2014

SK7288 : Bench mark, St Peter's church, Clayworth

taken 10 years ago, near to Clayworth, Nottinghamshire, England

Bench mark, St Peter's church, Clayworth
Bench mark, St Peter's church, Clayworth
See Link for location.
Bench Mark

Bench marks LinkExternal link were historically used to record the height above sea level of a location as surveyed against the Mean Sea Level data (taken at Clarendon Dock, Belfast, for Northern Ireland data, Newlyn in Cornwall for data in Great Britain and Portmoor Pier, Malin Head, for data relating to the Republic of Ireland). They were used as part of a greater surveying network by the UK Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Northern Ireland (OSNI) and the Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI). If the exact height of one bench mark is known then the exact height of the next can be found by measuring the difference in heights, through a process of spirit levelling. In this way hundreds of thousands of bench marks were sited all around the UK & Ireland from the mid 19th to late 20th centuries. There are several distinct types of bench mark:

- Fundamental bench marks have been constructed at selected sites where foundations can be set on stable strata such as bedrock. Each FBM consists of a buried chamber with a brass bolt set in the top of a granite pillar. See NG8825 : Dornie fundamental bench mark for an example. FBMs were used in Ireland as well as GB but those in Ireland do not have any surface markers, nor are they marked on standard maps.
- Flush brackets consist of metal plates about 90 mm wide and 175 mm long. Each bracket has a unique serial number. They are most commonly found on most Triangulation Pillars, some churches or on other important civic buildings. See J3270 : Flush Bracket, Belfast for an example.
- Cut bench marks are the commonest form of mark. They consist of a horizontal bar cut into a wall or brickwork and are found just about anywhere. A broad arrow is cut immediately below the centre of the horizontal bar. See J3372 : Bench Mark, Belfast for an example. The horizontal mark may be replaced by or contain a bolt - see J1486 : Bench Mark, Antrim.
Other marks include:
- Projecting bench marks such as SD8072 : Projecting Bracket Benchmark on St Oswald's Tower
- Bolt bench marks such as SJ1888 : OSBM bolt on Hilbre Island
- Rivet bench marks such as J3978 : Bench Mark, Holywood
- Pivot bench marks such as SJ2661 : Pivot bench mark on Leeswood Bridge

Bench marks are commonly found on older buildings or other semi-permanent features such as stone bridges or walls. Due to updated mapping techniques and technological advances such as GPS, bench marks are no longer maintained. Many are still in existence and the markers will probably remain until they are eventually destroyed by redevelopment or erosion.

Church of St Peter, Clayworth and Wiseton

This is a church with plenty of interesting features.

The church consists of nave and chancel, north and south aisles, west tower and south porch. The earliest material is early 12th century Norman, now confined to the lower masonry of the tower, with fragments of the wall between nave and chancel, and the south and north doors. The nave arcades are 13th century, and many of the windows were re-formed in the 14th century in Decorated style. The upper part of the tower, clerestory, and the eastern end of the north aisle, including the arcade arch into the chancel, are 15th century Perpendicular. A major restoration was carried out in 1874-5 by Oldrid Scott, son of Sir George Gilbert Scott, but this largely retained the existing tracery so that the appearance of the church was little changed. The most significant change was the replacement of the chancel and St Nicholas roofs with ones with a much steeper pitch.

The aisle arcades are 13th century, but clearly replace earlier arcades as the columns rise from Norman bases. They are unusual in consisting of only two arches each, although these are wide and elegant. The centre columns show another peculiar feature. They have, for want of a better description, pseudo-capitals between the column and the arch. In both arcades these mark the transition between the profile of the column and the profile of the arch, although the point of spring of the arch is noticeably lower than the decoration. The two sides have different profiles, the north side appearing to be earlier, with a much simpler profile. The pseudo-capital consists of a series of unconnected small heads acting as stops to grooves in the column profile. The south arcade column has foliage carving acting as the capital, although it is not continuous round the column.

The south aisle has a most unusual, for a village church, stone parclose screen dividing off the eastern bay alongside the chancel to form a chapel dedicated to St Nicholas. It is very simple, and rather heavy-looking, and dated from the early 14th century.

The chancel arch is 13th century with a similar profile to the south arcade. Across it stands a wooden rood screen. The lower panels of this are medieval, probably 15th or 16th century, but the upper part was created by local craftsmen in the early 20th century. The arch is slightly off centre, with the result that the screen is asymmetrical, with 3 bays on the north side and 4 on the south.

The chancel has a 13th century arch on each side into the aisles, with a further 15th century arch on the north side where the aisle was extended east to the east end of the church. Situated under this arch is the fine 16th century plaster-ornamented tomb of Sir Henry Fitzwilliam, a Tudor judge. The easternmost bay now houses the vestry.

The chancel houses what is considered to be the finest feature of the church. This is the series of mural paintings by the Scottish artist Phoebe Anna Traquair. They were gifted to the church by Lady D'Arcy Godolphin Osborne to commemorate the safe return from the second Boer War of her son Captain Joseph Laycock and completed in 1905. The main scenes depict incidents in the life of Christ.

The old font (?17th century) has been returned to use recently, replacing the one installed during the restoration of 1874-5. There are several interesting monuments inside the church, the earliest being to an inscribed slab under the tower to an early 15th century rector. There are also two Grade II Listed monuments in the churchyard.

The church is Listed Grade I; for more details see LinkExternal link


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Alan Murray-Rust and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Construction, Development Building Material: Limestone Primary Subject: Benchmark other tags: Bench Mark Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Clayworth Church [72] · Bench Mark [2] Other Photos: · Church of St Peter, Clayworth ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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Grid Square
SK7288, 126 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Alan Murray-Rust   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Sunday, 5 October, 2014   (more nearby)
Submitted
Thursday, 9 October, 2014
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SK 7262 8843 [10m precision]
WGS84: 53:23.2637N 0:54.5744W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SK 7262 8843
View Direction
EAST (about 90 degrees)
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SW S SE
Image classification(about): Supplemental image
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