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

Listed Buildings in Marr and High Melton

 

The Grade II Listed shelter shed and Manor Farmhouse in Marr

My very quick look at the exterior of St. Helen’s church in Marr, which is mentioned in Domesday Book, took less than 25 minutes and, before setting off to High Melton, I went to find the 5 buildings in the village that were part of my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge for the day. 

 

My British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge for Marr

 

The first of these is a range of miscellaneous Grade II Listed early C18 to early C19 agricultural buildings at Hall Farm, of which I could see the building that fronts the A635/Barnsley Road, and the cartshed arcade on its east side. 

 

Agricultural buildings at Hall Farm

 

Both Marr Hall and its associated outbuildings are set back from the road and inaccessible, so I continued west along the A635 unti I reached the remains of the shelter shed, which Historic England (HE) suggests is probably early C19 in date.

 

The remains of the shelter shed

Although the whole village falls within the Conservation Area, the traditional building materials - dolomitic limestone and red pantiles – are from being ubiquitous, with brick and render being quite common in the C20 buildings. The early C19 Manor Farmhouse is rendered and roofed with concrete tiles and I just took a few general record photos of this from a distance. 

 

Manor Farmhouse

 

I then set off along Blacksmith’s Lane and following the public footpath to Melton Wood, the land was surprisingly undulating, which probably relates to a pair of faults to the east that border a small depression that is quite clearly shown on a topographic map. 

 

Undulations in the land on the public footpath to Melton Wood

Walking quickly through Melton Wood, a plantation of mixed woodland that is now a country park, I didn’t notice anything to divert me from the path and before long I arrived in High Melton, where 6 of its 8 listed buildings were on my Photo Challenge. 

 

Listed buildings in High Melton

 

The first of these was the late C19 Red House Farmhouse, a substantial red brick house, whose only features relevant to this Language of Stone Blog are its dressings, which an enlargement of my photos show are made of sandstone and not dolomitic limestone. 

 

Red House Farmhouse

 

Making my way back towards St. James’ church, next on my list was a milestone, which was quite difficult to find, being set against a garden wall and covered in algae. It is very weathered and much of the inscription is missing, but HE state that it is probably late C18 and one of several such milestones that mark the distance to Wentworth House. 

 

The milestone on Doncaster Road

Continuing further along the road past Church Lane, The Leylands was the next building on my list. This farmhouse dates to the late C18 and is built with well squared and coursed stone, with massive stone for the quoins and dressings and a stone slate roof. 

 

The front elevation of The Leylands

 

I was so preoccupied by trying to get some good general photos that I didn’t get close to look at the stone; however, from my photos I can see that although the west elevation is built with limestone rubble walling for part of the building that has now been removed to leave an old roof line, the stonework above it and to the front elevation looks like it is in fact sandstone. 

 

The west elevation of The Leylands

 

On the opposite side of the road is Manor House, which HE date as C16 to C17, but has been extensively altered with the walls being covered with roughcast render and the original roofing material replaced with C20 concrete tiles. 

 

Views of Manor House

Returning to the south side of Doncaster Road, the former school and village hall, which an estate agent’s board stated had planning permission for conversion to apartments, is an Arts and Crafts style building that HE dates to the early C20. The whole of the fabric has been pebbledashed, leaving only stonework to the dressings revealed; however, again I didn’t look at the stone used, but although I can’t readily identify this from my photos, it doesn’t look like dolomitic limestone. 

 

Views of the former school and village hall

The last building on my Photo Challenge was Nos. 1 to 7 Doncaster Road, a terrace of four houses built in an Arts and Crafts style in 1904. It has snecked dolomitic limestone walling, with massive limestone for the dressings and, as at the former school, it is roofed with Westmorland slate - a metamorphosed volcanic ash from the Borrowdale Volcanic Group in the Lake District. 

 

Nos. 1 to 7 Doncaster Road

The door surround to No. 7 has raised lettering with the date and the initials F.J.O.M, which the HE descriptions states “Said to be by 'Mr. Johnson' of Doncaster, for Frederick Montague (sic) of High Melton Hall”, which makes me wonder if he also financed the building of the school.

A detail of the door surround to No. 7 Doncaster Road

St. Helen's Church in Marr

 

St. Helen's church

The first event that I planned to attend during Church Explorers Week 2024 was St. James’ church in High Melton but, to make a good day out with a  walk, I decided to first have a look at the exterior of St. Helen’s church in Marr – described by Historic England (HE) as “C12 origin, tower added and rest remodelled C13 - early C14, C15 additions”.

