildings in Wadworth

 

I instead made my way to Wadworth Hall where, after a local had asked me why I was taking photographs of ‘private’ property, I explained that I was allowed by law to do so from the street and took a few quick snaps of the west and east lodges, the house and the gatepiers. 

 

Wadworth Hall and the associated lodges and entrance gatepiers

 

Making my way back through St. John’s churchyard to Main Street, I continued down the hill, where I noticed that the boundary wall on the corner of High Street incorporates very large blocks of limestone, before walking along the A60 to Loversall.

 

Large blocks of limestone incorporated into a boundary wall