Selby Abbey - The 12th Century

Details of the Norman north door at Selby Abbey

When investigating the construction history of mediaeval churches, my experience as a geologist and of the building restoration industry - with a specialist interest in building stones - has proved invaluable, and it enables me to readily distinguish different phases of heightening, enlargement, major restoration and general repairs.

My old copy of Pevsner for West Yorkshire

As an informal student of standing buildings archaeology, however, I am very dependent on resources such as Pevsner, and Historic England listings and to learn about the various mouldings, tracery and other details that help with the dating, as well as church guides, although information concerning the external fabric can often be very sparse in the latter.

The official Selby Abbey guide

Furthermore, not being paid to undertake a professional survey and being restricted by public transport timetables, I usually only have time to assess the principal features of the structure whilst walking around the building to make a thorough photographic record. 

A general view of the south elevation of Selby Abbey

When arriving at Selby Abbey, I immediately realised that the sheer scale of the building would prevent me from assessing its fabric in detail especially since, in addition to the usual extension and enlargement over the years, two major phases of rebuilding followed the partial collapse of the tower in 1690 and a great fire in 1906 and various sections of the masonry and carved details have been restored in the years since.

The west front of Selby Abbey

On this occasion, the Historic England list entry strangely omits a full description of the architectural details on the exterior of Selby Abbey but unlike the last ecclesiastical building of this size that I visited - Rochester Cathedral – I had a copy of Pevsner which has enabled me to analysis the fabric in some detail.

Chevrons and geometrical designs to the Norman west door

The oldest part of the abbey date back to the 12th century and, looking at the west front, the magnificent round arched doorway is typical of the late Norman style, with its elaborate use of chevrons and other geometrical designs and five orders of shafts with waterleaf capitals. Although sections of the arch and various shafts have been renewed, the stonework appears to be largely original like the west front of Rochester Cathedral, which has fine figurative sculpture carved in soft Caen stone.

The west door with flanking flat buttresses and a blank frieze above

Above the doorway, there is a blank frieze with trefoil arches and, to either side of the west door, there are tall round headed windows and four flat buttresses, each with a niche that is now filled with a modern statue. Another tall Norman window can be seen in the west end of the north aisle and the north door inside the porch has exactly the same style as the west door, but with only four orders of shafts.

Details of the Norman north door

The north transept provides further evidence of the Norman abbey, with another example of a round headed window, with a billet moulding, and flat buttresses that flank the large  window in the Perpendicular Gothic style, which was inserted much later.

A view of the north transept from the west

On the south side, the Norman flat buttresses and corbel table are preserved along with the general walling but, like the north transept and most of the north aisle, it is the later arched windows with their cusped lights and tracery that visually dominate this part of the structure.

Norman masonry to the north aisle with later windows

Finally, the crossing tower still retains its two Norman lower stages, the lowest with simple round arches and the one above much more elaborate with chevrons and shafts with capitals. The dolomitic limestone for these stages is generally pale grey in colour and contrasts very strongly with the upper stage, which was added by John Oldrid Scott and is much more yellow.

The crossing tower

A Day Out to Selby Abbey

A general view of Selby Abbey

When I started out with my exploration of mediaeval churches in and around South Yorkshire, it was with the hope of making further connections with archaeologists and architects, who work with historic churches and would appreciate my specialist skills as a geologist, or perhaps others who would value my photography and writing for updating church guides etc.

An illustrated talk for the Aston-cum-Aughton Local History Group

Apart from a few local history groups, who have been interested in my findings and have invited me to give illustrated talks for them, the response has generally been very poor. Following a recent request by the vicar to photograph, unpaid, a perceived defect in the doorway to St. Helen’s church that would be forwarded to the structural engineer in London for his assessment – which the appointed architect failed to do - I realised that I was not onto a good thing.

The external arch to the south door of St. Helen's church in Treeton

Having already experienced this with Rotherham MBC, who wanted me to continue to provide my geological conservation expertise for free, when they now had statutory responsibilities for their Local Development Framework, I made my feelings quite clear on this matter with various members of the church responsible for the upkeep of its fabric.

The internal arch to the south door of St. Helen's church

In the best part of 3 years previously, I had done a lot of practical work for the church, as well as organising their Heritage Open Days and participating in many events; however, although I had put my name down for a coach trip to Northamptonshire – to formally welcome the vicar to his new parish - I had no qualms whatsoever when I decided to have a day out to Selby Abbey in North Yorkshire instead, just for my own pleasure. 

Welcome to Selby Abbey

Breaking my general rule, to travel solely using my travel pass to minimise costs, I decided to take a train to Doncaster, from where I would purchase a return ticket; however, when showing my pass to the conductor and asking to pay for a valid ticket, my request was kindly waived and I ended up travelling to Selby for free. 

