Parish Church Of St John The Evangelist

The parish church of St John the Evangelist is a church building dating back to the medieval period, with significant alterations and rebuilding occurring in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was restored and altered in 1853, and a late 19th-century south vestry was added. The structure is built with red brick walls and dressings of Ketton stone, with roofs of Collyweston stone slates.

The west elevation features a moulded plinth and cornice with giant angle pilasters rising above the cornice and surmounted by small obelisks marked with '17' and '14'. Plain copings rise to a bell cote with rusticated pilasters, topped by a large obelisk tapering to a flat, pierced pyramidal head with a ball finial. The doorway has a recessed moulded architrave and keystone, rising through a frieze panel bearing an inscription: 'This is none other but the House of God and the gate of heaven', beneath a moulded cornice supported by shaped console brackets. A boarded oak door is set within a rectangular fanlight with twisted mullions. The north and south walls of the nave each contain two transomed windows with square-headed arches, plain architraves with keyblocks, and moulded sills.

Inside, the reredos was rearranged in 1853, incorporating one large and two smaller wooden tablets with cornices and segmental pediments. Brass tablets displaying the Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer date from around 1625. Oak panelling from around 1714 is present in the chancel, with wooden benches supported by a small Doric arcade with a moulded cornice, and extends throughout the nave above 19th-century collegiate seating. A black and white stone chequered pavement also dates from 1714. The communion table retains three original balusters. The font, from around 1625, has a small brass basin on a balustered stem with a brass cover shaped like a crown, adorned with crosses, fleur-de-lis, and trefoils. A brass lectern from the 15th century features an eagle desk, a moulded stem, and base; both the font and lectern were gifts from Mrs Ferrar. An hour glass from around 1625 is accompanied by a wrought iron bracket shaped like a crown. A chandelier, inscribed in memory of Rev. Sam. Ed. Hopkinson, who died in 1841, hangs within. Candle sconces of slender balusters were added around 1920 by W.A. Lee. Stained glass windows were incorporated in 1853. Embroidered Stuart arms, made by members of the Ferrar family, are displayed on the west wall. Further monuments and floor slabs are documented in records of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments. Nicholas Ferrar (1598-1637) and his family established a community at Little Gidding around 1626, and the site was visited on three occasions by Charles I. The church suffered substantial damage from Cromwellian soldiers in 1646, leading to almost complete rebuilding in 1714, which included the demolition of the north transept and west tower.