Reasons for Designation
A parish church is a building, usually of roughly rectangular outline and
containing a range of furnishings and fittings appropriate to its use for
Christian worship by a secular community, whose members gather in it on
Sundays and on the occasion of religious festivals. Children are initiated
into the Christian religion at the church's font and the dead are buried in
its churchyard. Parish churches were designed for congregational worship and
are generally divided into two main parts: the nave, which provides
accommodation for the laity, and the chancel, which is the main domain of the
priest and contains the principal altar. Either or both parts are sometimes
provided with aisles, giving additional accommodation or spaces for additional
altars. Most parish churches also possess towers, generally at the west
end, but central towers at the crossing of nave and chancel are not uncommon
and some churches have a free-standing or irregularly sited tower. Many parish
churches also possess transepts at the crossing of chancel and nave, and south
or north porches are also common. The main periods of parish church foundation
were in the 10th to 11th and 19th centuries. Most medieval churches were
rebuilt and modified on a number of occasions and hence the visible fabric of
the church will be of several different dates, with in some cases little
fabric of the first church being still easily visible.
Parish churches are found throughout England. Their distribution reflects the
density of population at the time they were founded. In regions of dispersed
settlement parishes were often large and churches less numerous. The densest
clusters of parish churches were found in thriving medieval towns. A survey of
1625 reported the existence of nearly 9000 parish churches in England. New
churches built in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries increased numbers to
around 18,000 of which 17,000 remain in ecclesiastical use. Parish churches
have always been major features of the landscape and a major focus of life for
their parishioners. They provide important insights into medieval and later
population levels or economic cycles, religious activity, artistic endeavour
and technical achievement. A significant number of surviving examples are
identified to be nationally important.
The earthwork and buried remains of the Saxon church of Dadesley are well
preserved and retain significant archaeological deposits which will include
important information about the structure, architectural style, ritual use and
status of the church. The well documented and unusual history of the site is
particularly important in understanding the early medieval and subsequent
settlement of the area and its status within the wider landscape. Taken as a
whole, the Saxon church of Dadesley will greatly enhance our understanding of
religion and economy during the Saxon period and the position of these within
the wider social landscape.
Details
The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of All Hallows Church,
Dadesley, which lie in isolation on the top of All Hallows Hill, north east of
the town of Tickhill.
The borough of Dadeslie was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 where
it is recorded as one of two places in the West Riding at that time with urban
status. It is unclear where the associated settlement of Dadesley was
situated, but it is thought to have been the predecessor of the present town
of Tickhill. The church at All Hallows Hill served the area prior to the
Norman Conquest but was replaced, certainly by the 13th century, with the
Church of St Mary situated approximately 1km to the south east in the centre
of Tickhill.
The change in name from Dadesley to Tickhill implies a physical movement of
the settlement possibly from an original site, close to Dadesley church, to
one which developed around the 11th century castle in Tickhill.
The monument survives as a series of earthworks and a geophysical survey has
revealed considerable detail of the underlying archaeological deposits. The
church is aligned east to west, measures approximately 15m long and 7m wide
and includes two sub-rectangular compartments, the nave and the chancel, which
are positioned end to end. These are arranged in a cellular layout, which
means the two were separated by a chancel arch similar to a door. The nave,
which is the larger of the two, lies at the western end. The earthworks
defining the building survive to a height of approximately 0.75m.
The church lies within a small `D' shaped graveyard enclosure which, despite
the removal of some field boundaries, is still clearly visible on the ground.
The eastern edge of the enclosure is still marked by a field boundary. The
enclosure measures approximately 70m by 65m and is approximately 2m higher
than the field to the east, which has been repeatedly ploughed. The enclosure
is defined by a bank which survives up to 1m in height on the southern side
but slightly lower on the northern side. A large amount of stone lies on and
around the site and there are reports that the remains of grave stones have
been recovered. In the time of Richard II it is documented that some stone
from the site was taken and used in the construction of Laughton Chapel in the
later Church of St Mary.
All modern fencing is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground
beneath is included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
