St. Lawrence's Churchyard in Whitwell

The memorial to Corporal J. Goring

On my day out to Whitwell, I had so far seen some very interesting exposures of the local geology - the Sprotbrough Member of the Cadeby Formation - several historic buildings built with a reddened variety of limestone and some very interesting construction details on the exterior of St. Lawrence’s church, which I think needs further investigation by a standing buildings archaeologist.

 

A view of St. Lawrence's churchyard

As had now become a regular feature of my walks, before having a look at the interior of the church, I had a quick walk around the churchyard to try and find the handful of Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstones that are recorded here. 

 

The headstone of Lance Corporal L. Squires

 

My main interest in these has been to photograph the regimental crests, which I think are wonderful examples of fine relief sculpture, but the first headstone that I found – Lance Corporal L. Squires of the Notts and Derby Regiment – is a replacement that has had its crest and lettering cut into the Portland stone by a CNC milling machine. 

 

The Notts and Derby regimental crest

 

Private G.E. Lee of the Leicestershire Regiment is commemorated with a headstone that is very probably made from Stancliffe Darley Dale stone, a medium grained sandstone from the Upper Carboniferous Ashover Grit that I have seen used for many headstones and Crosses of Sacrifice in and around South Yorkshire. 

 

The headstone of Private G.E. Lee

 

The original worksheet of Messrs. H. Knowles & Son, of Pitsmoor in Sheffield, shows that the headstones of Lance Corporal Squires and also Pioneer C.A. Ashley of the Royal Engineers, which I didn’t find, were part of the same order but there is no mention of the stones used. 

 

The Leceistershire regimental crest

 

As a geologist, I always like to see what kind of stone the headstone is made from and how it has weathered over the years. Sometimes, the worksheet names the sandstone that has been used – as I discovered when investigating the CWGC headstones at Moorgate Cemetery in Rotherham – but I usually have to make an assessment based on its physical characteristics. 

 

The headstone of Sergeant W.B. Higgins and other family members

 

The replacement headstone of Sergeant W.B. Higgins of the Royal Air Force is another example of Portland stone, which was of no great interest as I had seen this regimental crest and material on several occasions; however, it is flanked by headstones that look the standard CWGC design, but are in fact privately funded memorials that commemorate other members of the family. 

 

A detail of the headstone of Sergeant W.B. Higgins

 

Sergeant J.W. Willies of the Royal Air Force appears on the same worksheet as Sergeant Higgins and was presumably originally made with Portland limestone, but looking closely at the headstone, it has been renewed in Botticino marble from Italy. 

 

The headstone of Sergeant J.W. Willies

 

On the CWGC website, a database is provided for each churchyard or cemetery, which lists the standard headstones and private memorials that are maintained by them. The latter are individually designed and are not so easy to locate without an accurate cemetery plan, but those of Trooper F.A. Mathew of the Cheshire Yeomanry and Corporal J. Goring of the Auxiliary Territorial Service are quite distinctive. 

 

Memorials to Trooper Mathew and Corporal Goring

 

Having spent enough time looking for the CWGC headstones, I made my back towards the church, but stopped to take a few photographs of a modern memorial that is made from granite from the Cornubian Batholith in the south-west of England, which has large phenocrysts of alkali feldspar.

 

A memorial made with granite from the Cornubian Batholith