All Saints Bakewell - The Interior

Information for tourists at All Saints church in Bakewell

When visiting All Saints church in Bakewell, I spent less than half an hour exploring its interior – including the porch – taking only a few quick snaps of the general layout and a few details and, with my objective being to take a much closer look at the Vernon Chapel, I missed several points of interest that are highlighted in the official guide that I purchased.

A general view of the nave and chancel

To the west bay of the nave and in the west wall, tall round arches are from the original Norman church and the surrounding walling may include Anglo-Saxon masonry, but the other parts of the arcades were rebuilt in 1852 with round piers, octagonal capitals and cavetto-moulded arches.

A  general view of the nave and west wall

Along the walls of the north aisle, several early mediaeval grave slabs have been embedded into the masonry and in the chancel, a large sedilia and a piscina are incorporated into the remaining 13th century walls, and various decorative stones can be seen in wall memorials of a later date and the steps to the altar provide a good example of the use of Ashford Black Marble.

The font

The octagonal early 14th century font is carved with figures and appears to be made from a pale coloured limestone, with a sandstone base, and it is surrounded by a polished stone tile floor in a chess board pattern, with Ashford Black limestone alternating with Italian white Carrara marble.

Various wall memorials

Of particular note is the small alabaster wall monument to Sir Godfrey Foljambe and his wife, which is found at the east end of the south aisle. According to Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, who gives a date of 1385, it is apparently the only surviving mediaeval example of a style of wall monument that was very popular in the late 16th century onwards, as seen in Wentworth and Chesterfield.

The memorial to Sir Geoffrey Foljambe

All Saints Bakewell - The Porch

Decorative crosses on mediaeval grave slabs from the 12th to 13th century

During my investigation of the mediaeval churches of South Yorkshire - in Conisbrough and Thrybergh for example - I have encountered a few fragments of what are considered to be Saxon crosses and I have seen a few examples of mediaeval stone coffins and their carved lids but, at All Saints church in Bakewell, there is the largest and most varied collection of early mediaeval monuments of this type to be seen in the UK.

An interpretation panel in the porch

Now covering both walls of the interior of the 15th century porch, these were discovered during the major phase of rebuilding in 1841/1842 – along with others that have been removed or reused elsewhere in the church - and date from the 10th to the 15th century.

Anglo-Scandinavian sculpture

The earliest examples – on the right hand side when entering the porch - are of both Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian styles, with geometrical designs, mythical beasts and other creatures, and which have been interpreted as fragments of cross shafts and parts of a decorated frieze that formed part of an earlier Saxon church.

Norman cushion capitals and miscellaneous carved stones

Above these, there is a large collection of small Norman style cushion capitals, gargoyles, figurative sculpture and various fragments of grave tops with crude shallow relief carvings, together with miscellaneous carved stones that were salvaged from the mediaeval church when it was largely rebuilt in the 19th century.

A general view of the porch

On the opposite wall of the porch, there are several large grave slabs from the 12th and 13th century that, with their decorative crosses, are very different in style to the 10th century sculptures. Many of these are carved with symbols – including a sword, chalice, keys and pairs of shears – which reflect the status or occupation of the persons interred in these graves.

Mediaeval tiles in the porch of All Saints church in Bakewell

Also, in addition to various other interesting examples of ancient masonry on the floor, there are two small stone slabs - with drafted margins - upon which have been set some mediaeval floor tiles, where the decoration and coloured glazes are still clearly seen.

All Saints Church in Bakewell

A general view of  All Saints church from the east

When I lived in Bakewell, I had fantastic views of All Saints church from my 'office' – and photos that I took included colour transparencies and black and white prints when the town was covered in snow - but I never made the attempt to fully explore this church and I only took a few quick snaps of its exterior when passing by or through its churchyard on the way to somewhere else.

A general view of All Saints church from the south-west

A few years ago, when working as an English language teacher, I visited Bakewell with my Spanish students and, finding that the church was open, I took a very quick look inside and was struck by the array of mediaeval grave slabs in the porch and the various large alabaster monuments in the Vernon Chapel.

Work in progress to the tower

Having spent a very long hot day exploring Haddon Hall, and with one side of the church being cast into deep shadow and the other partially obscured by scaffolding, I didn't take much time to further photograph its exterior and I much preferred to cool off inside instead - on this occasion.

