The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
"wheel kirk"
Parish church
Kirkby Wharfe is a village 2 miles S of Tadcaster in the Selby district of Yorkshire. The church of St John the Baptist appears to be compact and small-scale from the exterior, but as well as usual nave and chancel, it has north chapel, north and south aisles and west tower. Inside, there is work of many periods including pre-Conquest cross pieces and window glass collected from the Continent. There is quite alot of plaster on the arcade pillars, though without any significant marks. Pevsner says the restoration was in 1860, but no papers exist at the Borthwick Institute.
The Romanesque work includes a little late sculpture on the south doorway, N and S arcades, and, most unusually, of the three fonts, two are plain and of probable Romanesque date.
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.
Redundant parish church
Kirk Sandall is about 3 miles NE of Doncaster; the site is not to be confused with Sandal Magna, near Wakefield. The compact medieval church, of Magnesian limestone and cobbles, lies alongside a canal and the river Don. There are fields nearby but the approach is through an industrial estate and the site of the former Pilkington glassworks, which itself had replaced the old village (Holland 1999, 94-5).
The church has a small chancel with a larger 16thc N chapel and a two-bay nave with late 12thc to early 13thc arcades; the S porch is Victorian, from a restoration in the 1860s. The satisfying pyramidal roof on the tower over the W bay of the S aisle replaced the upper stage of a pinnacled tower of c. 1828 in 1935-1937; at the same time a vestry was added to the N aisle (Pevsner 1967, 292-3).
There is a mixed fabric of cobbles, limestone rubble and ashlar even in the later 12thc work. The grave-slab against the W wall in the N aisle is said to have the remains of a floriated cross but that is too damp and efflorescing to discern (Barnes 2001, 3). Remains relevant to this Corpus are the S doorway, a slit window at each end of the S aisle, the two arcades, a piscina and a plain cylindrical font.
Parish church
Kirkby Ireleth is sited on the peninsula of Furness, in southern Cumbria. The site of the church is listed variously by modern authors as ‘Kirkby Ireleth’, ‘Kirkby-in-Furness’ and ‘Beckside’. It has been dedicated to St Cuthbert since at least the 15thc., but there is some evidence that in the 14thc. it was dedicated to St Mary. The church consists of a nave with S porch, chancel, large north aisle and west tower, the latter built in 1829. Restorations were carried out in 1881, 1884 and 1904. The only surviving Romanesque carving is found on the S doorway of the nave, although the western part of the chancel, with its restored N window and blocked S window, as well as some walling of the nave are also believed to date from the 12thc.
Parish church
The church consists of a nave, chancel with apsidal sanctuary, S transept, S porch and N
aisle. The tower and nave are late 11thc. (the chancel and
tower arches are c. 1080). The N aisle was added in the late 12thc., i.e. c.1190, and the N arcade of two bays is Transitional. The apse and the S transept were added in 1841. The
Romanesque elements are the tympanum over the S door, the
chancel arch (W side) and the remains of a disused
font.
Parish church
The village of Badsworth is in West Yorkshire, 6 miles SE of Pontefract. Overtly Dec. and Perp., the church has two reset fragments which are evidence for a 12thc. church. According to faculties at the Borthwick Institute alterations were made to the church in 1877 and 1902.
Parish church
Kirkby Malzeard is a village sited about 5 miles WNW of Ripon in North Yorkshire. A sizeable medieval church of which the nave retains most of its 12th-century S wall and its S doorway, St Andrew's consists of a North aisle, W tower, S porch, chancel, N chapel and NE vestry altered or added later. The church suffered a severe fire in 1908 which destroyed the roofs and the Anglo-Danish hogback grave cover illustrated by Collingwood, and it also meant that the N nave arcade had to be renewed (McCall, 1909, pl. showing interior view after fire).All that is original of the N arcade appears to be the arches of the two westernmost bays.
The S doorway and one respond of the chancel arch have 12th c. sculpture. There is also a N nave arcade (see Comments) and a possible early mass-dial. For a plan, see McCall (1909). See also Butler (2007), 249-251.
Parish church
This is a large, cruciform, fenland church with central tower and spire. Between 1850-54 R.C. Carpenter carried out a major restoration on the entire church under the direction of the then rector, Rev. Basil Beridge. Five-bay nave arcade, transepts, tower, and chancel date from the 13thc., the clerestory was added in the late 15thc. and the spire was added in the 19thc.; the large 14thc. E and W windows, N and S transept windows, and the chancel were renovated in the 19thc. as well. The transepts are unusual in being double-aisled. Romanesque remains consist of the capitals of the W crossing piers, the W arcade respond capitals of both the N and S transept as well as a label stop on this arcade, and a respond capital of the arch leading into the N transept, E chapel.
Parish church
The church consists of a chancel with shallow S transept,
nave, S porch and W tower. Though the church is of stone,
with render in places, the W tower is of brick. The body of the church appears to be
13thc. though the chancel was rebuilt in 1873/4 when the small
transept currently housing the organ appears to have been added. The tower is 17thc.
The only Romanesque features are the font and a reset lintel.
Parish church
The church was substantially enlarged in 1609. This was recorded in the 1845 Statistical Accounts as ‘an addition, larger than the original church … built to the west end’. The medieval east end seems to have remained until the present church was built in 1836-7. Described as in a very poor state, along with being too small for the quickly growing number of church attendees, the old church was taken down and the new church built on the same site as the previous one. When cutting the foundations and preparing the floor, various fragments were found, which are assumed to have come from the medieval church. These were later placed in in the garden of the Manse, where they remained for many years. The Royal Commission of Scotland listed these as two voussoirs, three bases, one nook shaft and a capital. The interior of the 19thc church was remodelled in 1934 and the west gallery enclosed in 1973. In 2017, the carved stones, with the addition of four other carved stones (one carved with cavetto, another with a rounded section, one with a cone and roll, and one carved with large beads), were moved back to the church. Damage to the carved stones is evident, most significantly through weathering and lamination of the stone.