Church Of St John The Evangelist

This church was built between 1846 and 1848 to designs by George Gilbert Scott, one of the most successful church architects of the 19th century. It was consecrated on 27 April 1848 by Archbishop Musgrave. The patron was the local squire, Yarburgh Graeme of Sewerby House, whose strong preferences evidently influenced the building's unusual design.

Materials and Construction

The church is built of sandstone ashlar quarried from nearby Wakefield, with slate roofs and a lead-covered spire.

Plan

The building comprises a nave, chancel, tower and spire at the south-east corner of the nave, north transept, and north-east vestry.

Architectural Style

The church is built in the Norman style with round-arched openings throughout (unless otherwise stated). This choice of style is particularly significant: the neo-Norman manner enjoyed only a brief period of fashionability from around 1835 to around 1845, after which Gothic architecture became overwhelmingly dominant for new church buildings. By the mid-1840s Scott himself had become an enthusiastic advocate of Gothic, making this one of the last examples of neo-Norman church architecture and highly atypical of his work. Scott later noted in his 'Recollections' that 'difficulties arose from the fads of my employer', suggesting that the style represented Yarburgh Graeme's wishes rather than the architect's own preference.

Exterior

The west end is particularly impressive, featuring a large window with three orders of carving, the outer two carried on shafts. On either side are panels of blind intersecting arcades, each with a single-light window at the centre. The gable contains a vesica-shaped window and two small roundels bearing the armorial bearings of Graeme and of Yarburgh impaling Graeme.

The nave and chancel have stone cornices supported on elaborately carved corbels. The nave has small windows with hoods. The south doorway is a striking feature with a shallow gabled projection, the gable carved with high-relief lozenges. The doorway itself has three orders of carving and three shafts in the jambs with reeded and foliage capitals. The orders include an inscription and a set of beak-heads. The original door survives, decorated with ornamental strap hinges.

The tower is slender, more like a turret in size, with engaged shafts at the corners. In the belfry stage there is blind intersecting arcading embracing pairs of small windows. The splay-foot spire has a lead covering with rolled joints.

The chancel is arranged in two tiers divided by a string-course. The upper tier has blind arcading on the north and south walls, each side containing two small windows with architraves carved with zig-zag ornament. The gable of the east wall is treated as a pediment with a corbel course carried across below the gable. A wheel window sits in the gable above three windows set within a tier of blind arcading. These windows have shafts to the jambs and twisted ornament to the architraves.

The north vestry has a chimney stack on the ridge with a four-way gable at the base and paired circular chimney shafts. Its north wall contains a pair of windows with a roundel window in the gable above.

Interior

The interior features striking neo-Norman detailing and a very complete set of fittings in neo-Norman style, along with numerous incised inscriptions over the arches. It is painted white with some architectural details picked out in bright colours. This decorative scheme was executed in 1947 under Francis Johnson, when the interior was rather over-zealously whitened and bright colouration applied to various architectural features. Previously the texts over the arches had been picked out in black, and during this work plain glass was put in the nave windows.

The chancel arch has zig-zag decoration with carved responds and capitals featuring interlace ornament. Over the arch is a roundel bearing the arms of Queen Victoria. The nave has an open canted wagon roof with twisted ribbon ornament to the wallplates and neo-Norman corbels. The main cross-ribs have carved decoration. Similar roofs cover the chancel and transept. At the east end of the chancel, triple arcading frames the three windows, the arches displaying fierce zig-zag ornament. String-courses return around the north and south walls where the windows have moulded surrounds and engaged shafts.

Fittings and Furnishings

The church retains a very largely intact set of neo-Norman style furnishings that harmonise with the architecture.

The reredos consists of inscription panels (including the Lord's Prayer and Creed) within a neo-Norman stone frame, with additional panels bearing the Ten Commandments to the north and south. The sanctuary floor is laid with two-colour encaustic tiles. The timber altar rail features round-headed arcading.

The choir stalls are quite grand: the rear seats have arms and the ends of the front seats are decorated with blind trefoil-headed arches. The nave seating has panelled doors—a highly unusual feature for the late 1840s. These doors represent a vestige of the enclosed arrangements typical of Georgian box-pews, whereas Victorian architects like Scott generally favoured open benches. This feature, like the neo-Norman style itself, surely represents the client's insistence over the architect's preference. The bench-ends have shaped tops decorated with stiff-leaf knots.

The font is neo-Norman in style with a circular bowl featuring cable moulding and waterleaf ornament carved at the corners of the square base. The wooden polygonal timber drum pulpit has its sides carved with round-headed arches. The reading desk has two shoulder-headed arches.

The west window contains glass by William Wailes. The roundel in the transept is dated 1847 and is also probably by him. The chancel windows consist of small figure groups dating from 1890, which were set against white glass backgrounds in 1947. At the west end are two 20th-century windows with symbols of the Evangelists and backgrounds of carefully designed leaded patterns.

Wall monuments in neo-Norman style commemorate the founder's family. The monument to Thomas Graeme (died 1779), featuring a broken pediment and an urn, was brought here from Wharram Percy church in 1957.

Setting and Surroundings

The churchyard and road beyond are separated by attractive iron railings, gate piers and gate. A small First World War memorial stands in the churchyard.

Historical Context

The choice of Scott as architect is likely linked to the fact that he, with his partner William Butterfield Moffatt, had designed Christ Church, Bridlington Quay, erected in 1840-1841.

George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) began practice in the mid-1830s and became the most successful church architect of his day. Though often criticised for over-restoration, his work on medieval buildings was usually very respectful, while his new churches generally possess a harmonious quality often derived from late 13th-century or early 14th-century architecture. He also designed a number of very important secular buildings, including the Albert Memorial and the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras. He was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1859 and was knighted in 1872. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.