St Mary Magdalene
Campsall, Yorkshire
The church building occupies a dominant site in the village.
The chancel is now longer than the nave, separated by a powerful rood screen. There is no east window and the altar is set on the top of six steps. The church has a wonderful atmosphere of faith and prayer.
As you walk up the church path, St Martin’s is a beautiful medieval church set in a well tended graveyard.
Go in quietly through the south door, but mind the steps! And look around you.
This is the creation of Frances Cassandra, Countess of Rosse, who lived next door in Womersley Hall at the end of the 19th century. She was a leading light in the English Church Union, and wanted ‘her’ church to be reordered in ‘the most advanced fashion’. She commissioned George Bodley to design the new interior, and got the best Victorian stained glass designers to install new windows. She shipped in all the ornaments you can see, including the 17th century Spanish tile picture of the Last Supper on the south wall, almost hidden by the font cover, which she also commissioned.
Beside the font is the effigy of a member of the de Newmarch family, the local baron in the 14th century. The memorial is dated to 1330 and was carved locally, in local stone, but has had an interesting journey around the church, spending some time face down in the chancel, which is how it survived the Protestant Reformation.
The statues on the lower level of the rood screen nearly didn’t survive, though. In 1900 Womersley church was so well known that Thomas Kensit of the Protestant Truth Society journeyed from London, removed the statues and headed off to York to accuse the Archbishop of failing in his duty to prevent ‘Popery’ in the Church of England. Lady Rosse was told of the visit and set off in her coach. She apprehended the Kensitites before they could catch the train at Knottingley and the statues were returned to their rightful places.
Before you leave, find the wooden memorial plaque on a pillar between nave and south aisle. It commemorates the members of the Rosse family who died in the First World War.
Please take time to absorb the holiness of this eloquent building, before you enjoy a delicious cake at The Courtyard Tearoom, our friendly neighbours 100m down the road.