The superficial geology around Selby

As always, I planned my trip by having a look at the geological map of the area, which prepared me for the identification of the local building stones, if any, that I might encounter when exploring the historic architecture of the town. The Triassic Sherwood Sandstone bedrock, which is soft and doesn’t provide building stone, is covered by  the unconsolidated Quaternary Breighton Sand Formation, upon which Selby Abbey is set, and which lies above the Thorganby Clay Member. 

A view of the central tower of Selby Abbey

Getting off the train, and wandering around the riverside, the central tower of Selby Abbey soon came into view above the surrounding buildings and, from a distance of 200 metres, I immediately concluded that it was dolomitic limestone from the Permian Cadeby Formation - with its massive ashlar blocks and distinctive pale yellowish colouration - which is 15 km away.

The bedrock geology between Selby and Monk Fryston

During research after my trip, however, I have read that all of the stone was believed to have been sent to Selby along a specially constructed waterway from Monk Fryston, which is actually set on the Brotherton Formation.  From my experience of seeing this formation a little further south in Doncaster, where it is generally very pale, thinly bedded and laminated, often fissile and considered only suitable for basic walling, this came as a great surprise. 

The market cross in Selby

Walking quickly around Selby Conservation Area, apart from a section of walling near to the river, the market cross and a modern war memorial in Selby Park, which are also dolomitic limestone,  the rest of the historic buildings I saw are essentially constructed from brick, with Carboniferous sandstone and Jurassic Ancaster limestone being seen in various dressings. 

The old Local Board Offices

St. Laurence Adwick - The Interior

A fragment of salvaged masonry with a detail of an owl

When undertaking my exploration of the mediaeval churches in and around South Yorkshire, solely by public transport, the frequency, timings and routes of the bus and train services have often placed practical limits on the time that I have to survey the fabric of the church.

The font

Starting in my home village, Treeton, and working my way around Rotherham, I have often been able to revisit churches on multiple occasions but, the further I travel, the more I become reliant on making a comprehensive photographic record and then examining the high resolution images and researching documentation online, when back at home.

A view from the chancel to the tower arch

At St. Laurence’s church, as at All Saints church in Laughton-en-le-Morthen, I was also conscious of taking up the keyholder’s time and I would have liked to been able to undertake a thorough professional survey – like at All Saints church in Pontefract, for example.

A view of the arcade between the nave and the north aisle

Once inside the church, I was a bit disappointed to see that the walls to the aisles and the nave were covered in plaster - having noted various features in the external masonry that have considerable archaeological interest.

A general view of the arcades and arches

The arches to the arcade to the north aisle, the tower, the chancel and the north chapel, however, still have bare masonry that provide clues to its construction history. For example, above the C14 arcade with octagonal columns, the size of the shape of the blocks changes and this continues into the C13 arcade to the north chapel, with its quatrefoil profile columns.

The north-east corner of the chancel and the north chapel

These alterations generally coincide with changes that can be seen on the exterior below the eaves. In the chancel, the bare brickwork above the east window has been considered to be the product of one of the phases of Victorian restoration and, very probably, the masonry above the arcades was altered when the nave roof was reconstructed in the C15.

A view of the south wall to the chancel

From an archaeological point of view, the chancel is the most interesting part of the church. The bare stonework to the south wall displays the remains of two round headed Norman windows at each end, which have been replaced by Perpendicular Gothic style windows,  a blocked Norman door and a round arched sedilia.

A view of the offset chancel arch

Other features of interest are the offset position of the C14 chancel arch, which springs on the north side from the easternmost column of the arcade - which also supports the arch to the north chapel. Also, the arcade to the chapel has a strange partial bay at its west end and the central column is noticeably out of plumb.

The out of plumb column in the north chapel arcade

Various memorials are scattered throughout the church, with the chest tombs in the chapel being the most substantial. Of these, the most impressive is that dedicated to John Washington, his wife Margaret and their children. Incised into alabaster, the figure of John contains the family crest, which interestingly consists of stars and stripes and, according to legend, the American flag is based on it.

The John Washington tomb

St. Laurence Adwick le Street - Part 2

The church of St. Laurence

Arriving on the train in Adwick le Street, the first part of my exploration of the exterior of St. Laurence’s church concerned the east end – comprising the chancel and north chapel – and I found several features of interest to the standing buildings archaeologist. 

A general view of the south elevation

Walking clockwise around its south elevation, the chancel wall also proves very interesting from this perspective, with three windows in quite different styles being inserted into the original Norman rubble walling. 

The south elevation of the chancel

From west to east, according to the Historic England listing, there is a 2-light window with shouldered heads, a pointed 2-light window with geometrical tracery and a square-headed window with 2 ogee lights – all of which are considered to be Perpendicular Gothic style - and the central and eastern windows have been restored either by the Victorian architects or in modern times and still retain sharp profiles. 

