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