<< Our Photo Pages >> St Peter's Minster (Conisbrough) - Sculptured Stone in England in Yorkshire (South)
Submitted by Sunny100 on Tuesday, 18 April 2017 Page Views: 11574
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: St Peter's Minster (Conisbrough) Alternative Name: The Conisbrough Grave Stones, St Peter's Minster ConisboroughCountry: England County: Yorkshire (South) Type: Sculptured Stone
Nearest Town: Conisbrough Nearest Village: Cadeby
Map Ref: SK512988
Latitude: 53.483436N Longitude: 1.229916W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Anne T visited on 15th Apr 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Anglo Saxon Carvings, Conisbrough: Having seen this on the Portal, with only a sepia image of the stones, I had been keen to visit this church for some time as it was only a short detour from my step-father's house; the nearby castle had been my very first ever school trip, over half a century ago (gulp). We managed to park in the (small) free car park outside the community centre, right next to the church.
We arrived just as the children’s Easter Egg hunt/service had ended, and children and parents streamed out of the church. With 2 year old grand-daughter in tow, desperate to join in, one lady coming out of the church saw us waiting and asked if we were visiting. When I said we were, she said we were very welcome, waited until the crowds had lessened, then took us in. Another gentleman took us round to see the grave stones and made sure we had the free history leaflet of the church. Grand-daughter and husband made a great game of finding all the Mouseman mice on the pews.
The church, whilst it looks Victorian from the outside, clearly has some very old parts, evident in the blocked up windows in the arches in the nave, and the tower. The church guide tell us that this is the "oldest building in South Yorkshire and is one of the ten oldest churches in England, with parts dating back to at least 750AD." The church warden was telling us that the church came many years before the castle, and so is sited on the highest part of the town; the castle therefore had to take the second highest spot.
As well as the grave stones, there is the very worn shaft of a cross outside, which the church guide leaflet says dates from the very earliest times of this church, around 750 AD. Lovely welcome and well worth the detour. Carried on to look at the castle before heading off into Doncaster.
Although these are not pre-Conquest, they are an excellent set of carved stones - said to be the finest funery slabs in England.
The site was first Christianised in 750 CE, though the church is Medieval. Inside two large slabs, making up a tomb chest, date from the 11th-12th century and are very richly carved. St George is depicted fighting a dragon, a human head with open mouth swallowing snakes (or snakes coming from his mouth); also warriors in combat, winged beasts, birds, foliage, zodiac signs and a bishop holding his crozier, make up just some of the decoration.
In the N chapel there is a 12th-13th century altar stone with five incised crosses carved on it and a niche for relics. This came from nearby Conisbrough Castle. And near that a 13th century cross-slab.
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