St. Peter's Church in Birstall - Part 2

 

A corbel in the porch carved as a grotesque

I spent less than 15 minutes walking around the exterior of St. Peter’s church in Birstall, taking general record photographs from a distance and, although these show that the string courses to the aisle are punctuated by small grotesques, except for the large winged beasts on the porches the figurative sculpture is quite restrained. 

 

Corbels carved with grotesques in the porch

Entering the north porch, I was therefore very surprised to see that the transverse ribs to the pointed tunnel vaults are set on corbels that are carved with grotesques, which depict mythical creatures and various heads – one of which depicts a man with snakes squirming over his face. 

A corbel carved with a grotesque

Once inside the church, I was greeted by the volunteers who were manning the Heritage Open Day and was offered a cup of tree, which was very welcome as I had now been on the move for nearly 3 hours without taking a break. 

 

The church guide

 

Having then purchased a church guide that describes the history of the church, I was then taken into the tower, which has its walls plastered and therefore unable to see the C12 masonry, but the round headed tower arch, with very simple capitals, can still be seen. 

 

A view of the capital to the tower arch

 

Like many church towers that I have seen, it is used for storage and there wasn’t much room to move, but the walls are are covered with a variety of wall monuments dating to the C18 and C19, although I didn’t look at any of them closely and just took a few general photos. 

 

Wall monuments in the tower

 

Peter Ryder, in Medieval Churches of West Yorkshire mentions three grave slabs laid against one of the walls, which the church guide describes as being carved with a double cross and reputedly belonging to Knights Hospitaller who owned land in the area, but Historic England (HE) make no reference to them. 

 

Grave slabs in the tower

 

I then just expected to have a wander around the church, but I was instead taken to an area in the outer south aisle, where there is sufficient space for a small ‘museum’ area, where various interesting items are on display. 

 

The 'museum' area in the outer south aisle

 

These include a late Anglo-Saxon cross slab, with a tree of life design, a coffin lid with a lozenge pattern that is dated to the C11 or C12, a C12 font, two stoops that the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture for Britain and Ireland suggests may be Romanesque, but their octagonal shape probably indicates a later period. 

 

The C12 coffin above the Anglo-Saxon cross slab

 

Other items include ornately carved bench end panels dating from the C16 and C17 and next to this ‘museum’ area is a C15 octagonal font, which has a panelled bowl and stem and was apparently discarded in 1771 but reinstated in 1841. 

 

The C15 font

 

When I saw the elaborately decorated pulpit, I immediately thought this is made with Caen stone from Normandy, which was imported after the Norman Conquest to build Canterbury Cathedral, Rochester Cathedral and the White Tower and other buildings at the Tower of London. 

 

The south side of the pulpit

 

It reminds me of the intricate work in Leeds Central Library, which was undertaken by John Wormald Appleyard and although the church guide confirms that Caen stone has been used, they make no mention of the sculptor. 

 

The north side of the pulpit

 

When visiting a mediaeval church, I tend to make a systematic photographic record of the principal architectural elements - the aisles, arcades, nave, chancel and any associated chapels - where there is very often changes in the architectural style or patterns of masonry. 

 

Views of the various aisles and arcades

On this occasion, with there being double aisles with all of the arcades being built in a single phase and in the same style, with the principal detailing being the foliate capitals, I just had a random wander around the church. 

 

The chancel

 

Entering the chancel, which did not have the lighting on, I just had a wander around this and the adjoining aisles but it was too dark to see the details and the highlight was the reredos, depicting the Last Supper, which is illuminated with a yellow light. 

 

The reredos

 

The church guide again states that this is made of Caen stone, which is recognisable by its colour and very fine texture that makes it very suitable for very detailed carving, but the lighting conditions made it impossible to confirm this. 

 

A detail of the reredos

 

To either side of the reredos, there are niches which are occupied by statues of saints and have ornamented ogee arches with crocketted finials, trefoils, capitals and panels with foliated details and colonnettes made from alabaster. 

 

A niche and statue on the north side of the reredos

 

Before leaving the church, I took a couple of photos of the foliated capitals on the chancel arch and a grotesque on the arcade, which is of a similar style to those seen in the porch, before taking a few more photos of the exterior and then walking back to Batley along Bradford Road – where I would start my British Listed Buildings Photo Challenge.

Capitals on the chancel arch and a grotesque