Church of St John the Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This parish church stands on the west side of Main Street in Knossington. It is constructed of coursed and squared ironstone and limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, and is roofed in lead and Swithland slate. The building dates from the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, with work added around 1800 and a comprehensive restoration undertaken by J.T. Micklethwaite in 1889. The architectural detailing includes moulded and chamfered plinths, sill bands, and coved eaves, with most window openings featuring hood moulds and mask stops.

The church comprises a west tower with spire, a nave with clerestory, north and south aisles, a chancel, and a south porch.

The tower dates to the 15th century. It rises in two stages beneath an octagonal spire with a finial and weathercock, embellished with two tiers of gabled lucarnes containing double lancets. The tower is furnished with clasping buttresses, those to the west bearing masks on the plinth. Two chamfered and moulded string courses run continuously around it, topped by coved eaves with masks and a crenellated parapet with four pinnacles. The west face displays a blocked moulded doorway at ground level, above which stands a 15th-century double lancet with panel tracery. The second stage carries four transomed cusped double lancets. An east-facing clock occupies the eastern elevation.

The clerestory spans three bays and features a chamfered band and crenellated parapet with south-east corner and gable pinnacles. Each side contains three round-headed double lancets with moulded pointed openings. Rainwater heads are inscribed to the north 'J B 1804' and to the south 'W S 1793'.

The north aisle extends two bays with buttresses to the north. The west end contains a 19th-century chamfered single lancet. A 15th-century triple lancet with moulded elliptical head occupies the eastern section of the north elevation, while a chamfered 13th-century blocked door sits to the west. The east end displays a restored round-headed moulded window.

The chancel extends two bays and is finished with a moulded plinth and coped gable bearing a cross. The north side features a central buttress with two setoffs. A 14th-century double lancet with flowing tracery and a 13th-century single lancet low side window occupy the western section. The east end has an angle buttress to the right and a single buttress to the left, both with two setoffs, flanking a restored 14th-century reticulated triple lancet with coved and chamfered reveal. The south side similarly has a central buttress with two setoffs. To the west stands a 13th-century foiled single lancet low side window, with two restored 14th-century double lancets featuring flamboyant tracery above and to the east.

The south aisle comprises three bays with two pairs of double gabled angle buttresses crowned with crocketed pinnacles. The walls are finished with chamfered and moulded plinth and sill band. A rainwater head is inscribed 'J M 1795'. The east end contains a 14th-century double lancet with flamboyant tracery and coved reveal. East of the porch, a 14th-century ogee-headed triple lancet with intersecting tracery lights the south elevation. The west end features a late 18th-century untraceried chamfered triple lancet with coved reveal.

The south porch is supported by two diagonal buttresses and topped with a moulded coped gable incorporating a restored sundial. Its entrance is a 14th-century double-chamfered doorway with octagonal shafts and capitals.

The interior preserves two stone benches and contains a 19th-century common rafter roof with a re-set 16th-century chamfered span beam and boss. An early 13th-century moulded round-headed doorway retains fillets, double ringed shafts with leaf capitals, and a hood mould with fleurons. A 17th-century framed and panelled door incorporates late 18th-century panelled furniture.

The tower arch, dating to the early 13th century, is double-chamfered with octagonal responds bearing stiff leaf and crocketed capitals, and is topped with a hood mould. The north arcade of two bays also dates to the early 13th century and features round piers and responds with water-holding bases and stiff leaf capitals, together with moulded arches displaying keeled and filleted roll mouldings. The south arcade, dating to the mid-13th century, is similar but plainer, with responds bearing nailhead decoration. A 19th-century principal rafter roof with restored mask corbels tops the space.

The north and south aisles are covered by 19th-century roofs with arch braces resting on re-set corbels. The north aisle contains a blocked doorway and a stained glass window dated 1926. To its right stands an arched moulded 19th-century fireplace bearing a crest in roundel. The south aisle houses a foiled moulded piscina to the east with a damaged hood mould, above which remain portions of 13th-century wall paintings and a window retaining fragments of 14th-century stained glass. The west end preserves a re-set cross shaft set into a window sill. A memorial chapel at the west end features a three-bay Classical wooden screen with central double doors and metal bars.

The chancel is entered through an early 14th-century double keeled and filleted moulded arch topped with a hood mould and octagonal responds bearing moulded capitals. An early 20th-century Perpendicular-style traceried oak screen divides the space. The north side displays a moulded 13th-century blocked doorway with a small aumbry to its right. The east end contains an early 20th-century Perpendicular-style altar, reredos, wall panels, and candlesticks, accompanied by a stained glass window of 1926. The south side retains a damaged fillet-moulded 13th-century piscina and similar triple sedilia, both with hood moulds. Eastern and low side windows preserve 15th-century stained glass fragments. The space is covered by a low-pitched 19th-century roof with cambered tie beams, bosses, and arch braces on plain corbels.

The church contains a notable collection of fittings. Linenfold-panelled oak desks, pulpit, lectern, and stalls date to 1926, supplemented by plain 19th-century benches. The font is fluted on a baluster stem and dates to 1842. An 18th-century chest with bracket feet survives, as does a wardrobe of 1893, assembled from former roof timbers.

The memorials comprise a large pedimented Classical marble tablet by W.G. Nicholl, 1829, with brackets supporting a cushion and inscribed open book. A re-set slate tablet with painted heraldry commemorates John Turner, 1753. Slate tablets honour Selina Frewen, 1784, and include a corniced marble and slate tablet of 1791. Three mid-19th-century marble and slate tablets commemorate members of the Frewen-Turner family. A marble and slate tablet dates to 1879. Painted slate tablets signed 'Burton' date to 1819 and 1832. A brass dates to 1866. A green stone cross was erected in 1911.