Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist, Tixall

A parish church built in 1849 by the London architects T.H. Wyatt and David Brandon, commissioned and funded by J.C. Talbot. The church was constructed in place of an earlier Georgian church, and was originally intended to incorporate Talbot's private mausoleum. The contractors were Mr Ward of Brocton and Mr Chatfield of Stafford.

The building is constructed of local Tixall sandstone in regular courses, with banded red and grey tile roofs incorporating arcaded tiles. It is designed in simple Decorated style with steep roofs and a gabled west bellcote containing a single bell.

The plan comprises a nave with a lower chancel, a north aisle, a south porch, and a north vestry with a lean-to roof. The exterior features 2-light and 1-light south windows on the nave, and a 2-light west window. The porch entrance has continuous roll mouldings, while the nave south doorway has single roll mouldings. The north aisle contains a cusped 1-light west window and three cusped north windows. The chancel has a 3-light geometrical east window and two cusped south windows.

The interior retains much original detail. The north arcade has octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches. The chancel arch, designed in 13th-century style, features corbelled stiff-leaf shafts. The nave has a 4-bay arched-brace roof on carved corbels, while the chancel has a cradle roof. The windows have moulded rere arches; walls are plastered and floors comprise Minton tiles (richer in the chancel) and wood-block floors below benches. The centre of the nave contains a lozenge pattern in encaustic tiles commemorating the building and its patron.

Principal fixtures include an octagonal font with a continuous band of foliage around the bowl; benches with panelled square ends and moulded tops; a stone polygonal pulpit with blind cusped arches and shafts; stone steps with iron balusters; and heavy wooden communion rails with cusped diagonal bracing. A war-memorial rood beam, brought from Ingestre and cut to fit, was erected in 1921 with limewood figures by Robert Bridgeman & Sons of Lichfield.

The most significant memorial is on the north wall of the chancel, dedicated to John Chetwynd Talbot (died 1852) and Caroline Talbot (died 1876), comprising brass plates framed by trefoil arches on shafts. An oval tablet to Simon Wakelin (died 1697) was salvaged from the previous church.

The stained glass is of high quality. Chancel windows are by Bennet & Son of York, dated 1849, with patterns featuring small scenes from the life of St John (east window) and of an officiating priest (south window). The west window is by William Wailes, dated 1852.