Views of the angled buttress showing ripple marks

The masonry on the corner of the chancel and the area around the east window has been substantially rebuilt, with ashlar masonry replacing the original rubble walling and forming the angled buttress. In the latter, a large proportion of the dolomitic limestone blocks have been differentially weathered – revealing undulating ripples that clearly mark the stones that have not been laid on their natural bed. 

Victorian rubble walling to the south aisle

Looking closely at the eaves details, there is more evidence of alterations to the roof and, walking further around the south elevation, the Victorian masonry that has been used to reface the south aisle and build the porch is very unusual and quite striking. Here, the walling comprises rubble stone that is a mixture of irregular flattened stones with laminations and ripple marks and larger extremely angular blocks that have no obvious sedimentary structures and are probably face bedded. 

A detail of rubble walling to the south aisle

My immediate thought was that the walling stone must have come from a quarry in the Brotherton Formation, based on its thin bedded nature and its extremely white colour compared to the surrounding quoins and the all of the other masonry in the church, which is typical of limestone from the Cadeby Formation. 

The tower

Moving on to the tower, there is also a very noticeable difference between the style of masonry in its two stages, with much larger and more regularly coursed blocks of limestone being used for the upper stage; however, there is no sharp change from rubble to ashlar masonry, which usually provides the strongest evidence that the tower has been raised at some point in the construction history of the church, and this needs further investigation - with closer examination of the window tracery, which help the archaeologist with the dating of a church.

An old preaching cross

Taking note of the partial shaft and base of an old preaching cross that I had previously seen in Dronfield, Edensor, Norton and various other places, I finished my brief survey of the exterior of St. Laurence’s church by quickly examining the masonry of the north aisle. 

The junction between the north aisle and chancel

Again I encountered very large ashlar blocks that contain distinct ripple marks, which makes me think that this phase of work was undertaken at the same time as the work to the angular buttress on the chancel, As with the north chapel and the chancel, a few courses of irregular masonry immediately below the eaves contrasts strongly with the ashlar walling below it, suggesting further Victorian work, but this needs further investigation.

A detail of a window and the masonry below the eaves of the north aisle

With limited time available before I had to catch a train back to Doncaster, in time to buy some fish from the market, I couldn't examine the masonry of the church in any great detail  and so I had a quick look at the porch before entering the church via its simple Norman south door.

The Norman south door

St. Laurence Adwick le Street - Part 1

A general view of St. Laurence's church

After a good start to 2019, preparing “The Building Stones of Leeds” for the Sheffield U3A Geology Group and exploring the historic buildings of Dronfield, together with its mediaeval church, my next day out was undertaken on a very ad hoc basis. 

The geology around Adwick le Street

With the very unseasonable weather continuing, and having decided to go to Doncaster market, I realised that the train I was due to catch continued to Adwick le Street. Speculatively phoning the rector, not long before I was due to leave my house, I was told that St. Laurence’s church – set on the Permian Brotherton Formation - could be opened for me. 

A general view of the east end of St. Laurence's church

Approaching the east end of the church from the railway station, the castellated parapet and crocketted finials to its prominent tower immediately gives away its style as C15 Perpendicular Gothic and, moving closer, the larger ashlar blocks to the tower and the rubble walling to its east end, with its dressings, are typical of the dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation. 

A closer view of the east end

At first glance, the masonry to the chancel and north chapel at the east end appears to be quite uniform and the symmetrical gables, with oculi, and the uninterrupted string course suggests that just one phase of construction is seen here; however, all documentary sources refer state that the chancel is Norman and that the north chapel is C13 in date – the latter being confirmed by its simple lancet windows. 

A general view of the east end

Looking closely at the stonework, subtle variations in the shape, size and colours of individual blocks or sections of masonry can be seen. For example, the blocks beneath the string course on the north chapel are generally larger than those in a similar position in the chancel, and there is very much less yellow colouration of the limestone – the latter being a feature of this church.

A detail of the east window of the chancel

Examining photographs at high resolution, there is also a very distinct change in the colour of the stone in the chancel above the geometrical window, which is a Victorian restoration of a pre-existing Decorated Gothic style window. The line of the change coincides with the use of brick in the interior, which the church website considers to be the result of a partial restoration of the chancel that was undertaken in 1895. 

A general view of the north chapel

Less obvious, and this would need close examination on site, is an apparent break in the masonry above the east windows to the north chapel that is obscured by a phase of repointing to the whole of the east elevation. On the north elevation of the chapel, at the same height, the masonry has been obviously altered using a course of large squared blocks and the masonry is of a much better quality than that of the east elevation, with the courses here being much more even and regular.

The north elevation of the chapel