Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This is a parish church built between 1791 and 1795 by Charles Watson, the prominent Yorkshire architect of Doncaster and York. It was designed as the centrepiece of a planned development around St John's Square dating to around 1800, representing Wakefield's only Georgian town planning scheme. Watson was in partnership with William Lindley of Doncaster, a long-time assistant of the celebrated John Carr, whose influence is evident in the design. An engraving by Malton attributes the church to both Lindley and Watson. The church underwent substantial alterations in 1885 and extensions in 1905, both designed by J.T. Micklethwaite, the London architect.

The building is constructed of ashlar sandstone with a hipped slate roof to the nave and hipped leaded roofs to the chancel, chapel and vestry. It presents a unified classical style set within a courtyard at the centre of a matching square.

The five-stage west tower features angles with deep hollow chamfers. The west doorway has Tuscan columns, a Doric entablature and pediment, with fielded-panel doors. The second stage contains round-headed windows, followed by short bands of blind balustrading. The third stage is short and features oculi with radial glazing bars. Pairs of Tuscan pilasters frame round-headed windows in the fourth stage, above which urn finials are set back from the angles. The octagonal upper stage has round-headed belfry openings, clock faces to the main directions, and a polygonal dome crowned with an apex weathervane.

The five-bay nave emphasises its central three bays with a rusticated plinth and paired Tuscan pilasters. An upper tier of round-headed windows has small-pane radial glazing, while a lower tier features blind segmental-headed windows in moulded architraves. The central bays include a blind doorway on the south side, with glazing to the south-west window. The parapet incorporates sections of balustrade and urns; the south side displays a central field with an oval panel and festoons, surmounted by an urn. Set-back porches at the ends of the main nave elevations have plain parapets, segmental-headed west windows, and fielded-panel north and south doors.

The two-bay chancel parapet matches the nave details. It features Diocletian windows positioned high on the north and south sides. The east wall is blind except for a statue of John in a round-headed niche, with the date 1905 in raised numerals on the eaves cornice and a parapet incorporating a panel with the IHS monogram. The single-bay chapel and organ loft, set back slightly from the nave's south elevation, has similar fenestration including blind east windows. A low vestry with segmental-headed windows and a fielded-panel door completes the plan.

The interior features arcades with Tuscan columns on high bases and coffered arches. The plaster ceiling includes three large sunken round panels and gilded friezes. The aisles have simpler ceilings, each with three roses. The chancel arch is a Serliana, probably added in 1905. The chancel contains Tuscan pilasters and a painted and gilded barrel ceiling. The chapel is accessed by colonnaded entrances from the chancel and aisle. Within the tower base is a round stairwell with two cantilevered stone staircases.

Half-glazed doors mark the west end of the nave and gallery, with fielded-panel vestry doors in the chancel and north aisle. The walls are plastered. The aisles have flagstone floors with raised floorboards beneath the pews, while the chancel features a black and white diaper marble floor. A screen beneath the gallery was inserted around 1978.

The west gallery is carried on four cast-iron Tuscan columns and retains its original foliage entablature, though the panelled frontal is a replacement of 1889 incorporating the original painted Royal Arms. The gallery retains some original benches with fielded panels to ends and backs. Most furnishings belong to the later 19th century and the major restoration of the late 1880s. A square polished marble front dated 1889 has a domed metal cover. The pews have shaped ends and panelled backs. The polygonal pulpit features fielded panels below an open balustrade, with the date 1822 on the base, though the pulpit itself appears later. Choir stalls dated 1900 have fielded-panel ends and backs with foliage cresting. The chancel's fielded-panel dado is dated 1912.

The reredos, in the style of Grinling Gibbons, features a painting of the Crucifixion framed by Corinthian columns, an entablature and a segmental pediment. Communion rails with balustrading are probably of 1905. The north chapel contains a fielded-panel reredos and communion rail on turned balusters. There are 18th and 19th century wall tablets and three square panels that probably derive from a Stations of the Cross sequence of the early 20th century.

The chancel stained glass is dated 1905. The chapel contains a window by E. Pickett & Co of Leeds, and a south window by H. Hughes dating to 1868.

The tower was rebuilt in 1885 with the date marked on the building. Micklethwaite also designed the new chancel, chapel and vestry at this time, though they were not constructed until 1905, as recorded by dates on the building and rainwater head. This work replaced what was probably a short chancel and possibly an earlier vestry. A 2007 faculty created facilities at the rear of the church, with further changes to the worship space pending.