Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

Church built between 1846 and 1850 by architect Peter Walker, with substantial additions in 1891 by Preston & Vaughan and alterations in the early 1990s. The building is constructed in First Pointed style using coursed large and small sandstone with ashlar dressings, topped with a Welsh slate roof.

The church comprises a chancel, north vestry, south chapel, nave with south porch, and a west tower. The chancel sits under a separate roof and features a stepped three-part tall plain lancet east window with drip mouldings and slim corner buttresses. The south chapel runs the full length of the chancel with a monopitch roof and parapet, angle and three side buttresses, two pairs of lancet windows to the south and one pair to the east. The north vestry has a north-facing gable, an east door, and a triple lancet window with transoms and a relieving arch. All three elements at the east end were added in 1891.

The nave is divided into six bays with plain lancet windows positioned between gabled buttresses, a parapet to the eaves, and a string course at cill level between buttresses. A gabled porch on the south side between the first and third bays features gabled angle buttresses, a lancet arch door, and quatrefoil decoration in the gable. The west tower has three stages with a lancet arch west door, a single large lancet window with simple plate tracery at first-floor level, and two small lancet windows beneath a clock in the top section. The north and south faces of the tower have lancet windows at ground floor and a matching pair at the top section. Angle buttresses, a parapet, and pinnacles on the top stage complete the composition.

The interior features a chancel with a segmental vaulted ceiling and a stone reredos with blind arcading below the east windows, which have decorative leading. A pink and cream marble pulpit stands to the left and a wooden reading desk to the right at the entrance to the chancel. The south chapel has windows similar to those in the chancel, exposed roof trusses, and arched openings to both the chancel and nave. An organ loft occupies the north side of the chancel with a door to the vestry; both have drop-arch openings.

The nave is spanned by exposed roof trusses of slender hammer beam construction with iron tie-bars at eaves level. Two decorative vents appear in the roof at the ridge. Windows throughout are mainly fitted with simple, geometric stained glass in subdued colours. The walls are wood panelled below window level. At the west end, a raked gallery supported on two cast iron columns sits above an organ loft within the tower. A large tower window serves as the west window, with subsidiary windows on each side. At ground floor level are doors to the porch and tower, with a spiral staircase to the tower in the north-east angle. Numbered, gated box pews occupy the majority of the nave, fitted with cast iron hoops and ceramic trays for umbrellas. An octagonal stone font with a pointed wooden cover stands beneath the gallery.

Historical records show that original plans depicted a small chancel at the east end with either a vestry or chapel in the north-east corner. This arrangement was replaced in 1891 by Preston & Vaughan with the current layout. A substantial stone lych-gate designed by Taylor & Young dates to 1927. Prior to the early 1990s, the church was topped by a spire, which was removed when it became unsafe. The tower was given its parapet and pinnacles at that time.