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| A view from the north aisle |
My afternoon spent at Wadsley Common and the graveyard at Wadsley parish church was followed, on the Monday, by continuing my investigation of the mediaeval churches of Doncaster – this time the Grade I Listed St. Peter’s church in Old Edlington, which is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.
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| A Goole Map view showing the locations of Treeton and Old Edlington |
I had by now become used to taking three separate journeys by public transport, each way, which takes an increasing amount of planning and is sometimes combined with a good walk. Having visited the nearby village of Braithwell on the No. 10 bus the year before, I was dismayed to discover that this bus now started in the suburb of Bramley, instead of at Rotherham Interchange – a decision that the bus driver and I thought was particularly stupid and thankfully has been scrapped in the renamed X2 service.
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| The south door |
Having made arrangements with the keyholder a week before, when the weather forecast appeared to be good, I set off from Treeton with the threat of rain and, by the time I alighted from the No. 10 bus, it was raining steadily. Realising that I would not be able to walk to Edlington Brick Pit as planned, I had to complete my explore by the time the next hourly bus came along and I immediately entered the church by the south door.
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| A detail of the south door with beakheads and chevrons |
Although the external appearance is dominated by the Perpendicular Gothic elements, the chevron decoration and the beakheads that decorate the entire door surround are typically Norman and the church guide suggests a date of c.1190, with Pevsner preferring c.1200.
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| A view of the arcade and chancel arch |
Once inside the church and looking east along the nave, I immediately noted the round chancel arch, but the two bay arcade has round piers and square capitals with Early English Gothic style pointed arches above them, which Historic England refers to as being early C13 in date.
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| The chancel arch |
There is no artificial lighting in the church and the windows are made of polycarbonate, which both contribute to the low lighting levels, but I was still able to discern chevrons on the chancel arch. Also, there is a change in the pattern of masonry above the chancel arch, where the upper five courses, comprising much larger square blocks, relate to the raising of the roof and addition of a castellated parapet to the exterior in the C15.
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| A detail of the north side of the chancel arch |
Looking closely at the chancel arch, it has a raised plinth and short shafts that are commented on by the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain & Ireland (CRSBI), which also goes on to decribe the capitals in great detail, in contrast to Pevsner's brief reference to decoration with stylised leaves and intertwined bands.
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| The capital on the south side of the chancel arch |
Moving into the chancel, which is considered to be C12 by all of the authorities, I was surprised to see that the walls consist of very precise ashlar masonry that looks like an extensive Victorian restoration but, except for the very brief CRSBI reference to work to the plinth of the chancel arch, there is no mention of the church's restoration history.
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| A view inside the chancel |
Passing through the arch from the chancel to the north chapel, I just took a couple of record photos of the north aisle and, while studying these at a later date, I have been interested to see that the wall immediately west of the arch contains a few blocks of dark red/plum coloured sandstone, which I didn’t notice at the time.
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| The north aisle |
Looking above the east end of the arcade and the arch to the chancel, there are several crudely carved corbels that are part of a corbel table, which formed part of the external wall of the Norman nave before the north aisle was added in the C13.
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| Corbels above the arch to the north chapel |
With time moving on and with the exterior of the church still to photograph, I didn’t spent as much as time as I would have liked inspecting the interior and finished by taking a quick look at the wall memorial, which the church guide thinks is a member of Lord Wharton’s family.
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| The wall memorial in the north chapel |
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