Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

A parish church of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, substantially restored in 1893–4 by W. S. Weatherley. The building is constructed of dressed coursed rubble and ashlar with lead roofs.

The church comprises a tower, nave, two aisles, a chancel, a north organ chamber, a north vestry and a south porch. The tower is diagonal buttressed in three stages with bands, standing on a moulded plinth and displaying single corner gargoyles. Beneath the embattled parapet runs a frieze of quatrefoils set into lozenges. The west face displays a moulded arched doorway with Tudor hood mould and label stops, the spandrels decorated with single trefoils containing blind shields. Above this is a single 14th-century arched 3-light window with cusped tracery, hood mould and figurative label stops. A second 14th-century 2-light window with cusped tracery sits higher, positioned under a flat arch with hood mould and human head label stops. Three stair lights pierce the tower wall. The bell chamber opens through four arched openings, each containing two cinquefoil arched lights with hood mould and human head label stops; clock faces appear beneath the openings on the north east and south sides.

The north aisle is buttressed on a chamfered plinth. Its west wall contains a single 14th-century pair of trefoil arched lights. A moulded blocked doorway in the north wall now accommodates a 19th-century arched 2-light window with reticulated tracery. To its left stand two similar windows, all with hood moulds. The clerestory features four 15th-century arched 3-light windows with cusped panel tracery and continuous hood mould, accompanied by four gargoyles and four crocketed pinnacles.

A 19th-century diagonal buttressed organ chamber projects from the north side, set on a chamfered plinth with a single 19th-century arched 3-light window displaying cusped tracery, hood mould and label stops. The adjacent vestry, predominantly 19th-century but incorporating some 13th-century fragments, is set back on a chamfered plinth and has a single 19th-century arched 2-light window with reticulated tracery and hood mould. Its east wall features a doorway with moulded surround.

The heavily restored chancel sits on a chamfered plinth. Beneath the parapet runs a decorative foliate band interrupted by the east window. The north wall displays a single 19th-century window with hood mould and label stops, with a continuous sill band extending around most of the chancel. The diagonal buttressed east wall contains a single 19th-century arched 3-light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould and 14th-century human head label stops; a small rectangular opening pierces the apex. The south chancel wall features a single 14th-century gargoyle and an arched and restored 14th-century 2-light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould and human head label stops. To its left is a similar but smaller window with hood mould, right 14th-century and left 19th-century decorative label stops. Further left stands a single 14th-century arched 2-light window with flowing tracery and hood mould, beneath which sits a single rectangular niche with Caernarvon arched panel.

The east wall of the south aisle displays a single restored 15th-century arched 3-light window with cusped panel tracery, hood mould and label stops. The south wall, embattled and decorated with four crocketed pinnacles and two gargoyles, contains two similar windows with hood moulds.

The south porch is a diagonal buttressed 19th-century addition with a moulded arched entrance and hood mould. It is surmounted by a decorative niche containing a single carved figure. The side walls each have single 3-light windows with cusped tracery beneath a flat arch. An inner 19th-century moulded arched doorway with hood mould accesses the interior. To its left stands a single 15th-century similar window. The porch clerestory corresponds to that of the north aisle.

Interior

The nave contains three-bay arcades. The south arcade dates to the 13th century and features circular columns and responds with fillets, moulded capitals and double chamfered arches. The north arcade is 14th-century, with octagonal columns and responds, moulded capitals and double chamfered arches. The tower arch is triple chamfered, its inner order supported on circular responds with moulded capitals. The chancel arch is double chamfered, its inner order supported on octagonal responds.

The south chancel wall displays an ogee arched and cusped piscina, with a chamfered arched doorway to the vestry immediately to the left. Adjacent is a single 14th-century arched 2-light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould and label stop serving the vestry. Further left is a moulded organ arch. The east wall of the north aisle contains a similar window. The north wall of the north aisle features a moulded arched tomb recess with hood mould topped with 19th-century label stops and finial. It contains a damaged 14th-century reclining effigy of a knight holding his heart in his hands.

The south wall of the south aisle displays an arched and cusped piscina surmounted by a single small arched piscina above it.

Furnishings include a 19th-century decorative alabaster font, a carved 19th-century reredos, and a 19th-century decorated east wall of the nave. A 15th-century floor slab in the chancel bears two incised carved figures. A notable brass of a priest, dating to circa 1400, is preserved within the church.

Memorials include a 1743 memorial to Francis Lewis in the south aisle south wall, featuring an inscription tablet flanked by decorative volutes with a shield and skull on the apron beneath a scrolled pediment containing a decorative urn. A further 1763 memorial to Carolus Lewis displays an inscription tablet in the form of a decorative sarcophagus with decorative shield. The west wall of the south aisle contains a notable 1694 memorial to Thomas Lewes, with an inscription tablet surrounded by putti, cartouches and skulls. Below it stands a memorial to Charles Vere Dashwood dated 1821, executed by J. Bacon of London, with an inscription tablet surmounted by two draped urns. The north wall of the nave displays a 1840 memorial to Caroline Dashwood by E. Gaffin of London, its inscription tablet surmounted by a tablet with two carved angels with drapes, and a 1911 memorial to Edith Elizabeth Dashwood within an aedicule surround decorated with carved figures and garland.

Fragments of 13th-century decorative carvings are built into the vestry walls.