
The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland

Ripon and Leeds (formerly)
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
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
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
The village of Swillington lies on the River Aire about 5 miles east of central Leeds. The nave of the church is essentially 12thc. with 14thc. aisles and a 14thc. chancel, with organ and vestry spaces on the N side of chancel. The W tower and S porch are 15thc. (Kirk, 1934, with plan; Leach and Pevsner, 2009, 727-28).
There is a reset 12thc. window head with an incised pattern of saltire crosses, and another undecorated. A blocked window was recorded in the N wall of the nave.
Parish church
Whixley is a village in the Harrogate district of Yorkshire, 10 miles W of York. Leach and Pevsner (2009, 753) describe the church of the Ascension as a building essentially of the period 1300-10. It has nave with aisles which embrace the W tower; S porch; chancel with N vestry. A plain round-headed window is the only Romanesque feature. There is also a plain octagonal font of unknown date.
Parish church
Knaresborough is 4 miles E of Harrogate, North Yorkshire. The large church stands on much the same level as the castle above the gorge of the river Nidd. The church would seem to be linked to the layout of the town, rather than an adjunct of the castle.
The compact plan has aisled 4-bay nave with S porch; a central tower enclosed within a further bay of the nave; chancel with N and S chapel and NE vestry.
Of the twelfth-century church, only parts of the early twelfth-century chancel walls remain, and parts of the later piers of the crossing and archways by the transepts. The chancel walls have been cut into, and no old windows remain. Lunn 1870 describes the church just before restoration, which was completed by 1872. The four piers supporting the tower were raised and largely remade at this time. Sculpture consists of a string course, reset fragments and two or three capitals of the crossing.
Parish church
Little Ouseburn is 6 miles SE of Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire. The parish church, isolated from its village by a meadow, stands attractively in an angle of the road among trees. The church has nave, aisles and chancel, and an unbuttressed tower, the bulk of which is generally thought to be early post-Conquest; it is built of a mixture of sandstone and limestone. Re-used Roman stones in the tower are evident by their large size and the Lewis holes. The church has several reset pieces of sculpture which are included in the pre-Conquest corpus (Coatsworth 2008). They are therefore not discussed here in detail, but are shown in the Site Images for reference. Church restored 1875. Apart from arrowslit windows in chancel and tower, only the jambs of the chancel arch are certainly of the Romanesque period.
Parish church
Boroughbridge is a settlement with Roman origins which lies 13 miles NW of York, and the location of a famous battle in 1322.
The modern St James's church in Church Lane dates from 1852. However, it incorporates a number of richly-sculptured Romanesque stones brought here from the demolished medieval church of St James, which was located in what is now St James's Square in the centre of the town. The pieces have been reset in the N wall of the vestry.
Parish church
Goldsborough is a village situated about one mile east of Knaresborough. The church of St Mary the Virgin adjoins the gatehouse or former stables of the Hall. It has nave with aisles, W tower, chancel with vestry to north, and contains various effigies. (Leach and Pevsner 2009, 282-3). The guidebook claims that the E and W ends of the nave show mid-twelfth-century walling.
The only Romanesque sculpture present is found on the S doorway, now on the S wall of the S aisle. Kelk suggests that the doorway may have been moved here from the nave in the early fourteenth century. It has been restored in recent years. An exterior feature, possibly a font, is also recorded here.
Parish church
Marton-cum-Grafton is a village 6 miles NE of Knaresborough in North Yorkshire. The present simple church of nave and chancel, with S vestry and N porch, was consecrated in 1876. It replaced an even humbler medieval church situated a distance away from the village (at site of the graveyard on Church Lane, SE 416 623).
This new church reused much stone of the old one, including a sizeable quantity of 12th-c carved work harvested from the walls by the vicar, Mr Lunn, during demolition. 12th-c worked stone was reset in the entrance doorway to the nave, the vestry’s exterior doorway and interior, and in the reconstruction of a supposed chancel arch, now an internal doorway opening from the chancel into the vestry (the latter includes much new work).