Today I decided to start one of the projects that’s been in my head for a while. I want to start photographing and finding out about the history of the area in which i live. To this end I’ve started locally by finding old buildings and by old I mean at the very least 100 years of age. The older the better.
So I started with one I know well – Adel St. Johns church.
The church is of Norman design built between 1150 and 1170 with alterations made over the years. Its a grade 1 listed building and the mountain g block for those with carriages is grade 2 listed.
The door had iron studs and a 13th century bronze closing ring depicting a man being swallowed by a monster. This was replaced with a replica after the original was stolen in 2002.
The Romans had a fort in Adel and left wells, a temple including alter stones and various other artifact which are in Leeds museum. Before that there was an iron age fort. There was an Anglo Saxon wooden church when Adel and most of Yorkshire was part of the kingdom of Northumbria. Anglo Saxon coffins and the head of a c10 cross have been found – also in Leeds museum.
If you click on the photo above in the left corner, to enlarge it, you can see the grotesque heads, these are called corbels.
The vestry at the back of this photo has a chimney.
Graveyards are fascinating places. You can learn so much from them. The one on the right at the top shows a man who died of cholera – there were a few epidemics in Leeds. The Victorians certainly liked to mark their deaths with some grand monoliths.