Former Church Of St John The Baptist

Former church, now offices. 1859-60 by Weightman and Hadfield, extended 1900-01 by W J Sykes of Hoyland. Coursed, dressed sandstone. Welsh slate roofs. Gothic Revival style.

PLAN: Four-bay nave with north and south aisles with separate double-pitched roofs, south porch beneath tower with spire. Lower two-bay chancel with north vestry and organ chamber; south Lady Chapel now removed.

EXTERIOR: the tower is square with angle buttresses to the lower stage and a pointed arch porch doorway to the south side. There is an offset band beneath an upper stage with two-light cusped and trefoiled louvres. Above is a broach spire with lucarnes. There is a vice (spiral stair) in the angle with the south aisle. The south aisle has a chamfered plinth and a buttress between each bay. There are three two-light cusped and pierced plate tracery windows with plain hoodmoulds and polychromatic arches over. The north aisle has similar detailing to the side elevation, with a shallow lean-to section at the left-hand end. There are three modern skylights to the outer pitch of the north aisle roof. Both aisles have pointed arch windows to their west gable walls with three-light cusped and cinquefoil tracery; the north vestry, under a continuous aisle roof, has a similar window in its east gable wall. The nave breaks forward at the west end. The west window is of four cusped lights with a king mullion and a sunken roundel above pierced by three trefoils. At the east end, the south Lady Chapel has been removed and the pointed arch originally linking it with the south aisle is now glazed to form an exterior window in the east gable wall of the aisle. Similarly, the pointed arch linking it with the chancel has also been glazed, with a glazed doorway and an external access ramp. The chancel has a chamfered plinth and angle buttresses. The east window has four lights with Geometric tracery with plain hoodmoulds and polychromatic arches over. There is a two-light cusped and pierced plate tracery window in the south elevation. The church has corbelled kneelers and coped gables with intermediate stepped kneelers.

INTERIOR: there is a four-bay arcade to the nave with pointed arches and circular columns with chamfered bases and moulded capitals. There is an internal three-light window above the pointed chancel arch. The nave and aisles have scissor-braced roofs, with a plastered chancel ceiling. The chancel has an encaustic tiled floor and a Gothic-style concrete reredos. On the left-hand side of the chancel arch is a timber pulpit with Gothic detailing. The majority of the windows retain stained glass. The nave and the inner pitches of both aisles have modern skylights.