Church Of St John

Church of St. John, Perlethorpe

Parish church built in 1876 by A. Salvin for the third Earl Manvers, with restoration undertaken in 1904. The building is designed in the Decorated style of the 14th century and constructed in snecked ashlar with ashlar dressings.

The exterior features a graduated slate roof with coped gables topped with crosses and an elaborate slate ridge crest. A chamfered eaves band and moulded parapets run throughout. The plan comprises a west tower with spire, nave, north and south aisles, chancel, organ chamber, vestry, and south porch.

The west tower rises in three stages and is topped by a setback octagonal spire with moulded arrises, two tiers of gabled lucarnes, and a finial. The tower is decorated with three string courses, a traceried panelled band, and a crenellated parapet carrying four gabled crocketed pinnacles and four large gargoyles. Four large clasping buttresses support the structure. The first stage has to the south a double lancet, and to the west a moulded doorway with shafts and hood mould, above which rises a gable with Decorated finial. The second stage contains square windows to the west and north with quatrefoils within. The third stage has four double lancets with linked hood moulds.

The nave is lit by a parapeted clerestorey with four double lancets on each side having ogee heads and segmental-headed reveals. Four panelled crocketed pinnacles and four gargoyles decorate each side. An east gable contains a small cusped window.

The north aisle, of four bays, is buttressed and carries four gargoyles, with single ogee-headed double lancets to the north and a single example to the west. An east gable organ chamber features a coped gable with two gargoyles and a traceried round window to the north. A lean-to vestry with single coped gable and two gargoyles is attached, featuring a shouldered doorway and mullioned casement to the north, and a double lancet to the east.

The chancel is of two bays with diagonal buttresses to the east and two buttresses to the south. It carries two crocketed pinnacles and two gargoyles on each side, with a traceried panelled coped parapet. The north side has an ogee-headed double lancet to the east. The east end displays a five-light ogee-headed lancet. The south side features an off-centre shouldered priest's door with three double lancets as on the north side.

The south aisle, of four bays, is buttressed and carries a moulded parapet, gables, and four gargoyles. Three double lancets face south with similar lancets at each end. The gabled south porch is braced by a pair of diagonal buttresses and carries a chamfered doorway with hood mould, flanked by square-headed reveals containing double lancets.

Windows throughout are designed in 14th-century style with lancets featuring hood moulds and mask stops.

The interior contains wooden benches and a principal rafter roof. A simply moulded inner doorway with hood mould and studded door with decorative hinges gives entry. The nave arcades, of three bays on both north and south sides, are supported on rectangular piers with coved corners and cruciform bases, topped with foliate capitals. Matching responds are present. The arches are double coved and rebated with hood moulds and mask stops. A principal rafter roof with mock hammer beams, wall shafts on foliate corbels, arch braces, and collars spans the nave. The tower arch is double coved and rebated with shaft responds, hood mould, foliate capitals, and stops. A recessed four-centred arched opening above bears an inscription in Latin: "Haec ecclesia in gloriam Dei a Sodneio Guilielmo Herberto tertio Comte Manvers Aedificata. Consecrata est A D XI Kal. Dec. A D MDCCCLXXVI" (This church was built to the glory of God by the Most Noble William Herbert, third Earl Manvers. It was consecrated on the 21st day of November, AD 1876).

The tower chamber contains a traceried panelled west door and west window with patterned stained glass. The north aisle features a traceried panelled oak screen to the west, enclosing a choir vestry, with a lean-to roof supported on wooden wall shafts on corbels. The west window and three north windows display patterned stained glass. The westernmost window contains stained glass of circa 1955 commemorating the fifth Earl Manvers and others. A traceried oak parclose screen closes off the east end. The south aisle is similarly arranged, with an east window containing stained glass of 1957 to the sixth Earl Manvers, signed by Derek Wilson. Other windows display patterned stained glass.

The chancel arch is moulded and coved, with polished granite responds bearing foliate capitals and hood moulds on both sides with mask stops. Above is a small cusped window with 19th-century stained glass. The chancel's north side features an opening with Moorish plate tracery and black marble shafts to the west, and a moulded doorway with foliate carving and credence to the east. The east end displays an elaborate reredos with marble shafts and five carved figures in ogee-headed niches, flanked by traceried panels. The east window contains stained glass of 1912 commemorating the third Earl Manvers and his wife. The south side has crocketed, gabled double sedilia with marble shafts to the east. The westernmost window displays stained glass to the Marshall family, dated 1881. A principal rafter roof with arch braces and mask corbels covers the chancel.

Fittings include a font with an octagonal traceried panelled bowl on an octagonal stem with eight flanking shafts. An octagonal oak pulpit with traceried panels stands on a marble stem with eight flanking shafts and elaborate foliate capitals. A large brass eagle lectern is present. Panelled oak benches with shaped ends and naturalistic carved panels line the church. A brass altar rail is fitted. A large oil painting by Sir Benjamin West, dated 1779, hangs in the church, alongside a large 19th-century oil painting. A moulded marble shaft carries a cherub with a cross. Traceried panelled oak stalls and desks with crocketed finials are decorated with sixteen heraldic beasts.

Monuments include a brass to the third Earl Manvers, dated 1900, and a marble wall tablet with coloured inlay panel to the fourth Earl Manvers, dated 1926.