Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist, built in 1866 by John Douglas, is located in Aldford and was constructed at the expense of the 2nd Marquis of Westminster. It features red sandstone with a graded grey-green slate roof and a shingled spire. The church has a three-stage tower with a recessed octagonal spire, a nave with south and north aisles, a gabled south porch, a chancel with a south vestry, and a north chapel. The tower includes an octagonal stair turret topped with a stone spirelet, lancet windows on the first and second stages, paired bell-openings with a central shaft and plate tracery in the bell chamber, and a corbelled open parapet. The east, west, and aisle windows display geometric tracery, while the clerestory features paired lancets with free-standing dividing shafts on the inside. The chapel has a rose window on the north side.

Inside, the four-bay nave is supported by circular columns of polished granite with crocket capitals, and each spandrel features a stone angel. The nave has arched trusses resting on carved stone corbels. The chancel arch is adorned with carved text around the reveal, and the chancel has a painted, panelled cradle roof. A damaged dedication stone from the former church is located over the south entry, and a stone to the right commemorates the rebuilding by the 2nd Marquis of Westminster. The church contains an inlaid marble pulpit, a grey marble font, and 19th-century stained glass, including a Morris window in the north chapel. The reredos features mosaics in five panels by Salviati, along with 18th and 19th-century tablets and a benefactions board in the vestry. The church is situated next to the remains of a motte and bailey castle.