Church Of St John The Baptist

ENDERBY BLABY ROAD SP 5399 9/7 Church of St John the Baptist 7.10.57 GV II*

Parish church. C14 West tower, remainder rebuilt 1867-8 by Edward Birchall of Leeds at expense of Charles Brook of Enderby Hall. Granite rubble with lime- stone dressings and lead roofs. West tower, nave, aisles, south porch, chancel, north chapel, south organ chamber. West tower is externally much restored. It is of 3 stages with battlemented parapet, set-back buttresses and south east stair. Bell-chamber has 2-light windows with cusped Y-tracery; middle stage has clocks with Tudor hoodmoulds; ground floor has single light with shafted jambs in west wall. Remainder of church is in decorated style with moulded parapets broken by gabled finials of buttresses, traceried windows and carved stops to hoodmoulds. Aisles have 3-light west windows and 5 bays of 2-light windows. South door is set in moulded arch on shafts with stiff-leaf capitals. Gabled porch with similar arch and flanking buttresses. Organ chamber has south gable with 2 2-light windows, and east door. North chapel also has 2-light windows and north door in moulded arch with shafts and border of fleurons. Chancel has 2-light south window and large 5-light east window with reticulated tracery. Interior: Tower has ballflower moulding around west window and strange arch to nave with heavy roll mouldings on shafts with carved foliage capitals. Carved heads are tucked between the outer mouldings of the arch on both east and west sides. Label above arch has restored carved heads stops. Remainder is all Cl9. Nave arcades have 5 bays of moulded arches on quatrefoil piers, and moulded arches on qratrefoil piers, and moulded chancel arc rests on marble shaft corbels with carved foliage bases. Chancel has pair of steep moulded arches to chapel with sunken trefoil roundels in the soffits. Similar single arch to organ chamber with carved figure of angel playing organ as label stop. Cusped piscina with shafts in north wall. Shafted window reveals. Fittings of c1868 include a carved stone reredos with texts in flanking gabled niches, an a square stone font with carved corners and squat shafts. There are also listening tubes connecting the reading desk with 2 benches in south aisle. Stained glass in east window by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake 1868. 1887 Jubilee window in west end of south aisle. (N Pevsner and E Williamson, Buildings of England, Leicestershire and Rutland, 1984, p.151).

Listing NGR: SP5375399428