A Geology Field Trip in Clowne

 

A large detached block of dolomitic limestone at Markland Grips

My day out to Palterton and Scarcliffe turned out to be a long but very productive day, which entailed five bus journeys and a good walk – broken up with a couple of pints of Abbot Ale at the Horse and Groom and a pizza while waiting for the X17 bus back from Chesterfield to Sheffield. 

 

At the Horse and Groom in Scarcliffe

I followed this up the next day with a second recce of the Clowne Greenway for the Sheffield U3A Geology Group – to supplement the one that had been undertaken in the week before the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdown in March 2020. Transport on this occasion was provided by Stewart, who I had accompanied on the recce to Lyme Park a couple of weeks earlier. 

 

The Church of St. John the Baptist

Although I had gathered enough information on the geology during my previous recce, after leading us around Markland Grips, our local guide Jim had inadvertently taken us back to Clowne along the Linear Park and not via St. John the Baptist’s church as I had planned for my route and I wanted to check that the paths were suitable for the group. 

 

A sandy channel in the eastern section of the Clowne Greenway

We headed east along the Greenway towards Creswell, only to discover that much of the rock faces were now heavily overgrown but, fortunately, the interesting features that had been highlighted were still visible, including a sandy channel. 

 

A potential slip hazard

When planning our day trips, we always take into account potential hazards, steep climbs or other obstacles that might prove difficult for the group, with the eldest member Pauline – who is in her 80’s but surprisingly able - being typically used as our reference and the point where we left the railway cutting involved a short but steep scramble up rough ground. 

 

A newly erected fence

Although identified as the only point on the walk where there might be some difficulty for Pauline but, with other group members helping her if required, we considered that it would not be a problem; however, much to our dismay, we found access to the road bridge had been fenced off and that further progress entailed getting through a wire fence and then climbing over a gate. 

 

Stewart negotiating a gate

Knowing that it was possible to continue along the trail and extend our route on the day, we continued to Markland Grips as planned, where we unexpectedly bumped into Marc Pearson, a naturalist in Clowne who had arranged for Jim to be our guide for the recce and the group visit.

 

A cave at Markland Grips

Having benefited from this second recce, which included checking another car park a short distance from our planned meeting point, we arrived back in Clowne a few days later, only to find that our first choice of car park was nearly full. Although Stewart was able to meet those members who found it necessary to use this alternative, by the time that we had all gathered together and completed the usual formalities, we were running very late. 

 

A view along Greenway West

We quickly headed off along the section of the railway cutting known as Greenway West, only to find that large sections of this extensive exposure of the Permian Cadeby Formation were thickly overgrown at the end of summer. 

 

An exposure of the Yellow Sands Formation

 

With so many of the points of identified 18 months previously obscured, we quickly walked down to the exposure of the Yellow Sands Formation but, with time moving on, we decided not to continue to the exposed coal seam and returned to the remains of the old railway platform, where we had lunch, before then exploring Clowne Crags. 

 

Clowne Crags

Continuing eastwards along the Greenway until we reached the differentially weathered section of the rock face, which we had interpreted as a stream channel, I collected some of the very fine grained weathered material that I presumed to be sand. 

 

A sample of dolomitic sand

I later looked at this using an Amscope digital microscope, which I had recently bought to examine my growing collections of rocks. Expecting to see irregularly angular quartz, I instead could see very many grains that are rhombohedral – an indication that I was looking at dolomite sand. 

 

Dolomite sand viewed with an Amscope digital microscope

Continuing along our diverted route, where we found no geology but did see an egret, we eventually arrived at Markland Grips to find that the limestone crags were also largely obscured, before then heading back towards Clowne and stopping to quickly look at the extensive site of the Markland Grips promontory fort. 

 

The site of the Markland Grips promontory fort

With the remains of the embankments on the perimeter of the site obscured by hedges and trees, there wasn’t a lot to see and we therefore continued along the path, where there is a scattering of glaciofluvial pebbles, before finishing our walk by taking a quick look at the building stones at St. John the Baptist’s church.

 

A glaciofluvial pebble

 

The Tomb of Lady Constantia

 

A detail of the tomb of Lady Constantia

During my brief exploration of St. Leonard's church in Scarcliffe, Derbyshire, during the Heritage Open Days festival, I discovered many features that appealed to my interests in standing buildings archaeology, but the church is probably best known for its effigy of Lady Constantia, who is assumed to have been a member of the de Frecheville family.

 

A general view

Legend says that Lady Constantia lost her way in the nearby forest and that, attracted by the curfew bell at the church, reached the village before subsequently dying with her new born son John, but left five acres of land to generate an income to pay for the curfew to be rung in perpetuity.