 

Views of St. Helen's church

 

Alighting from the half hourly X19 bus from Doncaster to Barnsley, which I had travelled on in the opposite direction when visiting St. Wilfred’s church in Hickleton, once I had been able to cross the very busy A635 road and continue along Church Lane, the confined plot, surrounding trees and the very tall spire made it quite difficult to take general photographs of this Grade I Listed church. 

 

The geology around Marr and High Melton

Even at a distance, I could see the various phases of construction on its south elevation and that it is built with dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation. Looking at the 1854 edition of the Ordnance Survey map, three old quarries are marked in the immediate vicinity. 

 

Quarries shown on the 1854 Ordnance Survey map

 

The Hills and Holes was one of the sites that Doncaster MBC asked me to survey as an independent geologist, following on from the Doncaster Geodiversity Assessment that I produced when temporarily working for the British Geological Survey, and the stone to build St. Helen’s church very probably came from at least one of these quarries. 

 

Views of the tower

Starting my anticlockwise walk around the exterior at the tower, which Pevsner suggests was built c.1300, to my eye there seems to be quite a noticeable difference between the shape, coursing and surface finish to the masonry of the lower two stages and the belfry, which suggests that the latter was added at a later date. 

 

the castellated parapet and a gargoyle

The castellated parapet, with its crocketed pinnacles and gargoyles on the string course, is built with large ashlar blocks that is quite typical of the Perpendicular Gothic style and, along with the ashlar spire, is considered to date to the C15 – as is the ashlar built porch, which has bold transverse arches and, as seen on the rest of the church, a stone slate roof. 

 

Views of the porch

 

Moving along to the south aisle, the walling comprises moderately well squared and coursed masonry, with windows of two different styles, which HE describe as a 3-light window with cavetto-moulded mullions and Tudor-arched lights and the other simply as a 2-light window with ogee-headed lights – a style that is normally associated with the C14. 

 

The south aisle

 

The walling itself is probably part of the C13/C14 remodelling, which is further indicated by the junction of the east end of the aisle with the chancel. Here, the quoins to the nave can be clearly seen, which Pevsner assigns to the C12 along with the chancel. 

 

The junction between the south aisle and chancel

 

The chancel is built with rubble walling that is much cruder than that seen in the south aisle and the lancet windows to its west end are evidence of the c.1300 alterations cited by Pevsner. To the east of this is a priest’s door with a square hood mould over a door with a four centred arch. 

 

The south elevation of the chancel

 

Above this is a remnant of a tall narrow arch that HE describes as a lancet, but which could actually be a C12 round headed arch. To the right of the door, another window with an ogee arch and well squared and shape to its surrounds and to the right of this is a blocked lancet. 

 

Weathered masonry

 

Due to time constraints, I didn’t have time to closely examine the stonework, but I noted that much of the dolomitic limestone, which is sometimes yellow and pink in colour, has not weathered well and that inappropriate sand and cement repairs have been undertaken in several places. 

 

The east end of the chancel

 

Continuing around the east end of the chancel, where a late C15 window has been inserted, I took a few quick general record photographs of the north elevation, which the very bright sunshine made it quite difficult to photograph – a very negative characteristic of my Panasonic Lumix TZ100 camera that I have previously mentioned when describing my visit to Morley.

 

Views of the north elevation

 

Getting closer to the north side of the church, herringbone masonry in the chancel and particularly the nave, provide evidence of its C12 origins that both HE and Pevsner mention, but the Corpus for Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland website has no record for this church. 

 

Herringbone masonry

 

Looking closely at the restored window to the north elevation of the nave, the brownish patina and patterns in the bedding looked out of place and, testing it with a drop of hydrochloric acid, I obtained a positive reaction and observing it closely with my hand lens, I could see that Jurassic oolitic limestone has been used here. 

 

Jurassic limestone used to restore the window

 

When visiting several other mediaeval churches in Doncaster, which are built with dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation, I have noted that the Victorian restoration of many window dressings has used Ancaster limestone from the Lincolnshire Limestone Formation, which is very probably seen here. 

 

A view east along the north elevation

 

Making my way along the north elevation to the tower, which Pevsner describes as being oddly narrowly embraced by two bays, the random rubble walling with herringbone masonry to the nave is replaced by more evenly squared and coursed masonry, which is continued on the south elevation and the lancet windows indicate a c.1300 date. 

 

Masonry to the south side of the tower

 

I finished my very brief look at the exterior of St. Helen’s church by noting a few 'honest repairs' using stone slips, which was first advocated by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB). I have seen this technique used for many Grade I Listed churches built in limestone and sandstone ashlar, but not for rubble walling. 

 

An honest repair (22 mm diameter coin)