A detail of a Norman doorway at the west end

Dating back to at least Norman times as seen in its west end - with further 14th and 15th century additions – All Saints church has a typical mediaeval appearance, with windows, battlements, parapets and other details in various Gothic styles; however, the tower and transepts were rebuilt and faithfully reproduced in 1841-52 by William Flockton, the nave arcades were replaced in 1852 by Weightman and Hadfield and the chancel restored in 1879-82 by Gilbert Scott the Younger.

A sundial by White Watson

The sandstone used to build the mediaeval church was probably quarried from the nearby escarpments of the Ashover Grit and, looking at the uniform characteristics of colour and texture throughout, it is highly likely that these Victorian architects took advantage of other quarries that had since sprung up on this particular rock, which is still worked for its top quality building stone.

A shaft of an Anglo-Saxon cross in the churchyard

In Bakewell

An upstream view of the 13th century bridge in Bakewell

On one of the hottest days in July ever recorded in England, when taking a break from my investigation of the mediaeval churches of Rotherham and surrounding areas, I visited Haddon Hall in Derbyshire for the first time and – deferring my bus journey back to Sheffield for an hour to make the most of this glorious day – I also had a quick look at All Saints church in Bakewell.

A detail of a Victorian drinking fountain

I once lived in this bustling market town for 3 years, which attracts tourists from all over the world, and I know its surrounding geography and geology reasonably well, having surveyed very many of the established RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) that are found within its boundaries – to assess their scientific, historic, aesthetic and educational value.

A geological map of the area around Bakewell

Set on the eastern edge of the White Peak, although part of the town is underlain by the Monsal Dale Limestone Formation of Lower Carboniferous age, most of Bakewell lies on the floodplain of the River Wye and is underlain by the softer siltstones and mudstones of the Upper Carboniferous Bowland Shale Formation - with the Ashover Grit forming high ground to the east.

A view along King Street

The historic architecture in the old town centre, particularly the public and larger commercial buildings and town houses, is generally built out of the Ashover Grit – a medium to coarse grained sandstone – but the smaller commercial buildings, and most of the smaller houses, use roughly squared and coursed limestone for the walling and gritstone for the dressings.

Houses on North Church Street

Although it has Saxon origins and the church, with two priests, is mentioned in Domesday Book, apart from the remains of the 12th century motte and bailey castle on the east side of town and the 13th century Bakewell Bridge – and some buildings of Tudor and Stuart age - most of its historic buildings reflect the growth of the town after Lumford Mill was built by Richard Arkwright in 1777, which continued into the 19th century with the Ashford Black Marble industry.

A sundial by White Watson at All Saints church

The Wentworth Family Monuments

Effigies of Thomas Wentworth and Margaret Gascoigne dated 1587

The Old Holy Trinity Church in Wentworth is a redundant church, in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. I have visited it many times over the years and, as far as I know, it is open to the general public every day - or accesible via a keyholder.

A general view of the interior of the Wentworth Chapel

Although its mediaeval origins are seen in the 2 bay arcade, with its octagonal columns and capitals,  it is the monuments to various members of the Wentworth, Watson and Fitzwilliam families that I think are of most interest here - with the workmanship and materials being of the finest quality.

An effigy of a member of the Gascoigne family c.1460

The large chest tomb of 1587, which holds the remains of Thomas Wentworth and his wife Margaret Gascoigne and the remains of earlier effigies of the Gascoigne family c. 1460 – which were removed from Monk Bretton Priory – provide fine examples of intricately carved alabaster, the former with a dolomitic limestone base and columns.

The chest tomb to Thomas Wentworth dated 1587

A later monument to Sir William Wentworth who died in 1614, with depictions of his wife and children, is also alabaster, but here some of the figures have been painted, which is a practice that I have seen in similar kinds of tombs of this age in other churches.

Sir William Wentworth and his family dated 1614

The large wall monument to Sir Thomas Wentworth, the 1st Earl of Strafford who was beheaded in 1641, is of what appears to be a pale grey limestone with no colour markings with a dark grey polished variety forming the inscription but, due to the arrival of a group led by a Churches Conservation Trust guide, I wasn't able to closely examine it.

