Former Church Of St John The Baptist

Former Church of St John the Baptist

This former convent church, originally serving an Austin or Augustinian community of nuns or canonesses until 1536, later became a parish church and now stands redundant, used for storage. The building is predominantly 13th century in date, with significant alterations from the 14th and 15th centuries. It underwent restoration in 1863 by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

The church is constructed of sandstone rubble with dressed stone details, featuring tiled roofs and a shingled bell cot with a broad spire topped by a copper weathercock. A timber-framed porch is integrated into the design. The building follows a rectangular plan divided into four uneven bays, with a west-facing porch.

The west elevation displays a central window of three stepped trefoil-headed lights with fillet-moulded heads and jambs in two orders, beneath steeply battered cills. Above this are three quatrefoils in plate tracery set under a large moulded two-centred arch with moulded label and headstops. Flanking the outer lights are pairs of attached columns with foliated capitals. A continuous moulded label above the lights features foliated stops either side of the central trefoiled head, and above the apex of the outer label sits a cowled corbel head. Below the cill runs a roll-moulded string connecting the tops of clasping weathered pilaster buttresses at each corner.

The central gabled porch dates to the 15th century and contains sandstone plinths and benches. Two structural bays feature moulded steeply cambered low pointed ties supported by moulded arch braces with enriched spandrels. East and west arch braces rest on moulded shafts with capitals, while central arch braces rest on pairs of richly carved angels bearing shields with deeply folded stylised drapery. West spandrels contain recessed quatrefoils and mouchettes; east spandrels feature single central rosettes with tapered acanthus leaves extending into the angles. Moulded wall-plates and single purlins are present. Alongside each of the 15th-century ties (whose trusses are missing) sit later cambered ties with raking struts, all roughly chamfered and single-pegged, possibly dating from the late 17th or 18th century. Cill beams are restored. Side panels incorporate a boarded lower zone with traceried openings in the upper sections, each containing six lights in opposing bays. The heads of each light are trefoiled with blind spandrels, and the tracery forms back-to-back Ds.

The north elevation contains three windows. The two on the right each have a pair of cinquefoil-headed lights with quatrefoil tracery, whilst to the left, in the liturgical chancel, stands a moulded lancet. Above each window runs a two-centred relieving arch. A chamfered string courses above a high plinth, and a weathered clasping pilaster-buttress to the right extends roughly halfway up the wall. The left corner features a diagonal buttress with offsets. A chamfered stone eaves cornice crowns the wall, with verges bearing gable crosses.

The east elevation contains a window with three pointed stepped lights formed by two central mullions beneath a two-centred arch. A moulded label with female head stops sits above. A short thick weathered buttress occupies the extreme left.

The south elevation displays two chamfered lancets to the right, beneath which sits a small quatrefoil opening and a blocked two-centred arch, likely a former high-level doorway to demolished conventual buildings. A chamfered string extends from the right beneath these lancets, ending roughly at centre. Below the lancets are two chamfered blocked doorways with pointed segmental heads, formerly leading to the demolished cloister. Each lancet and each blocked doorway has a corbel to its right, and to the left of the left-hand doorway projects the respond and springer of an arch. A clasping buttress occupies the extreme left. The west doorway is chamfered with a two-centred head and moulded label with remains of enriched stops, with spurs to the bottoms of the jambs.

The interior features a 19th-century panelled pine wagon roof. Walls are lined with contemporary terracotta-coloured ashlar adorned with small rosettes. The south wall contains three chamfered two-centred blocked doorways, the westernmost approached by steps. A 13th-century piscina set centrally in the south wall displays a deeply moulded trefoiled head with fillets and a quatrefoil drain. High in the wall is a square opening to a small room behind the external quatrefoil. The north wall contains a tomb recess with a broad fillet-moulded two-centred head, alongside a floor slab for Sir Henry Barnard (died 1680) in black marble with an achievement set in a roundel. Two coffin lids, perhaps 13th century with incised crosses set in circles and long stems, are also present. A moulded base of a 19th-century octagonal pulpit with steps stands in the interior.

At the time of re-survey in May 1986, the building contained in storage four fonts, a lectern, desk and pews, along with a small altar and pulpit. One font, perhaps 14th century, is sandstone with a cylindrical shaft on a circular base and a carved underside to an octagonal bowl; the other fonts are probably all 19th century. Parts of an octagonal oak 19th-century pulpit featuring a medieval frieze, along with several pews and benches, derive from Madeley Church, Shropshire. A small 19th-century altar comes from Yarpole Church, Herefordshire.