 

Lady Constantia with John and a lion for a pillow

In Pevsner’s very brief description of a ‘beautiful C13 effigy’, the date of her death is given as 1175, with the Historic England listing description adding that she has “a child in her arms, her head resting on a lion, with a huge scroll of Leonine verse. 

 

A detail of the lion

The Victorian historian Dr. John Charles Cox, who was considered very reputable and has been cited by the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture when describing the Norman elements of the church, describes the effigy in his Notes on the Churches of Derbyshire (1875) as "doubtless of the Early English period". 

 

A detail of Lady Constantia and John

During my investigation of mediaeval churches in and around South Yorkshire over the past six years, I have encountered very many mediaeval effigies that are mainly made in alabaster – a soluble gypsum rock – but I have also seen several made in dolomitic limestone from the Permian Cadeby Formation, which is the same stone used for Lady Constantia’s tomb. 

 

The dog at Lady Constantia's feet

As a geologist with a specialist interest in building stone, I have seen how these materials weather when exposed to the elements on the exterior of the building and when protected in the interior of a church. Using sensitive techniques, cleaning and conservation was undertaken in 2007, which may have removed its patina, but I didn't see anything to make me think that the condition of the stone is not consistent with the c.1200 date assigned to it. 

 

A record of the conservation work

When subsequently undertaking online research, I was therefore surprised to read a report in the Church Monuments Society journal by Sophie Oosterwijk and Sally Badham, which asserts that it is in far too good a condition to be so old and, based on various other observations, came to another very different conclusion - that it is probably not a grand medieval tomb at all, but a post-medieval forgery by an unknown sculptor. 

A view looking along the effigy

St. Leonard's Church - The Interior

 

A view east along the nave

Entering St. Leonard’s church in Scarcliffe, the first thing that caught my eye was the four bay north arcade, with round headed arches that are normally associated with the Norman style of architecture; however, although one of the columns is circular, others are octagonal and quatrefoil in plan, which dates them as being transitional to the Early English Gothic style. 

 

The north arcade

Looking closely at the capitals, which have simple mouldings that are more characteristic of the Early English style, the quatrefoil capital is decorated with a nailhead pattern to the abacus, which is another remnant of the Norman style. 

 

A quatrefoil capital with nailhead decoration

Above the quatrefoil plan column in the arcade, at the springing of the arches, an unusual carved head has been interpreted as a scold’s bridle, a mediaeval form of harsh punishment that was mainly reserved for women, who habitually chastised and quarrelled with their neighbours. 

 

A carving interpreted as a scold's bridle

In very many of the churches that I have visited, the removal of plaster by Victorian architects from the internal walls during restoration often reveals changes in the pattern of the stonework, which records phases of extension or rebuilding. 

 

The chancel arch

Looking down the nave to the walling surrounding the chancel arch, although I couldn’t see any obvious difference in the coursing and shape and size of the blocks from the floor to the roofline, the lower half has pale grey slightly recessed pointing, whereas the upper half has much darker cement based ribbon pointing. 

 

A scalloped capital on the chancel arch

 

Moving nearer, this change is seen to take place immediately above a projecting chamfered string course, which forms an extension of the abaci above the obviously Norman scalloped capitals on the semi-circular responds to the chancel arch. An even closer look reveals some very irregularly shaped voussoirs and some roll mouldings, which have been salvaged from the Norman arch. 

 

The access to the rood screen

At the junction with the north aisle and the west chancel wall, another interesting feature is the large opening that once provided access to the rood screen, which are quite often seen in mediaeval churches – although the rood screen itself very rarely remains. 

 

The chancel

Entering the chancel, the organ now blocks the views of the very interesting sections of walling that had interested me when investigating its exterior but, when continuing further, the blocked Early English lancet window on the north wall can clearly be seen. 

 

A blocked lancet window in the chancel

Its triangular window head is quite unusual, as also seen in the small lancet window next to it, which has splayed window reveals and also moulded sections of masonry supporting each of the large stones that form the head. 

 

A triangular window head to a lancet window in the chancel

Returning to the nave, I had a quick look at the masonry detailing of the various windows, starting with the very small clerestory windows above the arcade. Most of the clerestories that I have seen were added in the C15, with a distinct change in the pattern of masonry when Perpendicular Gothic style windows were inserted, but I couldn’t see any signs of this. 

 

A view west along the nave

On the south wall of the nave, the coursed and squared rubble masonry has been modified considerably during the building of the various tall, wide windows and the window reveals and the surrounding walling are largely composed of very large blocks of stone. 

