St. James’ Church High Melton – Part 3

 

A view along the nave from the tower

Entering St. James’ church through the south door, after I had spoken to Chris Ellis - who works as a Church Buildings Officer at the Diocese of Sheffield and had organised Church Explorers Week - I had 40 minutes before the hourly No. 219 bus back to Doncaster was due in High Melton. 

 

The St. James' church guide

 

Picking up the church guide, which is in the standard Heritage Inspired style used by very many of the mediaeval churches in South Yorkshire before the initiative ended, I set about taking a systematic photographic record of the principal architectural elements of the church – starting with the 2-bay south arcade, which is part of the church that was established c.1153. 

 

A view of the arcade from the south aisle

 

I took a couple of quick snaps of the south aisle, which has its masonry fully exposed but I didn’t further investigate this. Based on my observations of the patterns in the stonework of the external fabric and references to the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture for Britain and Ireland (CRSBI) and Pevsner, I think that this probably dates to the C12. 

 

A view east along the south aisle

 

The arcade has a very plain round arches with no mouldings, which normally indicates a fairly early date and the capital to the west respond is decorated with simple scallops, but I just took a single photograph and didn’t really take much notice of the details described by the CRSBI. 

 

The capital to the west respond of the arcade

 

Standing in the tower looking east down the nave, the narrow and very tall nature of the nave is a feature that led Peter Ryder to suggest that this part of the church is of a pre-Conquest date in Saxon Churches of South Yorkshire, but the chancel arch is hidden by the rood screen. 

 

A view east along the nave from the tower

 

On the north wall of the tower is a large Carrara marble wall memorial to Thomas Fountayne (d.1709) of High Melton Hall, which has a very lengthy inscription that delves into very many aspects of his life, which is fully recorded in the Parish History leaflet. 

 

The memorial to Thomas Fountayne

 

Returning to the nave to have a look at the south arcade and the wall of the nave above, there is no break in the pattern of the masonry above the arcade, except around the square headed windows, which are probably part of the C15 alterations in the Perpendicular Gothic style. 

 

A fragment of masonry next to the blocked north door

 

The wall adjacent to the blocked north door contains a fragment of masonry with a cross that is stylised with a geometrical form, which is similar to those that I had seen in the walls of the porch and may be part of a grave slab, but this is not mentioned in the church guide. 

 

A view of the masonry above the arcade

 

The font, which has been relocated from the tower to the south aisle, is not mentioned by Pevsner and Historic England (HE) describes it a tapered cylinder without a date, except for the oak cover that they suggest is probably C18; however, the church guide assigns it to the C13 but the Parish History includes it in their description of C12 features. 

 

The font

Moving down to the east end of the arcade, I had a quick look at the east respond, which the CRSBI describes in detail and states that the base and the west face of the capital have been remade, which may explain the origin of the scalloped sections of a capital that have been incorporated into the north window of the nave. 

 

The renewed west face of the capital to the east respond

 

Their description also mentions that the respond and the central pier has remains of red ochre based painted decorations, but I didn’t notice any of these and after taking a photo of the capital to the central column, where the scallop and nailhead details are obviously a lot older than those reproduced on the east respond, I made my way to the chancel.

 

The capital to the central pier

 

St. James’ Church High Melton – Part 2

 

A gargoyle on the tower

Continuing my walk around the exterior of St. James’ church in High Melton, having taken note of the use of a mixture of limestone and reddened sandstone for the chancel and nave, I was very interested to see that the jambs of the Perpendicular Gothic style square headed window inserted into the nave incorporate stones with scalloped decoration

 

Reset capitals in the nave window

 

The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture for Britain and Ireland (CRSBI) considers them to be “probably contemporary with the capitals of the south arcade because their scale seems consistent, although they do not show any later features such as nailhead cutting”. 

 

A view of the tower from the north-east 

Moving on to the tower, Historic England refer to this as Perpendicular and is presumably part of the C15 phase of building that is included in their description, which makes reference to Pevsner’s entry in the West Yorkshire volume of Buildings of England; however, the Parish History of High Melton leaflet refers to the lower part as C14, the upper part C15 and with it being further raised in the C18 and a clock installed in 1768. 

