Church Of St John

PENISTONE MARKET PLACE SE20SW (east side) 3/45 Church of St. John 23rd June 1965

GV I

Church. Masonry in nave, possibly pre-Conquest, arcades C13, chancel c1300, aisles, clerestorey and tower later C14 or C15. Deeply-coursed, squared stone, rubble to chancel. Lead roof. West tower, 6-bay nave with 4-bay north and south aisles and south porch, 2-bay chancel with north and south single-bay chapels and north-east C19 vestry. Tall Perpendicular, three-stage tower with diagonal buttresses. Large west door with two orders of mouldings enriched with stars and masks. 3-light traceried window above. Transomed and traceried bell-chamber openings. Gargoyles, castellated parapets and crocketed pinnacles. Buttressed aisles with three 3-light windows to south and two 2-light windows to north. South porch has C20 roof. Castellated parapets. Five 3-light square-headed clerestorey windows, castellated parapets and crocketed pinnacles. The south chancel chapel is gabled and has a 3-light window with Perpendicular tracery. Pointed chancel door with 2-light window above and a 3-light window with intersecting tracery. Five-light east window (restored) with intersecting tracery. North chancel chapel similar to south.

Interior: 6-bay arcades on alternate round and octagonal piers. Good nave roof, arched-braced to figure-head corbels and with elaborate bosses (c1375). Octagonal bowl-shaped font on square pedestal. Monuments in chancel, north side: 1708 shaped marble tablet with scrolled support and scrolled open pediment and bust flanked by the ox and oak trees of the Bosvile crest; 1714 marble tablet, draped, with gadrooned canopy and flaming urn again with ox and oak trees of the Bosvile crest, flanked by two putti (one is missing). South side: mid C18 tablet with scrolled support and putto with coat of arms at top, to West and Fenton families of Underbrook Hall; other more plain C18 and C19 tablets including one of 1855 " in memory of Wm. Fenton of Underbank Esq. only son of Samuel and Jessey Fenton who was barberously murdered by robbers at Algerciras in Spain. April 13th 1855. Aged 35".

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, 1967.

Listing NGR: SE2465203317