Church Of St John The Baptist

SO 38 NE MYNDTOWN C.P. MYNDTOWN

9/26 Church of St John 21.3.68 the Baptist.

GV II*

Parish church. C12 or earlier origins, restored 1859. Uncoursed rubble, roughcast and whitewashed, slate roofs. Nave with small belfry at west end, chancel and south porch. Nave. Buttressed west wall with a narrow rectangular slit opening; on the south side two 2-light square-headed cusped windows (C15?), that to west totally renewed, on the north one similar single-light window; single chamfered pointed south doorway (c.1300) under a C19 openwork timber porch of 5 pointed arches, the 2 principal uprights of which, with their spirited but shallow leaf carving, may be re-used from an earlier structure; at the west end a repaired C19 weatherboarded belfry with pyramidal cap and C20 fish-shaped weathervane. Chancel. The south window, of indeterminate date, is rectangular externally, but inside is splayed under a wide segmental head; the East window of 1859 has paired lancets with a spherical head, 2 brick buttresses (now roughcast) to the north wall. Interior, The thickness of the walls is indicated by the deep splays on all the windows; trussed rafter roof to the nave, of which the wallposts and all but one of the tie beams (at the west end) have been removed; possibly C15 chancel roof has one truss with a slightly cambered tie beam and collar and one with a collar only, windbraces; the remains of a C12 string course at the east end of the nave (on the north side) is cut by a plastered partition between nave and chancel in which is an inserted mid C19 screen; well-like sedile in the splay of the south chancel window is of uncertain date but is probably medieval; much repaired late C17 altar rails with bulbous posts and heavy turned balusters; the communion table is contemporary or perhaps a little earlier and at the west end the screen (again with turned balusters and carved decoration similar to those on the altar rails) is made up from parts of a C17 family pew; pulpit, benches and stained glass in East window all 1859; the tub-shaped font rests on a projecting octagonal slab below which is a base consisting of 2 pieces of stone, the lower of which has large terminating ornaments on the diagonal faces; the bowl itself is probably C12 but the base is more likely to be C14; on the north wall of the nave are fragments of medieval painting, said to be part of a consecration cross uncovered in 1964. Cranage, Vol.5 Pp. 418-19.

Listing NGR: SO3903489542