Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

Parish church, mostly 14th century in date with 15th-century clerestory and alterations to the tower. Much restored in the 19th century. The building is constructed of random rubble stone with ashlar dressings to the tower, spire, and clerestory, and is roofed with lead. The plan comprises a west tower, nave with aisles, south porch, and chancel, executed in the Decorated style.

The west tower rises in three stages and is crowned by a tall octagonal spire. It has a moulded plinth and 15th-century parapet with crocketed corner finials. Diagonal off-set buttresses with gablets project from the angles. The spire carries three tiers of lucarnes, the lower tiers furnished with 2-light tracery, and a small east door. The bell-chamber contains tall 15th-century 2-light openings with tracery and transoms. Cusped ogee single lights serve the mid stage, while ogee slits light the south-west stairs. A 2-light west window with restored tracery sits above a small 19th-century door with Caernarvon arch.

The remainder of the church displays moulded plinths, battlemented parapets, gabled buttresses, and restored window tracery throughout. The 15th-century clerestory comprises 4 bays, each with 2-light rectangular windows having ogee tracery. The north aisle windows feature reticulated tracery: 2-light windows to north and west, and a 3-light to east. Two of the three north windows have square heads; the others are arched. A north door is set in a moulded arch with ogee hood and finial. The south aisle windows display cusped intersecting tracery: 3-light to west and three 2-light windows to south, one with a square head. The east end of the south aisle contains an early 16th-century window of 5 arched lights in a shallow arched surround with a heraldic tablet above. A medieval board and stud south door sits within a restored double-chamfered arch. The 19th-century gabled south porch has a moulded arch and ogee side lights. The chancel has 2-light traceried windows with arched heads in the east bay and another 2-light window with a square head to the south, along with a cusped ogee light to the north. A large 19th-century east window of 5 traceried lights in a 4-centred arch dominates the eastern end. A small south door is set in a moulded arch with restored hood.

Interior

The interior is much restored. The tower-arch is triple-chamfered and dies into the jambs. The nave has 4-bay arcades of double-chamfered arches rising from octagonal piers with moulded capitals. One capital at the south-east end bears carved figures. The nave retains its 15th-century roof with moulded beams and arch-braces rising from moulded corbel posts; the carved stone angel corbels are restored. The north aisle roof is also 15th-century, with moulded beams and carved head corbels. The south aisle has a 19th- and 20th-century roof and contains an arched piscina with a bowl on a pilaster. The chancel arch is moulded, and the chancel roof is 20th-century work in 15th-century style. An aumbry occupies the north wall, and a triple-arched piscina with decorated surround is cut into the south wall.

Fittings

Notable fittings include a 15th-century chancel screen with traceried panels, restored in 1894; a chair in the chancel dated 1781; a chest in the north aisle dated 1787 with studs on the lid bearing the inscription "BELTON"; and a bowl-shaped font on an octagonal base, either 19th or 20th-century in date or very heavily restored. Additional fittings dating from the 19th century are a stone pulpit carved with figures within arches, a carved stone reredos, and encaustic tiles on the east wall.

A fine monument to Roesia de Verdun, dated 1248 and foundress of Grace Dieu Priory, forms a significant feature. Heavily restored and remounted on a new base in 1912, it comprises a recumbent carved effigy wearing a wimple beneath a cusped canopy supported on shafts. The sides of the canopy are carved with kneeling figures of nuns and a scene of Christ's baptism, while the base bears a carved scene, probably representing the two Maries at Christ's tomb.