The Corpus of
ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE
in Britain & Ireland
Linton is 8 miles N of Skipton in Yorkshire. Near the river Wharfe, where there is a famous set of stepping stones, the squat medieval church of St Michael has N and S aisles enclosing nave and chancel, and a square bellcote at the W end of the nave roof. Restored 1861 (Leach and Pevsner, 2009, 574). Part of the N nave arcade and chancel arch responds are 12thc., while the chancel arch itself and the S arcade are 13thc. There is a plain 12thc. font. and some reset capitals.
DB does not mention a church here.
Pevsner states that this is "Norman in its imposts", although the arch itself is pointed. The imposts are plain and chamfered, resting on chamfered responds.
An arcade of four bays, but only bays one and two with Pier 1 belong to the 12thc. The E respond and impost are partly concealed by the pulpit. The pier has a two-stepped plinth, the lower step chamfered. Above this, a water-holding base and plain cylindrical shaft. Plain necking below a hollow-chamfered block capital, the impost of the W pier (pier two) is plain and chamfered. The arch is of plain, square section, chamfered.
| Pier 1, h. of capital with impost and necking | 0.265m |
| w. of impost | 0.67m |
Three ex-situ sculptured capitals reset in the N wall of N aisle.
1. A double-scallop capital with slender batons between the cones. Two faces carved.
2. Capital with plain bell and two deep overhanging arches. Two faces carved.
3. Capital with large plain leaves with bold mid-rib on the angles and a smaller y-shaped leaf form mid-face. Two faces carved.
Capitals 2 and 3 are the same size, whereas capital 1 is slightly larger and demonstrates greater technical finesse.
Cylindrical, with a hemispherical bowl. It is not lined, but is painted inside. The outside walls have a double roll moulding at top and bottom. Whitewash is found in the tooling of the outer surface. The font stands on an octagonal base of probable later date.
| d. of interior bowl | 0.285m |
| external diam. | 0.77m |
| h. of font | 0.625m |
| internal diam. | 0.58m |
P. Leach and N. Pevsner, Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Yale, 2009).
N. Pevsner, Yorkshire: West Riding. The Buildings of England (Harmondsworth, 1959), 2nd. ed. rev.E. Radcliffe (1967).
J. E. Wright, The Parish Church of St. Michael and all Angels, Linton-in-Craven, North Yorkshire (1991).
Comments/Opinions
The three capitals all include the ring and the upright at the top, but are of different heights, so are perhaps from three different assemblages: chancel arch, main doorway and priest's doorway?
Note: a Romanesque crucifix 'found in 1835 near one of the fords over the stream' was sadly stolen from the church in 1980 (Pevsner, 1967, pl. 27; Wright, 1991, pp. 16, 31).