Sir Thomas Wentworth 1st Earl of Strafford

The last major wall monument on the north wall of the chapel was dedicated by William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford, to his wife Henrietta who died in 1685 and is signed '1689 Strafforde'. The materials are again similar to the monument to the 1st Earl and Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, in his account of the church, suggests that both were made at about the same time.

William Wentworth and his wife Henrietta

The Old Holy Trinity Church

A general view of the south elevation

A stone's throw away from the New Holy Trinity Church in the village of Wentworth lie the partial ruins of the mediaeval Old Holy Trinity Church, which has Norman origins but whose oldest existing remains – the tower – dates to the 14th or 15th century, according to various sources. The church was reconstructed in the 17th century, firstly the Wentworth Chapel – which incorporates the original chancel and chapel – and then subsequently the nave in 1684 by William Wentworth, the 2nd Earl of Strafford.

A general view of the north elevation

Following the completion of the new church in 1877, the north elevation of the nave and the roof of the abandoned church was removed, the Wentworth Chapel restored in 1925 and in 1962, following storm damage, the tower was reduced to its current height.

The tower and nave 

Looking at the church as a whole, although there are variations in the style of masonry between the elements of a different age, the stone used to build it appears to be uniform in general character – a medium grained, cross-bedded Carboniferous sandstone that has been differentially weathered and which, with its high iron content, is bright orange to deep red in colour in places.

Views of the tower

The tower is built in large ashlar blocks and the windows of its west end are worth studying closely. The lowest window, with its very strange offset, has a Decorated Gothic design and the highest window appears to be in the Perpendicular Gothic style. It is therefore quite likely that there was an extension of the tower in the late 15th century – as marked by a very subtle change in the colour and texture of the masonry above the string course.

An old roofline on the east side of the tower

The quatrefoil window that is positioned halfway up the tower, however, appears to have been inserted at a later date. Various old rooflines on the east and north sides of the tower, and the position of gravestones, also provide evidence of the shape and position of the long since demolished mediaeval nave.

A detail of the weathering and erosion of the sandstone in the porch

Moving on to the remaining 17th century nave wall, compared to the plain stonework of both the mediaeval tower and the Wentworth Chapel, which are generally still in moderately good condition, the sandstone used in its north elevation has been extremely eroded, especially to the porch where the architectural details are barely discernible now.

The south elevation of the Wentworth Chapel

The exterior of the Wentworth Chapel is plain with simple windows and is notable mainly for various cartouches and a sculpted bird and beast set into panels and which are carved from Permian dolomitic limestone but, once inside, there are several fine Wentworth family monuments to see.

A dolomitic limestone cartouche

The New Holy Trinity Church

The approach to the west end of New Holy Trinity church

The village of Wentworth and the surrounding Wentworth Estate is so full of good examples of Georgian stone built architecture, follies and various monuments that it would be easy to spend a long weekend here to fully appreciate all of them.

A view of the church tower from Hoober Stand

I have visited Wentworth innumerable times since I was first introduced to this magnificent village more than 35 years ago and, every time I go there, there is always something new that catches my eye or I see a familiar feature in a completely different light.

General views of the exterior

When I first saw the New Holy Trinity Church, built during the Gothic Revival in a 13th century style and consecrated in 1877, I remember being more impressed by the various details in the interior than the external fabric, which is a monotonous expanse of Carboniferous sandstone, without any kind of elaboration that makes the English mediaeval Gothic styles so interesting.

Stone vaulting to the porch

Once inside the porch, there is a fine stone vaulted ceiling where a distinctly yellow coloured sandstone is well exposed and this vaulting is seen on a much more spectacular scale along the nave and beneath the tower – another landmark in Wentworth that can be seen from miles away.

Stone vaulting to the nave and tower

 

In the interior, the masonry is again generally very austere and the few memorials scattered around the walls are all very simple but, for a geologist, they provide a few good examples of the best quality decorative stones that were available to the architect, J L Pearson, at the time that this church was built.

The reredos

The finely carved reredos stands out against the rest of the stone furnishings in the church but I wasn't able to closely examine it and get any ideas about its provenance - as well as the stones used in the intricate mosaic floor that stretches along the nave up to the altar – and these need further investigation.

A detail of a mosaic floor

The steps up to the altar, however, are easily identified as being Ashburton Marble, a very distinctive polishable Devonian limestone which was extensively used in the very finest Victorian buildings, but is now extremely difficult to obtain.

Ashburton Marble