 

Windows in the south wall of the nave

 

St. Leonard's Church Scarcliffe - Part 3

 

A detail of carvings to the lintel above the south door

Continuing my investigation of the exterior of St. Leonard’s church in Scarcliffe, I moved on from the tower to the west end of the nave, where the very tall triangular headed cross window is assigned a C19 date by Pevsner, but which is inserted into coursed and squared masonry that looks similar to that used in the C13 east end of the chancel.

 

The west end of the nave and the porch

Above and to the top right of this, the masonry changes to very large well squared ashlar blocks, which pass up into the castellated parapet - presumably the C16 work that is mentioned in the Historic England listing description. Immediately to the right of the window, there is a section of C12 rubble masonry that is partly obscured by the porch and above which is further C16 ashlar and a small rectangular window. 

 

Norman masonry above the porch

To the east of the porch, the walling is composed entirely of very large ashlar blocks and contains three flat head windows. To the west, the window has two lights, with cusped segment headed lights and short mullions rising from the apex of each light. 

 

the windows in the east end of the nave

The two windows to the east of this very late Perpendicular Gothic style window are also flat headed, but only have mullions and these are considered by Pevsner to be late C16 or even early C17, but Historic England does not offer an opinion on their date. 

 

The south door

Entering the porch, the C12 south door has one order of colonettes with scalloped capitals a roll-moulding in the arch, large square jambs and a large lintel with inscribed wheels, six pointed stars, rosettes and saltire crosses. 

 

The carved lintel to the south door

 

The door surround is built in yellow, presumably sandy limestone, which is quite weathered in places despite the protection from the elements by the porch. The church guide mentions that an unspecified treatment was applied to the stonework back in 1966, but there is no reference to the success or otherwise of this attempt at conservation. 

 

Advanced decay of the stonework to the south door

Much of the stonework to the jambs is in an advanced state of deterioration, with cavernous decay and the right hand capital, which is carved from pink sandy limestone, is in a very poor condition and it has lost all of its detail. 

 

The condition of the left and right capitals

 

Various sections of stone to the right jamb of the porch have been replaced quite recently, with the stone being a surprisingly good match; however, some of these new stones are already affected by efflorescence and are showing early signs of decay.

 

Efflorescence in limestone used for recent repairs

St. Leonard's Church Scarcliffe - Part 2

 

A detail of the west window to the tower

My investigation of the exterior of St. Leonard’s church in Scarcliffe, during the Heritage Open Days festival, had revealed some interesting archaeological features relating to the construction history of the chancel and I next stopped to have a good look at the tower. 

 

The tower

 

Originally built in the C13, the tower was completely rebuilt in 1842 with buff to slightly pink coloured dolomitic limestone ashlar from the Permian Cadeby Formation, but a pink/red sandy limestone has been used for the dressings and for occasional blocks in the walling. 

 

The north door of the vestry

I had already encountered very poor quality pink/red sandy dolomitic limestone in various vernacular buildings in Palterton and Scarcliffe, which I assumed had been quarried locally from an unknown source, but my first thought was that this is Red Mansfield stone – a very sandy variety of the Cadeby Formation that, together with White Mansfield stone, developed a good reputation as a building stone and was once used widely throughout England but is now unavailable.

 

Weathered Red Mansfield stone in a buttress to the vestry

 

Looking at the vestry at the west end of the north aisle, which was built at the same time as the tower, clay partings in the stone used for the buttresses to the north-west corner have been differentially weathered to produce a very distinctive texture. 

 

Lancet windows in the west vestry wall

Moving round to the west elevation of the vestry, the window surrounds to the double lancet window are quite eroded and the window heads and mullions have been restored quite recently with cream coloured dolomitic limestone from the Cadeby Formation – a stone that is now only quarried in very few places in England and has limited colour variation.

 

The west window of the tower

 

The west window on the second stage of the tower has also had its very simple tracery and mullion restored, with what looks like two different kinds of stone. The original window jambs are made of a similar red dolomitic limestone to that seen elsewhere in the tower, but the differential weathering is of an extent that I had never seen before. 

 

A weathered jamb in the west window

 

I finished my brief examination of the tower at the west door, where the dressings look similar, at a distance, to the buff coloured limestone used for the bulk of the ashlar walling but, looking closely at weathered surfaces, some of these have a slight pinkish tinge. 

 

The west door of the tower

The dressings are all in quite good condition, compared to those that have used red sandy limestone, but the incongruous distinctly yellow blocks forming the lower part of the left jamb are weathered to a greater degree. 

 

Yellow limestone used in the west door to the tower