Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This parish church originates from the 12th century and underwent alterations in the 14th and 15th centuries. The medieval building was demolished in 1881 and rebuilt between 1881 and 1885 by Preedy, who retained several earlier features in the reconstruction. The church is constructed partly in snecked lias limestone rubble with ashlar dressings and partly in ashlar, with plain tiled roofs topped with decorative ridge tiles and parapets featuring cross finials at the gable ends. The building comprises a west tower, a three-bay nave with a north porch, and a two-bay chancel with north and south transepts, all executed in the Decorated style.

The west tower rises through three stages. It has a plain chamfered plinth that runs around the entire building, with diagonally set corner buttresses with offsets at the west end. The lower stage contains a three-light west window, and to its right is a narrow pointed-arched doorway leading to stairs housed in the south-west corner of the tower. These stairs are lit by a loophole above the doorway and, in the south elevation, by a quatrefoil light above plinth level and an additional loophole beneath the second string course. The second stage has two-light windows on most elevations, but the east elevation features an elaborate crocketted and finialed arched niche above the apex of the nave roof, flanked by small pinnacled buttresses—apparently reset 15th-century work. The belfry stage contains two-light louvred bell chamber openings, each with a carved grotesque head above it. Gargoyles sit at the corners. The tower is crowned by an embattled parapet behind which stands a shallow-pitched pyramidal roof and weather vane.

The nave is arranged in three bays with buttresses of offset type at the bay divisions. The south elevation has two two-light windows and a three-light window in the westernmost bay. The north elevation contains a two-light window in the easternmost bay and a three-light window in the central bay, which retains some 14th-century stonework. Adjacent to this window stands the north porch, a remarkable example of late 14th-century carpentry reused from the older church. It is gabled and timber-framed on a chamfered sandstone base. The corner posts are cut back to receive swept arch-braces, which meet to form a two-centred archway at the entrance and also brace the cambered tie-beams. Above the entrance arch stands a broad central strut to the collar, shaped like a keyblock and carved with an Annunciation. The bargeboards feature raised scalloped decoration. Each side wall has four renewed lower square panels with an arcade of eight cusped ogee-headed lights above. The ceiling is divided into four main compartments by richly moulded ribs with carved bosses at the intersections and subordinate hollow-chamfered ribs. The pointed-arched entrance door is framed beneath the inner timber archway.

The chancel comprises two bays with north and south transepts. The east and south transept gable ends have diagonal buttresses with offsets. The east end displays a three-light window with hood mould and sill string, both featuring foliated stops. The north-east window has paired cusped lancets beneath a square head, while the south-east window is two-light. The transepts have three-light gable-end windows and two-light windows in each side elevation. The south transept retains the finest 14th-century stonework and also has a pointed west doorway. The north transept has a pointed doorway in place of the east side window and, in the angle with the chancel, a hipped-roofed projection with a small semi-circular-headed window.

The interior shows the tower arch incorporating reused 15th-century stonework and comprising two chamfered orders with hollow-chamfered responds and bell capitals. The chancel arch and transept arches are 19th-century additions supported on engaged columns of similar date and design. The chancel has a 19th-century wagon roof while the nave contains 19th-century arch-braced collar trusses with king posts, alternately cusped with traceried panels. The east window is furnished with nookshafts and a sill string, and there is a cusped ogee-arched aumbry. The north transept preserves a 15th-century cusped, pointed-arched piscina with a square head. The church contains a 19th-century rood screen, richly carved with an overhanging vaulted cornice, and 19th-century parcloses.

The furnishings of note include a late 12th-century limestone lectern, restored around 1845, featuring a scrolled vine design and a kneeling figure at the front; a 15th-century octagonal font with finely detailed traceried panelling; a 19th-century pulpit and pews. Memorials include an early 19th-century memorial to the Smith family in the tower and two mid-19th-century memorials, one by J. Stephens for the Farley family. The west window of the north transept contains some 15th-century glass fragments.

Although the church was substantially rebuilt, it retains several high-quality medieval features, particularly the north porch, lectern, and font, which account for its grade II* listing.