Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a parish church with origins possibly dating back to the 12th century, and largely restored in 1859. It is constructed of uncoursed rubble, roughcast and whitewashed externally, with slate roofs. The church comprises a nave with a small belfry at the west end, a chancel and a south porch.

The west wall of the nave is buttressed and features a narrow rectangular slit window. The south side has two 2-light square-headed cusped windows from the 15th century, the westernmost of which has been completely renewed. A single similar single-light window is located on the north side. A pointed south doorway, dating to around 1300, is set beneath a 19th-century openwork timber porch of five pointed arches. The two principal uprights of the porch incorporate reused timber with shallow leaf carving, possibly from an earlier structure. A repaired, 19th-century weatherboarded belfry with a pyramidal cap and a 20th-century fish-shaped weathervane sits at the west end.

The south window of the chancel is rectangular externally but splayed internally beneath a wide segmental head. The East window, inserted in 1859, features paired lancets with a spherical head, accompanied by two brick buttresses (now roughcast) on the north wall.

Inside, the church’s thick walls are evidenced by deep window splays. The nave has a trussed rafter roof, with removed wallposts and tie beams (all but one at the west end). The chancel roof, possibly from the 15th century, retains one truss with a slightly cambered tie beam and collar, and another with a collar only, along with windbraces. Fragments of a 12th-century string course can be seen at the east end of the nave (on the north side), cut by a plastered partition that separates the nave and chancel and contains an inserted mid-19th-century screen. A well-like sedile is located in the splay of the south chancel window, its date uncertain but likely medieval. Late 17th-century altar rails with bulbous posts and heavy turned balusters are present, as is a contemporary or slightly earlier communion table. A screen, incorporating turned balusters and carved decoration similar to the altar rails, has been assembled from parts of a 17th-century family pew at the west end. A pulpit, benches, and the stained glass in the East window all date to 1859. The tub-shaped font has a bowl considered to be from the 12th century, but its base seems more likely to be 14th century. Fragments of medieval painting are visible on the north wall of the nave, believed to be part of a consecration cross uncovered in 1964.