Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a parish church located in Orcop. It features an early 13th-century nave and north aisle, a chancel dating from around 1300, and a west tower built in the early 16th century. The church underwent extensive restoration in 1860 by T Nicholson, which included the addition of a polygonal vestry, and was further restored in 1907. The structure is made of sandstone rubble with later dressed rubble refacing and ashlar dressings, while the west tower has a part timber-framed design with timber cladding and is topped with Welsh slate roofs.

The west tower consists of two stages, with the lower stage encased in stone during the restoration. It features a truncated pyramidal roof, a louvred bell stage, and a short spire. The nave has two square-headed windows with two trefoil ogee-headed lights, likely from the 19th-century restoration, located to the right of a gabled 19th-century timber-framed porch and doorway. The north wall of the north aisle includes one 13th-century lancet window to the west and one 19th-century lancet to the east. The chancel has one restored single lancet window on the left and a pair of similar lancets on the right. There is a single trefoil-headed light from around 1300 on the north side, partially obscured by the 19th-century vestry, and a 19th-century east window with three lights.

Inside, the timber structure of the west tower is exposed, supported by massive posts with scissor braces on the north and south sides and diagonal braces to the east, arched over the tower arch. The nave features an early 16th-century arched braced collar roof. There is a low arcade of three bays in the north aisle, with circular piers and moulded capitals and bases, and 2-centred arches of two chamfered orders, all of which have been extensively retooled. Additionally, there is a re-used 12th-century piscina in the chancel, featuring the top of a scalloped pillar and a square drain.