Church of St. John the Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This parish church at Collingham dates from the 12th to 15th centuries and stands on the south side of Westfield Lane. It was substantially restored in 1864 by J. H. Hakewill, with further restoration to the tower in 1886 and additional work in 1890.

The building is constructed of coursed blue lias rubble and ashlar with ashlar dressings and brick patching. The roofs are finished in leaded lights, stone slabs, slate and plain blue tiles. The church comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, north and south aisles, a south porch, and a large organ chamber.

The west tower rises in three stages with string courses and a corbel table, topped by a crenellated parapet with four crocketed pinnacles. Three clasping buttresses of six setoffs rise up the tower, changing to diagonal buttresses above the first stage; the north-west corner has only a plain buttress of three setoffs up to the first stage. The first stage contains a 14th-century chamfered and rebated four-centred arched window to the west with label mould and mask stops, holding triple ogee-headed lancets with panel tracery; to the south is a single lancet in a chamfered reveal, while to the north stands a 1890 polygonal stair turret with pitched slab roof and three rectangular lights with chamfered reveals. The second stage features a single lancet to the west in a chamfered reveal within a blocked 13th-century double lancet opening; a 13th-century double lancet to the south; a double recess with one lancet and one round-headed opening to the north; and a clock to the east. The third stage has four triple lancet bell openings with moulded mullions and transoms and Decorated tracery.

The north aisle is 14th-century work in four bays with a coped balustrade and four buttresses of four setoffs on plinths. It contains an off-centre 14th-century moulded doorway with label mould and mask stops, now with a 19th-century door, flanked to the east by two square-headed chamfered and rebated openings with label moulds and mask stops containing double ogee-headed lancets with panel tracery, and to the west by a single similar window. Beyond these are a 19th-century rectangular single light in a chamfered reveal and a 19th-century door in a chamfered reveal at the west end.

The chancel dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, arranged in three bays with a coped gable and slate roof. To the north is a 19th-century gabled organ chamber with a clasping buttress to the east and a plain buttress to the west, plus a single light in a chamfered reveal in the gable; this is flanked by single 14th-century square-headed chamfered and rebated openings containing double lancets with Decorated tracery. The east end has two clasping buttresses of three setoffs on a plinth, and a 15th-century chamfered and rebated opening with label mould and mask stops, containing five ogee-headed lancets with panel tracery and moulded mullion and transom. The south side features an off-centre 14th-century moulded priest's door, flanked to the west by a 14th-century chamfered and rebated square-headed opening containing a double lancet with Decorated tracery and a similar opening containing quatrefoil-headed double lancets with mullion and transom; to the east is a 15th-century square chamfered and rebated square-headed opening containing four plain lancets.

The south aisle is 14th-century work in four bays with three buttresses of four setoffs on plinths. It contains two 14th-century square-headed chamfered and rebated openings with label moulds and mask stops holding triple lancets with Decorated tracery, and to the east a 15th-century larger square-headed chamfered and rebated opening containing three four-centred arched lights with mullion and transom. The east end has a 15th-century four-centred arched opening containing triple ogee-headed lancets with moulded transom and panel tracery. A 19th-century pointed arched doorway with chamfered reveal stands to the west of the south porch.

The gabled south porch is 19th-century work executed in 13th-century style, featuring a plinth, string course, corbel table and coped gable. It has a roll-moulded doorway with keeled shaft responds and hoodmould with plain stops, and a 19th-century timber roof. Below the porch, the 14th-century south doorway has four orders with major shafts that are keeled and bear angular capitals, along with keeled roll moulding, a label mould with mask stops, and a 19th-century door.

The nave clerestorey is 15th-century work arranged in three bays, with moulded eaves, a leaded roof and coped gable. It contains three square-headed chamfered and rebated openings on either side, each holding triple plain lancets.

Interior

The interior comprises a three-bay nave. The north arcade is 12th-century work with two rectangular piers bearing engaged shaft responds and scallop and stiff-leaf capitals, all decorated with deeply moulded zigzag and coffered lozenges, roll-moulded archivolts, chamfered and cusped label mould, and a single grotesque beast's head label stop.

The south arcade is 13th-century work with clustered piers of eight shafts, the principal shafts being keeled, with small circular moulded capitals and label moulds bearing two mask stops. The clerestorey has three square-headed triple lancets on either side. The kingpost roof dates to 1890 and features arch braces to the kingposts, cusped braces to the principal rafters, and cusped wind braces.

The tower arch is 13th-century work with chamfered and rebated forms and clustered shaft responds bearing octagon capitals and shaft rings.

The north aisle contains a simple cusped-headed piscina in its east wall, a memorial tablet of 1573, and a roof of 1890 date.

The south aisle has in its east end a 14th-century cusped ogee-headed piscina and an east window containing 19th-century stained glass by Ward & Hughes. The aisle retains 20th-century pews and a 19th-century roof. A four-centred arched doorway opens in the west end, and a 17th-century octagonal font on a clustered shaft stem stands within.

The chancel arch is 13th-century work with chamfered and rebated forms and moulded respond capitals. The north side of the chancel has a central chamfered archway to the organ chamber, flanked by single 14th-century square-headed double lancets and a 14th-century ogee-headed chamfered recess, probably an Easter Sepulchre. The east window is 15th-century work with 19th-century glass. The south side has a small rectangular piscina, memorial tablets of the 1860s and 1870s in crocketed nodding ogee surrounds, one double and one single lancet pair, together with one quadruple and two double square-headed lancets, and a priest's door. A 19th-century common rafter roof with diagonal matchboarding covers the chancel.

Fittings include plain pews and a pulpit of 1907–08, a timber screen of 1940, and a painted and gilt rood.