Church Of St John Of Beverley

The Church of St John of Beverley stands on a medieval site and was largely rebuilt in 1843 by John Dobson, with subsequent remodelling and the addition of a chancel in 1886 by William S. Hicks. Constructed of squared tooled stone with ashlar dressings, the church features a broad rectangular nave, a small chancel, a north vestry, and a west tower with a spire. The roof over the nave is covered in lead and Welsh slate, while the chancel roof is lead. The church is designed in a free 14th-century style.

The south elevation of the nave has four bays, defined by stepped buttresses with moulded plinths and gargoyles above. A hollow chamfer runs below the parapet, which has a moulded cornice. Square-headed three-light windows are present. A doorway with a moulded 4-centred arch, framed in square detail and featuring foliage carving and sacred monograms in the spandrels, is situated between the eastern bays. Similar fenestration is found on the north side. The gable ends are shaped with a finial cross to the east. The west tower is single-stage with stepped diagonal buttresses and boarded double doors in a double-chamfered north doorway. A four-light window illuminates the west face, and plain, chamfered pointed belfry openings are present. A stone broach spire topped with a moulded finial rises above, pierced by lancet lucarnes and small lancets in the spire faces. The chancel features a moulded plinth, stepped diagonal buttresses, and a five-light east window with hoodmould terminals bearing sacred monograms. A carved gable cornice with bosses and grotesques completes the chancel’s exterior. A 14th-century Frosterley marble slab with a Lombardic inscription is now set upright against the east wall of the nave, south of the chancel.

Inside, the tower arch displays a triple hollow chamfer. The moulded chancel arch is adorned with carved foliage and a sacred monogram. All windows have moulded 4-centred rear arches. Sedilia and a piscina are distinguished by their cusped arches. An elaborately carved chancel screen, an organ screen, and a tower screen are present. The interior features a low-pitched king-post roof with trusses supported by curved brackets resting on stone corbels, with carved panels, inscriptions, and carving along the wall plate. The panelled tower roof includes sunburst bosses. Fragments of medieval monuments and sculpture are incorporated into the south wall of the tower, alongside a Roman altar adapted into a sundial and a cup-and-ring stone.

The church is designated largely for the quality of its late 19th-century fittings and furnishings.