St. Mary's Church in Whitkirk - Part 2

 

The effigies of Sir Robert and Lady Elizabeth Scargill

Entering the porch of St. Mary’s church in Whitkirk, I was very interested to see that the physical characteristics of the sandstone from which it is built are displayed to great effect in the jambs of the south door – with the colour varying from grey to light brown and orange, with well developed Liesegang rings in places.

 

Liesegang rings in the door jamb to the south door

 

Once inside the church, except for the columns to the arcades and the window dressings, the masonry has been mainly plastered and very little stone can be seen but, having already seen from its exterior that the church was essentially built in one phase during the C15, I didn’t expect to see anything that appeals to my interests in standing buildings archaeology. 

 

A view along the south aisle and the south arcade

Despite the above, I have to say that the white painted surfaces does make the interior of St. Mary’s church look very attractive and it also serves to highlight the wonderful collection of wall monuments that are are liberally scattered around. 

 

The monument to Viscount Charles Irwin

 

At the west end of the south aisle is the monument of Viscount Charles Irwin (d.1778) and his wife Frances (d.1807), which Pevsner describes as an “Amply draped woman standing and bending over an urn. Grey convex-sided obelisk at the back” by Joseph Nollekens. The sculpture is made from white Carrara marble and the convex panel is possibly a type of serpentinite, but I didn’t get near enough to examine it.

 

The font

 

Further along the south aisle is the C12 font, which was discovered buried in the churchyard. It is apparently made from dolomitic limestone from the Permian Cadeby Formation that was in quarried in Tadcaster, a very important source of stone for York Minster and the city walls. Looking closely at the font, the limestone is seen to be full of calcite veins, which reflect the 12-13% shrinkage when it was converted to dolomite and resulted in the formation of vents and shakes. 

 

The Scargill monument

 

Continuing to the south chapel, the alabaster Scargill monument comprises a tomb chest with recumbent effigies of Sir Robert Scargill (d.1531) and his wife Lady Jane (d.1546), which is described, along with the family history and the founding of the chantry chapel in 1448, on some well produced information panels. 

 

Information about the Scargill monument and chantry

 

On the south wall of the chapel is a very large and impressive grey veined white Carrara marble monument, with what is probably Belgian black limestone for the inscribed panel and the background to the fluted Corinthian pilasters. It commemorates Edward Irwin, second Viscount (d.1688 aged 26), his daughter Katherine who also died in 1688 and his wife Elizabeth (d.1746). 

 

The monument of 2nd Viscount Edward Irwin

Pevsner describes it as follows: “Viscount Irwin of Temple Newsam d.1688 and his wife d.1746. Tomb-chest and tall ‘reredos’ background with pilasters and segmental pediment. Semi-reclining effigy of the young Viscount in meticulously rendered dress and with wig. To his l. his wife seated in a mournful attitude, to his r. their only daughter who died at the age of two. She sits in her little shirt and contemplates a skull. The monument has been attributed to William Talman (the Elder) and to Edward Pearce. There seems no reason why it should be dated as early as c.1688-89. It is more likely to be of c.1700”. 

 

Figurative sculpture on the Irwin monument

Entering the chancel, I immediately noticed the numerous Victorian monuments in various styles, which adorn the north wall and are made of marbles and other decorative stones, but I just took a couple of general record photos from a distance. 

 

Wall monuments in the chancel

 

Of these, the memorial to John Smeaton FRS (d.1792), who designed and built the Eddystone Lighthouse is particularly interesting, because of its depiction of the lighthouse. It is essentially made of white Carrara marble, but with a border to the inscription that could be one of the bardiglio marbles, which are also quarried from the Apuan Alps in Tuscany.

 

The monument to John Smeaton

 

The organisers of the Heritage Open Days event at St. Mary’s church, which is a regular feature of the their calendar, had set out a very impressive display of information boards, ceremonial robes and other interesting objects and I had hardlly taken any notice of the sandstone used for the columns to the arcades. 

 

The column supporting  the chancel and south aisle arches

 

Turning my attention to the very large columns that support the arches to the chancel and south and north chapels, the yellow/orange colour with iron staining, the cross-bedding and medium grained texture seemed no different to the sandstone used for the exterior. Despite being sheltered from the elements, in places it had deteriorated and this was presumably due to the recrystallisation of salts from water rising from the ground. 

 

The north arcade

 

Having extensive experience of detecting subtle differences in the colours and textures of building stones, when walking down the nave I noticed that the sandstone used in the capitals of the north arcade looked similar, but that the columns appeared to relatively grey in colour. I went over to have a closer look and could quite clearly see that the square plinths to the column are also made of yellowish sandstone. 

 

A plinth of a column in the north arcade

 

Looking much closer at the columns, I could see large quartz pebbles that I had seen earlier in the external walls of the chancel, which I considered to be Rough Rock that was once extensively quarried to the east and north-east of Leeds. 

 

Identifying a quartz pebble in a column

 

The chancel was rebuilt in 1901, but the quality of the Rough Rock was well known to the builders of Kirkstall Abbey back in the C12 and it was obviously considered worth the effort and expense of bringing it to Whitkirk in the C15. Having discovered that it has also been used in the arcade to the chancel and responds to the arches to the south and north chapels, various people who had helped to organise the day were very keen to know about this, when I talked to them. 

 

The arcade to the chancel