Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

Parish church built circa 1190–1210, remodelled around 1790 with a west tower added circa 1840. The church underwent restoration by Slater and Carpenter in 1867. It is constructed from uncoursed sandstone and quartzite rubble with ashlar dressings, and has a machine tile roof with coped verges.

The building comprises a nave and chancel in one, a former undercroft beneath, a west tower, and a north-east vestry.

The west tower has three stepped stages with pointed angle quoins and voussoirs. The belfry stage contains four round-headed openings with an embattled parapet above. A round-headed window to the second stage lights the interior, with a similar round-headed door beneath it.

On the north side of the nave are two original lancet windows to the upper stage, a broad blocked lancet, and a lancet of 1867 to the west. A chamfered band marks the division from the former undercroft, below which are three narrow rectangular slits. A flying buttress was added to the centre circa 1867. The south side is similarly marked by a chamfered band indicating the height of the former undercroft, below which are a wide round-headed doorway and a narrow rectangular slit to the east. Above these are two Gothic windows of 1867 and an original lancet to the east.

The chancel's south side features a narrow pointed priest's door dating to circa 1280 with a lancet above to the east. Two recessed windows at ground level to the east have spherical triangular tracery dating to 1867. A single lancet on the north side lies to the east of the gabled vestry. The vestry and the present east wall, including a triple lancet window, were built in 1867, at which time an existing lancet was moved eastwards.

The interior retains no physical trace of the former undercroft (removed in 1786), though its former presence is indicated by the disposition of the windows. The nave has an arch-braced roof in five bays, built in 1867, with the easternmost truss supported on two stone shafts with foliated capitals. The chancel has a contemporary trussed rafter roof with scissor bracing. A west gallery of 1867 contains a richly carved and painted organ.

Twin sedilia on the south and a piscina in the north wall date to the 19th-century restoration. However, a rectangular recess high up on the south wall is probably a medieval piscina and presumably served the upper level of the church. Pointed-arched recesses in the north and south walls at the west end of the chancel are re-cut early 13th-century work, though their function is unclear.

A round-headed doorway to the tower, dating to circa 1790, has a raised keystone, imposts, and a nail-studded door. The altar is fronted by 17th-century decorative oak panelling and flanked by two tall painted German candlesticks dating to circa 1500. Late 19th-century wall painting decorates the east wall. A plain octagonal font of mid-19th-century date is said to have come from the Church of the Holy Trinity at Uppington. A piece of embroidery hanging in a frame on the south wall is reputed to have been worked by Mary Queen of Scots. A board on the north wall commemorates the repair of the church in 1790.

The church contains a wall memorial to Thomas Meyrick (died 1778) in the tower.

The church was probably originally a dependent chapelry of Condover. A motte, a Scheduled Ancient Monument (County No. 183), stands approximately 50 metres to the south-east.