Church Of St John The Evangelist

The Church of St John the Evangelist is a parish church largely dating from the 1860s. It is constructed of rock-faced limestone ashlar with a shingle roof. The church comprises a west tower, a nave with transepts, and a chancel. The three-stage tower has angle buttresses and is articulated to the south by a short stair turret, which has a doorway at ground floor level. The bell chamber has deeply recessed two-light windows with quatrefoils, and an embattled parapet. The architectural style throughout is Decorated, featuring heavily cut tracery in two and three-light windows. A heavy, buttressed, and coped gabled south porch has a simple chamfer to the inner arch. Sill bands and plinths run along all external walls, with a three-light window to the east of the chancel. The architectural detailing is noteworthy for the changing angles and rooflines, and the massing of the building's elements. Inside, the tower arch is triple chamfered without responds, and the tower space is vaulted with a lierne vault. A doorway with a deep moulded ogee head leads to the northern stairway. The nave roof has steeply curved main trusses alternating with scissor braced principal rafters. The south transept is filled by an organ. The north transept window and chancel arch feature two filletted cylindrical shafts and a deep moulding with a hood mould and corbel heads, flanked by lancet windows. The chancel is unusually narrow with a continuous sill band and reredos featuring trefoiled arches. Sedilia and aumbries are located to the north and south, and the roof is panelled in squares with planking. Wrought iron altar rails are also present. Several memorials have been reintroduced from an earlier church, including C16 brasses in the north transept, and a wall memorial in the west tower commemorating Ann and William Wollaston, who died in 1629 and 1660 respectively. Stained glass is found in the west window of the tower, depicting emblematic designs, and in the north windows, which depict the evangelists in a medieval revival style. A stained glass window by Kempe in the north transept illustrates St Michael and the archangels, surrounded by smaller angels and heraldic emblems; it dates from 1918 and commemorates Frederick Wollaston. The east window features a small central lozenge of Christ carrying the cross within a vine scroll. The octagonal font has simple emblems in deeply recessed panels, and a large, free-standing stone octagonal pulpit has richly traceried panels.