Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

Parish church. The chancel dates from the 15th century in Perpendicular style, while the remainder of the church was rebuilt in 1842 by Scott and Moffatt. The building was enlarged in 1876 by C. H. Thornton, with an organ chamber added in 1876 and a vestry in 1897.

The exterior is constructed in pecked ashlar with gabled and lean-to slate and patterned tile roofs. A moulded plinth and sill band runs around the building, with a moulded eaves band featuring bosses and masks. Crenellated parapets and coped gables with crosses add to the architectural detail. The windows are 15th-century style lancets with hood moulds throughout.

The church comprises a south-west tower, nave, chancel, north and south aisles, north transept, and vestries. The south-west tower is buttressed with four stages and has a higher buttressed octagonal stair turret at its south-west corner. Three string courses divide the tower stages. The first stage has a south-facing moulded doorway with flanking shafts, arms in spandrels and hood mould. The second stage has a cusped Decorated double lancet to the south. The third stage has a single lancet on each side, while the fourth stage has two double lancet louvred openings on each side, all with hood moulds. The stair turret has a single light on each stage on alternate sides.

The nave's west end has a five-light lancet with panel tracery, flanked to the left by a canted stair turret and door. An angel boss appears at the top of the eaves band above. The clerestory, spanning six bays, has three buttresses and dwarf corner buttresses on each side. The south side has four square-headed double lancets, while the north side has six. The east gable has a small double lancet with an angel boss above.

The chancel extends three bays. The north side and east side both feature 15th-century double lancets with panel tracery. The east end has a pair of diagonal buttresses and a transomed five-light lancet with panel tracery and segmental head. The south side has a central buttress and an off-centre cusped 15th-century doorway with a 17th-century plank door, flanked by single 19th-century double lancets with panel tracery and square-headed reveals. The choir vestry has a pair of diagonal buttresses to the north and a late 14th-century style double lancet. An inscribed stone commemorates Victoria's Jubilee from 1898. The east side of two bays has a central buttress and an off-centre moulded doorway with hood mould and mask stops, above which are two 15th-century style double lancets with panel tracery and square-headed reveals. The vestry in the return angle has a pair of corner buttresses to the north and a double lancet with square-headed reveal. The choir vestry to the east spans three bays with a four-centred arched door flanked by single double lancets. The tower chamber forms a south porch with a chamfered and rebated inner door and a hanging lamp on a bracket.

Interior features include nave arcades of six bays with clustered shafts with moulded bases and lobed capitals. Moulded arches have hood moulds and mask stops. The clerestory has a sill band. A hammer beam roof on foliate corbels covers the nave. The west window contains stained glass dedicated to John Watson from 1876, while the east gable has stained glass from around 1858.

The chancel has a double chamfered and rebated arch flanked to the left by a niche with four-centred arched head. The north side has an opening containing the organ, with stained glass in the easternmost window from 1859. The east end has a 14th-century style traceried reredos from 1880 and stained glass from 1854. The south side features a cusped ogee-headed piscina and matching triple sedilia from the 15th century. Stained glass windows on the south side date from 1860 (easternmost) and 1877 (westernmost). The roof from 1876 is low-pitched with arch braces on corbels. The north and south aisles have lean-to roofs with arch braces on corbels. The north aisle west end has stained glass from 1859, with a central north window by Henry Hughes from 1873. The east end contains a traceried arch with a 20th-century War Memorial traceried screen. The south aisle has stained glass at the east end from 1850 and multiple windows on the south side from 1890, 1858, 1874, 1893, and at the west end from 1878. The vestry has stained glass from 1873.

Fittings include a reeded round font from the 11th century, reset on a 14th-century style base in 1842. A poor box made from a beam end with iron binding is inscribed "W.A. E.B. C.W. 1684". Part of an altar rail with balusters survives from the late 17th century. Moulded and pierced stalls and desks date from 1875. Benches are from the mid-19th century. An eagle lectern and panelled alabaster pulpit on stem both date from 1875 and 1885 respectively.

Memorials include a marble tablet with apron and pediment from 1797, Classical-style marble and slate tablets from 1809, 1821, 1914, and 1915. A marble and slate tablet by Walkers of Nottingham dates from 1862. Two 19th-century brasses and five 20th-century memorials are present. A pair of 18th-century hatchments and Royal Arms from 1844 complete the interior decoration.