Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

Parish church on a medieval site. The west tower dates to 1747; the nave was built in 1805–6 by Thomas Harrison of Chester; and the chancel with north aisle and south vestry were added in 1861. The south vestry was extended in 1894, when the entire church underwent restoration by Eustace Frere. The building is constructed in red brick with sandstone dressings, with plain tile, machine tile and slate roofs. The Classical style was Gothicized by Frere in 1894.

The church comprises a nave, chancel, west tower with flanking porches, north chancel aisle, and south vestry. The tower stands in 4 stages with stepped corner pilasters and string courses, topped by a pyramidal roof (1894) with a dentilled stone cornice and wide sprocketed eaves, surmounted by a brass weathercock. The belfry has louvred round-headed windows with projecting keybricks and imposts; the third stage on the west features a roundel with projecting keybricks. A round-headed moulded stone window to the second stage on the west has fluted Roman Doric columns, probably dating to 1805–6; beneath it is a round-headed doorway with alternating bands of rustication and panelled double doors, added by Frere.

Lean-to hip-roofed porches flank the tower, both designed by Harrison. These have modillioned eaves cornices and round-headed doorways with contemporary panelled doors and semi-circular fanlights divided by turned baluster-like bars. The left porch has a window of 1894 projecting through the roof.

The nave is divided into 3 recessed bays by broad pilaster strips with a continuous brick impost band; it features a moulded brick eaves cornice and low-pitched pedimented gable ends. Round-headed windows dating to 1805–6 have projecting keybricks and inserted Venetian Quattrocento-style tracery. Blind wide rectangular openings above have slightly cambered heads; those on the south side formerly bore painted texts. Two similar openings appear to the east wall.

The chancel possibly incorporates some late 18th-century brickwork to its east wall. The east window comprises 3 round-headed lights within a single larger semi-circular arch; similar windows light the north aisle and vestry, though those to the vestry are slightly more pointed with a pointed doorway to the west.

Interior: The nave has a coffered roof (1894) spanning a single bay. An elliptical wooden chancel arch dating to 1894 springs from Corinthian columns rising from a tie beam; the piers feature fluted banded rustication and a modillioned eaves cornice. The chancel roof is arch-braced across 2 bays. The north chancel aisle is separated from the chancel by a 2-bay round-arched arcade with Transitional-style foliage decoration to the capital of the central circular pier. An early 20th-century round-headed arch to the west has 18th-century-style turned balusters to its gates, and the floor is black and white marble. Encaustic tiles pave the chancel.

Furnishings include a font (1852), reading desk and lectern (1854), and pews (1871). Jacobean chairs flank the high altar and stand at the west end of the nave, which also contains a 17th-century chest in its north-east corner. Late 19th-century stained glass appears in the north chancel chapel; dated 1894 glass lights the nave north side. The east window, a Tree of Jesse by F.C. Eden, commemorates Edward Pell Edwards, Rector, who died in 1934.

Monuments comprise late 18th and early 19th-century wall tablets to members of the Lovett family (nave, north side) and other memorials in the chancel. A series of 19th-century brass plates lines the nave north side.