Church of St John the Baptist is a Grade II* listed building in the Cheshire East local planning authority area, England. First listed on 18 January 1949. A Georgian Church.
Church of St John the Baptist
- WRENN ID
- rough-pinnacle-wax
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Cheshire East
- Constituency
- Tatton MP: Esther McVey (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 18 January 1949
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Georgian
- Address
- Church of St John the Baptist, Church Hill, Knutsford
- OS grid reference
- SJ 752 785
- Coordinates
- 53.30308, -2.3729
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St John the Baptist is a parish church built between 1741 and 1744 by architect J Garlive, with the chancel added in 1879 by A Darbyshire. It is constructed of brick with stone dressings and has a slate roof. The church features a west tower, a galleried nave that is designed as two storeys, and a shallow chancel.
The exterior includes a four-stage west tower with a west doorway, a round-arched window above, and a round-arched bell chamber light in the upper stage, along with a clock below. The parapet is adorned with modillion brackets and is swept between urns at the corners. The two-storeyed nave has a stone plinth, angle quoins, and a string course, with a parapet that alternates between solid and balustraded panels. There are four round-arched upper windows and three below, with a doorway to the southwest in a pedimented case featuring a rusticated architrave and a round-arched inner door. A similar doorway is located on the northwest side. The shallow chancel has a tripartite window and is flanked by an organ chamber to the north, which may be a later addition, and late 20th-century work to the south.
Inside, the nave features a classical arcade of four bays supported by Tuscan columns on high bases, carrying semicircular arches. There is a gallery to the west, north, and south, with wood panelling. High console brackets define the squared chancel arch. A low stone wall with a cast-iron rail and an integral wood and cast-iron pulpit separates the chancel. The wood panelling in the chancel, likely a late 19th-century addition, is in a classical style with a dado and cornice, divided by fluted pilasters.
The church contains stained glass, including a triple window to the east from 1861 that depicts the Baptism of Christ. The windows in the north and south aisles form a series in a Renaissance style, illustrating scenes from the Old and New Testaments, and are dated 1868, 1895, 1919, and 1921, signed by Heaton Butler and Bayne.
Local climate
Church of St John the Baptist sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,000 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 80% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 59% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 40 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 78% of listed buildings. Of these, 22 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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