The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Yorkshire, West Riding (pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales))
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
The village church lies parallel to a road just off the town centre. Built of limestone, it consists of nave and aisles with parapets, a chancel, a square tower and a porch. The church has frequently been altered and restored. There are however some interior features of the late 12th century.
Parish church
Brodsworth is an estate village five miles NW of Doncaster. The church is adjacent to the grounds of Brodsworth Hall (English Heritage), close to the site of a previous hall, which was demolished in 1860 on completion of the present one. In 2010 the University of Sheffield ran a Brodsworth Archaeology Landscape Project, which included excavation in the churchyard.
The church, of a creamy limestone, consists of chancel, nave, tower, N and S aisles extending into the chancel, and S porch. Both the nave and tower feature battlemented parapets and tile roof; the tower is considered to be late 12th or early 13thc. The nave is early Romanesque, whilst the N arcade and the long chancel are later medieval additions (see Comments).
Parish church
This is a small church in a hamlet in the flood plain of the Don. The Duchy of Lancaster was the sole patron until the uniting of the benefice with that of Fishlake and Sykehouse in 1987. It consists of a W tower, nave and chancel.
As at Fishlake and Kirk Sandall, the church was sited very close to the river Don. Due to the constant movement of ground water, or actual floodwater, the church has suffered settlement. This has, for example, caused water seepage down cracks on the S side of the chancel arch and some decay to the sculpture there, while the N side of the nave has had to be supported by buttresses.
The tower and nave are likely to follow the original 12th-century plan because of the preservation of the two doorways and the chancel arch, but the chancel itself was probably altered in the later middle ages, and was again rebuilt in 1847; the roof-line of the first chancel can be seen on the exterior E wall of the nave. The tower appears later on the exterior, but inside in the NW angle is a spiral vice, while the lower part of the tower space is vaulted very crudely, as if in an emergency repair.
The font is a later item: it recalls octagonal pillar bases with angle lugs, the chiselling-out of the basin is later too (see Comments). The shield with the cross on the NW buttress of the tower is not relevant to this Corpus (church guide 2001, 2, 6).
Romanesque sculpture is in the chancel arch and S doorway; there are also 3 reset fragments.
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
This church is built of sandstone and limestone, and the same material was used for the older houses in the village. The church consists of a chancel and nave, W tower, S aisle and a porch. The S wall of the aisle is of rubble, roughly coursed at the foot, with rubble above. The chancel, N side and tower of three stages are ashlar, with battlements. The roofs are brown and grey slate. In 2010 the church was restored, with a new roof and refurbished S porch. A little more of the structure around the tympanum, which is the main relevant feature for the Corpus, has been exposed.