The Anglo-Saxon tower

The oldest, and most important part of St Marys Church is its tower with its associated stair turret. This was built in the early eleventh century as a tower nave; the chamber at the foot of the tower being the nave, where the congregation stood for services, conducted in an adjacent, small chancel to the east. This chancel was demolished after the Norman Conquest and replaced by a succession of Norman and Medieval churches, the latest of which we now see. The foundations of the Anglo-Saxon chancel were seen in 1884 when a heating system was installed.

The construction of the tower

The tower shows many of the features of Anglo-Saxon building: the use of massive stones, some of which are re-used Roman masonry imported from the Pennines. Three different styles of masonry were used in the construction of the tower: at the base is a zone of small, rough blocks of limestone and ironstone. A band of flat limestone blocks separates this zone from a broad band of herringbone masonry (a good way of using irregular stones). Elsewhere, herringbone masonry was covered by mortar and the walls at St. Marys were also probably rendered. With rubble work, it is vital that the corners are well made and side alternate quoins were used at St. Marys; an Anglo-Saxon technique in which large stones are set at 90 degrees to each other, bonding the corner together. The upper level of the tower is built from large, roughly-coursed limestone blocks containing four blocked windows, probably the openings for an earlier belfry replaced in the 14th century. It is likely that the height of the turret was reduced at this time: the steps and newel in the stair turret extend above the level of the surviving Anglo-Saxon tower showing the existence of one or more floors above. The battlemented pediment and pinnacles at the top of the tower are Victorian, the splendid gargoyles shown by Nattes in 1795 being lost. These Victorian additions are now in a dangerous condition and are supported by emergency scaffolding.

The tower arch

The tower arch is one of the most important features of St. Marys and, significantly, the most elaborate side of the arch faces into the tower so that it framed the altar in the small chancel. The arch has a round-topped head of two orders (steps within the arch) resting on large, horizontal imposts, one of Pennine gritstone, the other sandstone. The cubical column capitals, bases and the imposts do not match, suggesting that they were reused from an earlier building. Notably, the two eastern columns do not support anything but may have held a decorated, semi-circular tympanum. One of the tower arch columns is heavily abraded with deep vertical grooves which are likely to represent the taking of scrapings from the church for medicinal use, a practice seen elsewhere. As is common on Anglo-Saxon arches the voussoirs forming the arch are misaligned and lack a keystone. At the top of the towers east face is the scar left by the roof line of a Medieval nave. The tower arch is an important feature which cannot now be seen due to a 20th century screen inserted to exclude draughts.

A doorway at the foot of the tower leads south from the tower into the churchyard. Like the tower arch it is flanked by two sandstone columns with mismatched cubical capitals on which rest projecting imposts, one being a conspicuous modern replacement. Again the voussoirs forming the arch are misaligned with an uneven curve.

The tower windows are small and internally splayed. Their arches, formed of concrete-set rubble are supported by vertical stones with their rounded tops cut from single stones (these, and the use of concrete are features of Anglo-Saxon building).

The stair turret

Abutting the tower is a remarkable Anglo-Saxon stair turret which appears to have been built against the already standing tower. The turret is cylindrical and built of massive masonry blocks, which include reused Pennine gritstone from the demolition of Roman buildings in Yorkshire and was probably brought to the site by river transport, it being likely that the river Ancholme could, at high tide, have been used to carry stone to Broughton.

The structure of the stairs within the turret is unusual and consists of a rising helical tunnel made up of concrete-set rubble, its underside still bearing the impressions left by Anglo-Saxon wooden shuttering. Unlike Medieval spiral stairs, where the central newel spine is formed as part of the steps, the stair at St. Marys has a central newel made up of a stack of 11 stone drums, probably once Roman columns. Radiating around the newel are 37 stone treads bedded into the floor of the concrete tunnel but not into the newel or the turret wall. Light within the turret comes from three, slot-like windows formed with two stones making up each jamb and simple flat lintels.

There are other examples of cylindrical stair turrets, they are also found at All Saints, Hough on the Hill, Lincolnshire at All Saints, Brixworth and at St. Andrew, Brigstock, both Northamptonshire but only Brixworth, itself a building of great importance, shares Broughtons helical concrete construction.

The towers first floor chamber.

In the towers first floor chamber are two doorways, one into the stair turret; the other opening directly into the space over the existing nave. This doorway is excessively tall, narrow, flat topped and lined with dressed masonry, its original sill below the present floor level. It may have opened into a chamber in the roof space above the lost chancel.

The Project

The present repair project will repair the Victorian pediment and pinnacles, and also repair any other damaged stone on the tower, thus conserving this nationally important heritage structure for future generations.