 

A view of the tower from the north-west

At the time of my visit, which was in quite overcast conditions, when walking around the tower I didn’t notice any obvious changes in the masonry of the tower, which is essentially built with very large squared and evenly coursed ashlar blocks – a pattern that I have learned to associate with the later Perpendicular Gothic style of the C15, rather than the C14, by visiting over 125 mediaeval churches in the region. 

 

A view of the tower from the west

 

The sharp contrast between the ashlar of the tower and fabric of the nave, chancel and south aisle, which is at best well squared and coursed rubble, to my eye suggests that the tower up to at least the base of the belfry stage dates to the C15. 

 

A view of the tower from the south-west

 

Furthermore, the dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation has a marked yellow tinge that is very uniform in colour, which is shared in common with St. Wilfrid’s church in Hickleton and St. Peter’s church in Barnburgh and is a characteristic that sets them apart from most of the mediaeval churches that I have seen in Doncaster. 

 

A view of the tower from the south

 

This colour is due to the incorporation of loose sand from the Yellow Sands Formation that underlies it, which is a feature of the small exposure of the junction between these two formations that could still be seen in Melton Park when I last saw it back in 2007. 

 

The upper stages of the tower

Looking at my photos, I can see differences in the colours of the limestone used to build the belfry stage and those below, which are uniformly yellow, and the weathering appears to be less pronounced, but an investigation close up from a scaffold would be needed to confirm this. 

 

A sculptural detail on the north-west buttress

 

On the north-west corner of the tower is a very large diagonal buttress, which incorporates a spiral staircase and is decorated with what appears to be a two headed figure, but this is very weathered. At ground level, the limestone is also very weathered and has been inappropriately repaired with sand and cement. 

 

A replaced block in the north-west buttress

 

A single block has been replaced in recent times with a pale cream coloured dolomitic limestone, which is quite typical of the stone now available from the very limited number of quarries that are still extracting stone from the Cadeby Formation. This highlights the problems faced by a specialist building restoration contractor when trying to satisfy an architect's specification "to match the existing as closely as possible". 

 

An extensive repair with stone slips

The south-west buttress has had an extensive section of weathered stone repaired using stone slips, which is based on the principle of undertaking ‘honest repairs’ that was first advocated by SPAB (The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) using clay tiles. 

 

A detail of a repair with stone slips

 

Moving round to the north elevation, I was interested to see that the south aisle overlaps the tower. It is built with roughly squared and irregularly coursed rubble sandstone and limestone, which is very similar to that seen in the north elevation of the nave – considered to be of a pre-Conquest date by Peter Ryder in Saxon Churches in South Yorkshire. 

 

A view of the south aisle and porch

As with the masonry on the east side of the porch, it contains courses of very thin-bedded limestone at quite regular intervals, which sets it apart from the better squared and more regularly coursed masonry that I had seen in the chancel. 

 

A view of the south aisle and nave.

 

The Lady Chapel, which the CRSBI considers to have been built in the second half of the C14, is separated from the south aisle by a very large squat buttress, which doesn't appear to have any structural purpose and may hide the junction between these two elements of the church. 

 

A view of the south aisle and chancel

 

A clear view of the masonry to the Lady Chapel is obscured by a tree and I therefore couldn’t take a photo that would usually enable me to see differences in the pattern of masonry, which indicate separate phases of construction. 

 

Views of the south elevation

I then took a few general record photos of the south elevation, including the windows that have been inserted into the nave wall to form a clerestory. These have double ogee arches cut into a head that is made of a single piece of limestone and have very crude dressings to the jambs. 

 

A window in the north wall of the nave

Entering the porch, I was quite surprised to discover that the south door has an ogee arch with a large roll moulding, which is an architectural feature that I had not seen before and, together with north door in the nave, is dated by Pevsner to the C14. 

 

The south door

 

Set into the walls of the porch are several small fragments of masonry that are decorated with crosses and other geometrical designs that may possibly be fragments of grave slabs, which I have often seen before in the churches that I have visited, but there was no information to explain them and I proceeded to enter the church and have a quick look at its interior before I had to catch the hourly No. 219 bus back to Doncaster.

