Church Of St John Baptist

Church of St John Baptist

This is a church mainly rebuilt in 1887–8, but incorporating a Perpendicular west tower and the north chancel chapel of the Beaumont family. The walls are of hammer-dressed stone with ashlar dressings, and the roof is of stone slate with gable copings.

The building comprises a 3-bay nave, a west tower, a lean-to south aisle and a pitched roof north aisle (both buttressed), a 2-bay chancel with a vestry on the south side, and the Beaumont chapel to the north. The 3-tier tower has a later south porch, diagonal buttresses with off-sets to the first tier, 2-light bell chamber openings with tracery, and a crenellated parapet with crocketted pinnacles.

The windows are notable for their tracery work. A 3-light west window to the tower and a 6-light west window to the north aisle both display Perpendicular tracery. The south aisle has large square-headed traceried 2-light windows, while the north aisle contains 2, 3 and 4-light Perpendicular windows. The east chancel window is 5-light with intersecting tracery, featuring 2 circles and a cinquefoil in the head. The Beaumont Chapel retains original fenestration: a 3-light east window that is square-headed with 5-foiled lights, and an original 3-light window on the north side with 5-foiled heads and curvilinear tracery.

Interior Features

The nave has a 3-bay arcade to both north and south, supported on short octagonal piers. Both the nave and north aisle are spanned by hammer-beam roofs.

The Beaumont chapel contains four extremely fine monuments. A recumbent effigy of Sir Richard Beaumont (died 1631) of Whitley Hall, created by Nicholas Stone, rests on a dresser tomb. The tomb features engaged Corinthian colonnettes to each side supporting a round-arched surround to the central plaque. Standing female figures surmount each colonnette, and a coat of arms crowns the arch. The work is in marble and painted. A second monument to Richard Beaumont of Whitley Hall (died 1692) comprises a central plaque recording his virtues, supported by cherubs and surmounted by a male and female bust, an urn, and a coat of arms. The third monument, to Richard Beaumont of Whitley Hall (died 1704), is possibly by Guelfi and dated 1731. It features a well-carved bust under a simulated cloth baldacchino on a heavy consoled pedestal carved with palm leaves and flanked by framing urns, all supported on a heavily fluted sarcophagus with lion's feet. A monument to Charlotte McCumming (died 1813), by S. & T. Franceys of Liverpool, displays the inscription on a split sarcophagus from which the spirit rises, aided by two angels.

The chapel also houses an 18th-century oak lectern with a bulbous stem.

Other memorials appear throughout the church. At the east end of the north aisle is a plaque commemorating 5 members of the Dickins family who died between 1677 and 1702. It is carved with stone surround of flowers and foliage, crested with urns and a shield, and bearing two skulls at the base. At the base of the tower is a well-carved alabaster memorial to Robert Henry Tolson depicting St. Peter being released from prison by the angel.

The church contains a marble font, probably of the late 19th century, well carved with clustered pedestal and angels supporting an 8-sided bowl. At the west end of the north aisle is a long coffin lid with a shield and a sword, probably of the 13th century.