The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
West Yorkshire and the Dales (now)
Cistercian House, former
Fountains Abbey is about 3 miles SW of Ripon. The site is owned by the National Trust and maintained by English Heritage. The abbey and the contiguous water-gardens of Studley Royal are in the bottom of the deep valley of the river Skell; the main entrance is on a plateau, from which can be seen only the upper part of Abbot Huby's late medieval tower on the N transept. The site originally would have conformed to Cistercian foundation narratives, a place of rocks and trees, hidden from the world.
The abbey ruins are largely of the Romanesque period, although the tower, the eastern end of the church (the transept with the Chapel of the Nine Altars) and the monks’ infirmary complex to the E of the site are later. The mill also has structural parts of early date. There are plans of the abbey buildings in the 1970 (now out-of-print) DoE guide, Gilyard-Beer, 1970, and Coppack 1993. Aerial view in Coppack 1993, colour plate 1.
The present report describes the church, also three fragments of loose architectural sculpture in the 'porter's lodge' display and one capital in the mill, and gives information regarding material stored off-site. On our visit in 1999, stonework was displayed in the building near the Mill which is now (2015) a tea-room, and those pieces are no longer on display.
The parts of the church which are relevant to the twelfth-century corpus are the transepts, nave and galilee. For the use of the various parts, see Kinder 2002, 131-373. The church owes elements of its design to Rievaulx, and to Sawley. The aisles were vaulted, and the nave had a wooden roof. Despite breaks in building, and the conventional partitioning, the architecture of the nave is unified and impressive. It is thought it took about 20 years to complete, from the time of Abbot Richard (1150-70) to that of Abbot Robert of Pipewell in the 1170s (Coppack 1993, 36-43; Gilyard-Beer 1970, 29-30), or as Glyn Coppack also puts it, between the death of Bernard of Clairvaux in 1153 and his canonisation in 1174.
Robin Hood's Well is a water basin on the S path to the Studley Royal water-gardens. It had been dated by Gilyard-Beer to 1220-50, but many passers-by might suppose it to belong to the water-gardens phase and not be a medieval item at all. The spirals resemble those of the doorway in bay 11 of the S aisle of the church, and its label has a profile common round the cloister, hence, presumably, the twelfth-century date.
Parish church
Woolley is a village about six miles S of Wakefield, and the church lies to the W of the village. The building consists of a chancel of three bays with chapels to N and S, an aisled nave of four bays, a S porch and a W tower. The church was extensively restored in 1871. Nikolaus Pevsner (1967), 558, describes the church as ‘Perpendicular throughout’; Ryder (1993), 180, thinks the nave walls may date to the 12thc. Romanesque sculpture is found on a reset tympanum, a reset shaft and a font.
Parish church
Kirk Smeaton is the most southerly village of the County, about 10 miles S of Doncaster. The church and most of the village is on the S side of the river Went, between its gorge to the W and the flat lands of the Humberhead levels to the E. The building is of Magnesian Limestone. It consists of a nave and chancel, N aisle and W tower. Restoration and enlargements took place in 1862 (Robinson 1984, 8-9). The church appears from outside as entirely later than 12thc, but contains an interesting 12thc chancel arch of about 1160, also a font which is probably a little earlier. Pevsner (1995, 293) describes the pointed tower arch as over-restored, but it still has half-round pillars.
The sculpture of our period has been painted. This may obscure the finer points, for example, patterns on the neckings of the chancel arch capitals. The font was formerly plastered.
Parish church
South Stainley is a village near Ripon in North Yorkshire. The church has only a one-line entry in Pevsner (1967, 492), who gives the date as 1845. It has a nave with S porch; chancel with vestry, and was rebuilt on a medieval site. In an engraving of the church made before the rebuilding of 1845, there are no obviously 12th-century features (see Site Images). Sir Stephen Glynne did not visit the church.
In 1999, two loose pieces were seen which are relevant to the Corpus: two large half-capitals with waterleaf. At that time they were on the benches in the porch; in 2015 they were inside the church. There is some discussion about other features (for which, see Comments). A large plain cylindrical tub outside in front of the porch was said to be a font. A length of string-course in the chancel has been said to be original, but even if it is, it is unlikely to be twelfth-century.
Parish church
Broughton is a small village in the Craven district of North Yorkshire about three miles W of Skipton. The church of All Saints is isolated, about a mile W of Broughton Hall and away from the A56 and the hamlet of Broughton. The building consists of a low chancel and nave in one, with N aisle, S porch and stumpy W tower; windows are square-headed. There is evidence of an earlier arrangement in the S wall of the chancel, where a blocked doorway and parts of windows are seen in the wall fabric. The S doorway to the nave dates to the late 12thc; inside there is a simple font in purplish sandstone.
Parish church
Spofforth is a village 5 miles S of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. The church is a large one, outwardly Victorian neo-Norman, c.1855 (Leach and Pevsner 2009, 715). Lawrence Butler (2006, 390) describes the church as 'destructively restored' by J. W. Hugill. It has a Perp W tower with late 12th-century N and S arcades and chancel arch remaining from the medieval church; the head of the S doorway is also largely of this period. The exterior of the church before restoration is illustrated in Butler 2007, 390, but shows no sign of 12th-century work.
Parish church
Bracewell is a small Dales village of stone cottages, west of Skipton and near Barnoldswick. The church has a nave with N aisle, S porch and W tower; a chancel and a vestry. There is a Norman S doorway and a chancel arch; the font is probably 13thc.
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Parish church
Tong village lies along a hilltop at an altitude of 160m, between Bradford and Leeds, in relatively open country. Modern housing has not joined it to other settlements, but changes are taking place within the village.
The present church of St James was consecrated in 1727, but its nave and chancel are lying approximately on the foundations of the nave and chancel of a 12thc chapel. To this layout were added a N aisle and two chambers off the N of the chancel, and also a W tower. Some medieval windows were reused or copied for the W and N walls. Inside the church, the tower arch reuses an original 12thc arch. The building is analysed in a leaflet of the West Yorkshire Archaeology Service (WYAS 1991; see also Ryder 1993, 87-88, 128-132, 176; Swann 1993).
Excavations in 1979 found three pieces with sculpture which were assigned to the 12thc; there is also sculpture on the tower arch.
Parish church
Weston is 2 miles NW of Otley. A much-added to church (though without a tower) adjacent to Weston Hall, it is located at the S end of the village and within half a mile of the river Wharfe. The church comprises nave, chancel and N chapel, all of broad proportions and slightly irregular. The main impression is of a church fitted out in the 18thc; it has a three-decker pulpit, box pews, hatchments and squire's parlour with fireplace, but of the 12thc, there is a plain splayed window in the S wall, and the chancel arch.
Parish church
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.