 

Reset fragments of sculpted masonry in the porch

 

St. James’ Church High Melton – Part 1

 

St. James' church in High Melton

After photographing the listed buildings in High Melton and trying to further investigate the geology on the former campus of Doncaster College, only to discover that it had long since been closed and the land had been purchased by Newsholme Developments, I went to search for the access to the Grade II* Listed St. James’ church from Doncaster Road. 

 

A notice on Doncaster Road

 

Seeing a notice pinned to a tree at the north end of Church Lane, I continued down this unmade track until I came across a sign board that announced that this was part of the Church Explorers Week 2024 event – arranged by the Church Buildings Officer, Chris Ellis. 

 

An information board for Church Explorers Week

 

Historic England (HE) describes the church as “C12, C14 and C15, C19 restoration” and, when entering the churchyard and approaching from the east, even in overcast conditions I could see that the tower, with its typical C15 Perpendicular Gothic style ashlar masonry, a castellated parapet and crocketed pinnacles, is built with dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation. 

 

St. James' church

 

Getting closer to the east end, apart from the window dressings to the chancel – C19 according to HE - and south chapel, which the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture for Britain and Ireland (CRSBI) was added in the second half of the C14, the roughly squared and irregularly coursed masonry looks very different.

 

The east end

 

From my photographs, I can’t seen any obvious break in the stonework of the east wall of the chancel and the south chapel, which makes me think that they are part of the same phase of rebuilding or extension to an earlier structure. 

 

A detail of a shield beneath the east window

 

Getting closer to the east window to photograph the ornate shields that are carved in relief on a panel at its base, I noted that the limestone used for the shields is quite heavily weathered and in sheltered areas, have developed a brownish patina in places, which in my experience is typical of Jurassic oolitic limestone than Permian dolomitic limestone, which tends to develop a grey patina. 

 

A panel with shields beneath the east window 

I had already seen Jurassic limestone used in the restored window on the north elevation of the nave at St. Helen’s church in Marr and for the C19 restoration of window dressings in several mediaeval churches built with dolomitic limestone in Doncaster. Although I always carry my bottle of hydrochloric acid and my hand lens with me, on this occasion I wasn’t able to get close enough to be able to use these.  

 

The north elevation of the chancel

 

I didn’t undertake a detailed inspection of the stonework but I did notice that a considerable proportion of the walling beneath the east window consists of distinctly reddened sandstone, which is not very durable and has suffered from cavernous weathering. This is also seen on the north side of the chancel, which has square headed Perpendicular Gothic style windows that have had several sections of their surrounds quite recently restored. 

The north elevation of the nave

Continuing to the nave, the masonry again comprises a mixture of sandstone and limestone, with the latter often taking the form of very thin courses that are not apparent in the chancel. In Saxon Churches in South Yorkshire, Peter Ryder describes the nave as being unusually tall with very thin walls and is probably of a pre-Conquest date. 

 

Walling to the nave

The CRSBI adds that the nave is narrower than the chancel, and is not set out on the same lines as this or the tower and suggests that it could be the survivor of a Saxon nave. HE makes no reference to the age of the nave and, following Pevsner’s original assertion, only mentions the blocked north ogee headed door as dating to the C14. 

 

The blocked north door

Being conscious that the X19 bus from High Melton to Doncaster runs hourly and that I still had to take a good look at the interior, I didn’t investigate the various stones as much as I would have liked to, but the soft sandstone has most probably been quarried from the Dalton Rock.

 

A detail of the blocked north door

 

The geological memoir for Barnsley describes this Pennine Upper Coal Measures Formation sandstone, which is now described as either the Newstead Rock or an unnamed sandstone in this area, as being prominent in the locality and often stained red. 

 

A detail of the deterioration of sandstone in the blocked door

 

Without documentation, it is no more than an educated guess to try and identify the likely provenance of the building stones used in any mediaeval church, with the limited means of transport of the time making it likely that the basic walling stone is quarried in the very near vicinity. On the 1854 edition of the Ordnance Survey map, the only sandstone quarries that I can see are to the immediate south of Bath Ponds and a disused one on Ludwell Field 1.5 km to the NNW – both of which are located on the former Dalton Rock.

