Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a church with a core dating back to the 12th century, significantly rebuilt in the 15th century, and subject to extensive 19th-century restoration. The church is constructed of sandstone, with early fabric being irregular rubble and 15th-century work in ashlar. The roofs are slate covered. The building includes a west tower, a small nave with a partial aisle to the south and a lean-to porch set in an angle with the nave, and a chancel with a south chapel.

The west tower is of Perpendicular style, with a chamfered plinth and moulded band to the tall lower stage. It has a 3-light west window below a depressed, 4-centred arch. A pointed arch frames a door on the south-east vice, with an iron-faced clock above. There are 2-light belfry openings and a renewed embattled parapet with crocketted pinnacles, topped with a weathervane. The nave is of irregular rubble, heightened in ashlar, with diagonal offset buttresses to the west end. It contains square-headed windows with hoodmoulds to the aisle and north side. The aisle has a chamfered plinth, a 3-light window, a chamfered eaves band, kneelers, and gable coping. The porch features deeply-coursed stonework and a round-arched south doorway. The north wall includes two 3-light windows, a blocked doorway to the west, a lancet window, and a large offset buttress to the east. It has a rebuilt gable with kneelers, copings, and a cross. The chancel is lower, embattled with limestone merlons. The east window is restored, with 3-lights beneath a round arch. A lancet window is on the north wall. The south chapel is also restored, featuring a pointed 2-light window and is embattled.

Inside, the pointed south doorway is flanked by an old oak door. The aisle has a double-chamfered, pointed-arch entrance. The chancel arch is a restored round arch on semicircular responds with crocketted capitals. An arch to the south chapel is similar, with a quarter-mould and chamfer, and remains unrestored. A significant wall monument from 1701 is located on the north wall beneath the tower. Stained glass depicts a figure of an Archbishop in a lancet window at the east end of the nave’s north wall, believed to date from the 13th or early 14th century and now restored. Tradition holds that The First Earl of Strafford (executed 1641), his widow, and daughter were buried beneath the chancel.