Church Of Saint John The Baptist

The Church of Saint John the Baptist is a Grade II listed building, constructed in 1742 and extended west by two bays in 1772, with alterations made in 1842 and 1868 by H. Cockburn. The church is built from hammer-dressed stone and features a slate roof. It has a three-sided gallery plan and a two-bay chancel, totaling eight bays with two tiers of windows. The building includes rusticated quoins on the left, a first-floor band, and an eaves cornice. There are arched doors beneath the gables of bays one and seven. All the windows are in the 19th-century Gothic revival style, with three lights and cusped heads on the ground floor, and two lights with tracery on the first floor. The east window is a five-light design with curvilinear tracery. A lean-to against the west end retains one of the original semi-circular headed windows, complete with a keystone and impost capitals. The open octagonal cupola, partly dating from the earlier church, features clock faces that indicate the dates of various restorations.

Inside, Cockburn renewed the gallery, which has an arcaded parapet and rests on ornate cast-iron columns, supporting the organ loft. He also created the chancel within the existing structure by inserting a triple chancel arch with dogtooth enrichment and quatrefoil columns, along with timber screens that separate the side chapel. The church contains an alabaster pulpit that has been reduced in height, and stained glass windows, much of which was made by Comere and Capronnier between 1884 and 1896. A large 20th-century hall is attached to the north side of the church.