Church of St John the Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a substantial medieval parish church, substantially rebuilt and enlarged in the 19th century. The earliest surviving features date from around 1200, while the main phases of construction span the 13th to 17th centuries, with major restoration and enlargement carried out between 1865 and 1869 by the eminent architect Sir George Gilbert Scott.

The church is constructed in coursed rubble for its medieval parts and coursed squared gritstone on a rock-faced plinth for the 19th-century additions, with a slate roof. The plan comprises an aisled nave with a south porch, a lower chancel with a south chancel aisle, and a west tower.

The four-stage west tower is the earliest section of the building. Its lower two stages date from the 13th century and feature angle buttresses and a clasping south-west buttress containing the stair turret. The west doorway has two orders of continuous roll moulding, above which sits a restored lancet window and a smaller lancet in the second stage. The upper two stages are 15th century, constructed in pale grey stone, and include a round clock face on the south wall and two-light Perpendicular belfry openings. The crown, comprising an embattled parapet with small corner pinnacles, was added in 1681.

The south aisle shows at least two external phases. To the right of the porch are two two-light square-headed windows separated by a curious diagonal buttress, followed by a three-light square-headed window. To the left of the porch is a westward extension or rebuilding of the aisle, featuring a cusped west window. The porch itself has a moulded entrance arch and triple side lancets. The re-set south aisle doorway dates from around 1200 and features nook shafts with tentative leaf capitals and a restored moulded round arch.

The seven-bay north aisle is entirely 19th century, with gabled buttresses and two-light Decorated windows, although the two easternmost bays are wider. It includes three-light east and west windows. The chancel is contemporary with the north aisle and features similar detail, including a three-light east window and two-light north window. An embattled parapet runs along the north wall, and though not visible externally, a 17th-century south clerestorey on the interior comprises six triple round-headed lights.

The much-restored south chapel projects forward of the nave aisle and displays 17th-century external detail. It features an embattled parapet with pinnacles, four-light square-headed windows with round-headed lights to right and left, a tripartite mullioned window right of centre, and a round-headed doorway to the left of centre with a ribbed and studded door incorporating '1696' in iron studs. The east window is four-light with round-headed lights.

Internally, the 13th-century tower arch displays three orders of chamfer, with the inner order resting on keeled shafts. The south aisle and chapel arcades are 14th century, earlier than their external appearance suggests. Both the five-bay nave arcade and two-bay chapel arcade feature octagonal piers with double-chamfered arches. The taller 19th-century north arcade has piers of quatrefoil section with moulded arches. The 19th-century chancel arch is constructed on semi-circular responds.

The roofs are 19th century: the nave and north aisle have crown-post roofs with four-way bracing on corbelled brackets, while the chancel features a closed polygonal roof with moulded ribs. A re-painted late-medieval Easter Sepulchre is reset into the north-aisle wall, displaying a cusped ogee arch and pinnacles that incorporate crude frontal figures. Walls are plastered, and the floor is stone-paved with grave slabs and black and red tiles in the chapel, with raised floorboards beneath the pews.

The principal fixtures include a much-restored font from around 1200, featuring a round bowl with a single small head at the base, supported on unusually thin detached shafts and a round stem. Other furnishings date from the 19th and 20th centuries. Benches have shaped ends and moulded arm rests. The polygonal pulpit from 1869 features quatrefoil panels on a stone base with shafts and a stiff-leaf frieze. The 1915 chancel screen, executed in late-medieval style with a painted foliage cornice and brattishing, displays a rood by Ludwig Kuziarz dating from the 1960s. Choir stalls and priests' stalls are similar to but slightly more elaborate than the nave benches.

A painted stone reredos depicts Christ in Glory, the Crucifixion, and the Ascension in high relief. A painted wooden reredos in the south aisle, added in 1947, depicts the Virgin Mary and saints.

Several notable monuments relate to the Frecheville family. In the chancel stands a damaged brass effigy of Peter Frecheville (died 1480) on a tomb chest decorated with shields in quatrefoils. Adjacent to it is a recess containing small male and female brass effigies of Piers (died 1503) and Maud Frecheville. An incised alabaster slab on the south side of the chancel commemorates John Frecheville (died 1510). In the south chapel is a wall monument to Christian Lady St John (died 1653 in childbirth), depicting a reclining female figure nursing a baby. Also in the chapel stands a sarcophagus with seated putti, commemorating John Lord Frecheville (died 1682). Behind it is an armorial stained-glass window dated 1676, created by Henry Gyles of York. The chapel east window contains 14th-century glass fragments. Several other stained-glass windows of the late 19th and 20th centuries are present, including depictions of Saints Peter, John, Francis and Paul by F.S. Eden (1937) and two north-aisle windows by H.J. Stammers of York (1956 and 1965).

A lych-gate with a half-hipped graded-slate roof, designed by P.H. Currey around 1938, stands beside the church.

The church's history extends back to around 1200, with the survival of the south doorway and possibly the font from this period. The tower dates from the 13th century. In the 14th century, the south aisle and a south chapel were added. The 15th century saw the heightening of the tower and the rebuilding of the outer walls of the south aisle. During the latter half of the 17th century, the chapel walls were rebuilt (evidenced by the window dated 1676), a chancel clerestorey was added, and the tower's crown was added in 1681.

The comprehensive restoration and enlargement of 1865 to 1869, executed at a cost exceeding £6,000, was undertaken by Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811–78), one of the most successful and prolific 19th-century church architects. Scott added the north aisle in his favoured circa 1300 style, rebuilt the chancel in similar style, added the present porch, and rebuilt the adjoining section of the south aisle.