 

The 1854 OS map showing the nearest sandstone quarry to High Melton

Geology in High Melton

 

A roadside exposure of the Cadeby Formation on Doncaster Road

When planning my day out to High Melton, to attend the Church Explorers Week event held by St. James’ church, I hadn’t thought about the interesting geology that can be found here – as I first discovered back in September 1997, when quickly looking at a small outcrop of the early Permian Yellow Sands Formation in Melton Park as the principal surveyor for the South Yorkshire RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) Group. 

 

The Yellow Sands Formation at Melton Park in 1997

 

At that time, I still used Fuji Velvia colour transparency film for most of my geological survey work, which was quite expensive and although this limited the number of photos that I took of any given subject, I surprisingly only took two photos of this outcrop – one of which was sent to Doncaster MBC to accompany a very basic site report. 

 

The geology around High Melton (Yellow Sands Formation = YwS)

Exposures of this geological formation, which comprises original and reworked sand dunes that formed in a basin below sea level before it was flooded by the Zechstein Sea, in a similar environment to the Mediterranean Sea in more recent geological times. These are very rare in South Yorkshire and I have only seen this at Watchley Crags, where the exposures are quite extensive - although I have subsequently seen this formation in a spectacular exposure in Pontefract and along the Greenway West railway cutting in Clowne. 

The entry for Melton Park in the Doncaster Geodiversity Assessment

In 2007, I had the opportunity to take a much closer look at this site as part of the Doncaster Geodiversity Assessment (pp. 37-41 in Appendix 1), when working temporarily for the British Geological Survey and I had much more time to undertake a thorough survey and by then had purchased a Nikon Coolpix 5400 digital camera. 

 

Photos of Melton Park in the Doncaster Geodiversity Assessment

On this occasion, I discovered two small quarry faces in the old Melton Hall Quarry, which expose oolitic dolomitic limestones in the Wetherby Member of the Cadeby Formation. These contain shelly and pisolitic beds, iron staining along some of the joints, breccias and yellow beds, which contain reworked sand from the underlying Yellow Sands Formation. 

 

A photo of High Melton Hall taken in 2007

Having already photographed the historic buildings in High Melton, I still had plenty of time to visit St. James’s church and I wanted to take another look at these limestone outcrops and also High Melton Hall (1757), which I had described as being built with Ackworth Rock from the Pennine Upper Coal Measures Formation. 

 

High Melton on the Doncaster Heritage Map

I had lasted visited High Melton at the end of 2010, to meet with students of Fashion and Textile Design at the Doncaster College campus that was located here - as part of the AA2A (Artists Access to Art Colleges) programme to turn my Glowing Edges Designs into silk products – but I did not know that it closed in 2017 and that Newsholme Developments had purchased the land, with proposals to convert High Melton Hall into apartments, demolish the modern buildings and build over 100 houses on Melton Park. 

 

The proposal for the development of Melton Park

 

The Doncaster Heritage Map shows that Melton Park mostly lies in the Conservation Area, where there are two listed buildings and two scheduled monuments, as well as the wider area comprising a park of local historic interest set on the edge of the Magnesian Limestone escarpment. 

 

The Stables

 

Finding the whole area fenced off and thinking that any large scale development here would not be very appropriate, reinforced by online research when I got back home, I made my way back to Doncaster Road past The Stables, which are also built with sandstone and presumably contemporary with High Melton Hall, but which have been converted into a restaurant, coffee shop and other commercial uses. 

 

A roadside outcrop on Doncaster Road

 

Before setting off to find the entrance to St. James’ church, I went to have a close look at a few small roadside exposures of the Cadeby Formation that I had seen when first arriving on the public footpath from Marr. 

 

A largely overgrown outcrop on Doncaster Road

 

I had not noticed these on any of my previous visits and, on this occasion, they were partly overgrown. Although I did not have my Estwing hammer with me, I was determined to obtain a specimen for my rock collection. The small pieces that are collected are distinctly yellowish in colour, very finely granular and have minute grains of black manganese oxide that are disseminated throughout the body of the stone and also line small cavities.

 

Dolomitic limestone collected from the outcrop on Doncaster Road