Church of St John the Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This is a parish church located on Hodmire Lane in the parish of Ault Hucknall, with origins in the 11th century and significant additions and modifications in the 14th and 15th centuries. The building was substantially restored between 1885 and 1888 by the architect William Butterfield.

The church is constructed of coursed rubble sandstone with sandstone dressings and quoins. The roof is of Welsh slate with stone coped gables. The building features a chamfered plinth and moulded embattled parapets. The plan comprises a nave and aisles, a south porch, a central crossing tower, and a chancel with an attached south chapel and a north vestry.

The south aisle is a lean-to structure with an embattled parapet topped by one crocketted finial. It spans four bays divided by buttresses with three set-offs. A flat-arched west window contains four round-arched lights. The south porch is gabled with a battlemented parapet and crocketted pinnacles. It has diagonal buttresses and a moulded four-centred arched entrance. To the right of the porch are three flat-arched windows each containing four round-arched lights. A plainly chamfered four-centred arched priests' doorway is located here. The chancel chapel continues in similar style but is lower in height, featuring one comparable window. Angle buttresses with a crocketted pinnacle support this section. The gabled east elevation displays a similar window, while the main east window of the chancel contains three lights with bar tracery.

A 19th-century lean-to north vestry has plain mullioned windows. The central tower features flat-arched two-light bell-openings with recessed and chamfered mullions in each direction. An external flight of stone steps on the north side ascends to a doorway with a segmental pointed arch and a rectangular window above. The north aisle is a lean-to structure containing a small rectangular window and two pairs of trefoiled lancets dating from the 19th-century restoration. A Norman lancet at the west end has a round-arched head decorated with zigzag ornament. The clerestory contains two small two-light windows with recessed and chamfered mullions.

The blocked 11th-century west doorway features an incised lintel depicting a scene of St George and the Dragon. The tympanum above is incised with a centaur (possibly representing St Margaret emerging from the body of the devil) on the left, and a lamb and cross on the right. Inside the porch, a pointed tunnel vault springs from four chamfered ribs, and stone seats line the walls. A plain four-centred arched doorway with 19th-century doors gives access to the interior.

The interior reveals a two-bay 11th-century north arcade of plain unmoulded round arches with chamfered impost bands. The south arcade consists of two bays plus one additional bay. The first two bays feature double-chamfered arches supported on a central octagonal pier with bell capital; the responds rest on corbels. A further bay to the east has a similar arch with moulded corbels on semi-octagonal responds. The east tower arch is a depressed round arch with re-assembled chevron and beakhead ornament. A double-chamfered arch opens into the south-east chapel, with the outer order dying into the imposts and the inner order on corbels. The chancel arch is a low, plain round-arched opening resembling a doorway. A double-chamfered arch connects the tower space to the chapel, with the inner order corbelled.

The chancel decoration is the work of William Butterfield and includes a tiled sanctuary, altar rails with bold cusped circular motifs, and a stone reredos of tripartite form with coloured marbles and a Hopton Wood stone centre panel. A pillar piscina stands on a circular colonette.

The chapel contains a monument to Anne Keighley, wife of the first Earl of Devonshire, dated 1627. This elaborate work sits below the chapel window and consists of a large base bearing an inscription and exquisite foliage decoration, a cornice, and a hipped roof-like top. Five free-standing allegorical figures rise on corbels from below the cornice. On the floor in front of the monument lies a black slab inscribed to Thomas Hobbes, the philosopher and protégé of the Cavendishes, who died at Hardwick in 1679. An aumbry recess is also present.

Medieval stained glass dated 1527 in the chapel east window depicts the Crucifixion. The church contains plain robust pews, a pulpit, choir stalls, and a readers' desk, probably designed by Butterfield. A screen of intersecting round arches separates the south aisle from the chapel. A wooden eagle lectern stands in the church.

The nave roof dates to the 14th century and features large tie beams and coarse trefoil tracery above. A sandstone and Hopton Wood stone font, given in 1887 and designed by Butterfield, displays inlaid circular motifs. Beside it stands a plain circular font bowl. Two benefaction boards are displayed at the west end of the nave. A painted coat of arms and charity board hang in the south aisle. Two 18th-century monuments are located in the north aisle, including one cartouche dated 1703. Several 19th-century stained glass windows are present throughout the aisles, along with a 1933 window in the north aisle by HHB of Nottingham.