Parish Church Of St John The Evangelist

The parish church of St John the Evangelist is a church constructed between 1896 and 1897 by John Douglas. It is built of sandstone ashlar with Welsh slate roofs, and a stone slab to the spire. The church comprises a west steeple, a nave, a south porch, a narrow north aisle, a storeyed chancel built over vestries, and a north organ chamber.

The steeple tower features two massive west buttresses with set-offs, along with shallow buttresses to the south that break through the nave roof. A two-light window is set beneath a hood-mould on the west face, surmounted by a stubby broach spire with gabled two-light bellfry openings to the cardinal points, the sills of which are brought down below the level of the spire eaves. The nave wraps around the tower, featuring a single lancet window to the west wall. Groups of flush lancets are present on the south wall, and a similar layout is used on the north aisle, which is contained under a catslide roof and stops short of the west end of the nave. The south porch is approached by steps with retaining walls, and has a prominent gable coping and apex cross, with a two-centred moulded arch set under a hood-mould. The chancel is storeyed and higher than the nave, with single tall lancets to the side walls (paired to the sanctuary) and shouldered paired lancets to the vestry below. The east window is a triple lancet under a hood-mould, with two low-set lancets to the vestry. The organ chamber is simply treated, with a tall chimney stack at its junction with the chancel.

Inside, the nave has four bays; the windows are set in deep reveals, while three arches at the west end define a baptistry, the central arch being taller than the others. The roof features side purlins with braced collars to the principals, and wind braces. The north aisle's construction is original and striking, incorporating arcade posts and plate (the latter with an inscription), with straight braces, tie stubs with straight braces from post to principal, and ashlar pieces. The raised chancel is accessed via a two-centred moulded arch and features an arched-brace boarded roof. Fittings include robust, open-fronted choir stalls, each bay containing a central turned baluster, a polygonal stone pulpit with a Crucifixion panel, an octagonal stone font and an organ by Alexander Fry (1898). Glass is by Percy Bacon Brothers.

The church is noted for its bold and original design and occupies a very exposed site. It was financed in part by subscriptions raised worldwide by choirboys, leading to it being known as the 'Choirboys' Church'. The design is similar to John Douglas’s church at Maentwrog (Merioneth) and was illustrated in The Architect journal in 1900.