Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a parish church dating to 1867, designed by Edward Browning in a neo Norman style. It is constructed primarily of red brick with darker red brick and ashlar dressings, and has a Welsh slate roof with lead dressings. The church comprises a nave, a western bellcote, a southern porch, and a facetted chancel.

The west end features a plinth, a chamfered band, dogtooth detailing, and five corbelled eaves courses terminating on dentillated pilasters. Five deep buttresses with raking steps are present. A 3-light west window has semi-circular heads to the lights, with moulded brick mullions and three plain circular lights within a brick tympanum. Flanking this window are single buttresses and tall, semi-circular headed lights. The bellcote has ashlar coping and kneelers, supported on a dentillated base with tumbled raking walls, and semi-circular headed bell openings.

The sides of the church have a plinth, a moulded cill band, corbelled and dentillated eaves, and stepped raking buttresses, dividing window bays containing paired semi-circular headed lights with roll moulded brick surrounds. The north side features five such pairs of windows. The chancel has single semi-circular headed lights and a circular window above, under a pointed relieving arch, on each of its five facetted sides.

The south side of the nave incorporates four pairs of windows and a gabled porch with a tall, semi-circular headed outer doorway featuring two orders of moulded terracotta roll moulding and foliate capitals. Triple rectangular lights are set in the porch side walls, and the inner doorway mirrors the outer one with roll moulded reveals and deeply moulded terracotta capitals. The planked double doors have contemporary iron hinges.

Inside, the walls are faced with yellow brick, with red brick dressings. All windows and rear arches are in red brick. The roof is a hammer beam structure supported on long ashlar corbels. A steeply pointed red brick moulded chancel arch has roll moulded responds and moulded stiff leaf terracotta imposts. The chancel features a fleur de lys decorated tile course beneath the wall plate, and two carved ashlar wall shaft corbels. A fine glazed relief tile reredos is present, along with a contemporary circular font.