St. Lawrence's Church Whitwell - Part 2

 

The clerestory and corbel table on the south elevation of the nave

Sitting down to write my last post about St. Lawrence’s church in Whitwell - when considering the construction history of its tower - I referred to Pevsner, the Historic England (HE) listing description, the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture for Britain and Ireland (CRSBI), Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire (1875) by J. C. Cox, the Whitwell Conservation Area Appraisal (2021), the Whitwell Local History Group (WLHG) website and the printed church guide (2002). 

 

A view along the  south elevation

 

Looking along the south elevation, the Decorated Gothic porch and south transept (1300-1350) obviously stand out from the C12 church – consisting of a tower, nave and chancel – which Pevsner and Cox considered to essentially have the same dimensions as seen today; however, as a geologist with specialist interests in building stone, I was more interested in the various shades of red that I could see in the masonry. 

 

A detail of the corbel table

 

Approaching the south aisle, my immediate view was of a C12 clerestory, which is described by Pevsner as a rarity, with a corbel table above. This contains a considerable proportion of reddened limestone rubble masonry, but it is the red sand in the pointing that gives the walling its character and not the dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation itself. 

 

The west end of the south aisle

According to the church guide, the aisles were enlarged at the same time as the south transept was added, but the HE description refers to a C12 round arched window at the west end, but there seems to be an obvious break in the masonry between the nave and aisle. 

 

A detail of masonry at the west end of the south aisle

 

The section of the nave projecting from the tower is built with rubble masonry consisting mainly of large blocks, with roughly squared quoins and these contrast with relatively well squared and coursed blocks, which are emphasised by the red pointing. Massive cream coloured limestone has been used for the well squared quoins to the extended aisle and also for the parapet.

 

The west wall of the porch

The porch is built with a similar pattern of masonry, most of the walling consisting of thinly bedded reddened limestone, but with even couses of massive limestone used for some of the courses and for the dressings and buttresses. 

 

Masonry on the south elevation of the porch

Continuing to the east, the section of walling between the porch and transept consists of very irregular rubble C12 masonry in the lower part, which is similar to that seen in the nave, with thinly bedded limestone for the C14 upper section. The windows in the south aisle, however, have four centred arches that are of a Perpendicular Gothic style. 

The walling between the porch and south transept

 

The west wall of the south transept is built with thinly bedded reddened limestone, with the massive limestone ashlar used for the south wall and the large window with C14 Decorated Gothic style flowing tracery, where the very sharp profiles suggest that these have been restored – possibly during the restoration work of 1972 that is mentioned in the church guide. 

 

Ashlar masonry in the south transept

 

Moving to the east side of the transept, the windows provide further examples of flowing tracery that is much more weathered than in the south window, with the mullion to the north window being a recent restoration. 

 

The east elevation of the south transept

The south elevation of the chancel displays several phases of masonry, with irregular rubble being used for the original C12 structure, which has a blocked window that the WLHG describes as being revealed when render was removed in 1966. 

 

A blocked C12 window in the chancel

Also, it describes the chancel as having an apsidal sanctuary at the east end, but this was rebuilt during the major phase of C14 alterations, which can be seen in the regularly squared and coursed masonry and the geometric tracery of the windows. 

 

The south elevation of the chancel

Immediately above the apex of the east window, another obvious change in the pattern of masonry can be seen, which presumably relates to the raising of the roof. The church guide refers to the raising of the chancel roof in 1950, which probably explains the precisely squared massive limestone blocks to the parapet, but not the much older masonry immediately beneath it.

 

A detail of the junction between the nave and chancel