Church Of St John The Baptist

335/0/10044 09-MAY-03

CASTLE HILL ROAD Bircle (East,off) Church of St John the Baptist

II

Church. 1845. By George Shaw of Uppermill. Rock-faced ashlar with ashlar dressings and slate roofs with stone-coped gables. Early English style with buttresses and diagonal buttresses with set-offs. Chancel and nave with north vestry and adjacent small north transept. East end has triple lancet with cusped arches. Similar single lancets to sides of chancel and nave. 3-light window to vestry and single lancet to transept with chimney turret between. Gabled south porch and bellcote on west gable which has double lancet below. INTERIOR. Nave and chancel both have hammer beam roofs rising from stone corbels. Carved angels holding shields on the ends of the hammer beams. Arched braces to collars and 2 tiers of purlins with crossed wind braces between. Panelled wooden reredos and dado panelling in chancel. Choir stalls. Carved pulpit and stone font on clustered columns. Pews in nave. Recent carefully considered partition of west end to form services with meeting room above. This small church is a relatively early example of ecclesiologically correct Gothic, the exterior simplicity combined with a richer interior being appropriate for its rural site.