Parish Church Of St Mary And St John The Evangelist

Parish Church of St Mary and St John the Evangelist

This parish church stands on the west side of Church Green in Hinxton. The building comprises a chancel, nave and west tower dating from around 1200, with substantial later additions and modifications spanning the medieval period through to the 19th century.

The original 12th-century structure was enlarged with a south chapel in the mid-14th century and a south porch in the later 14th century. The west tower was rebuilt at the same period, retaining only its east wall from the earlier work. In the 15th century, Sir Thomas Skelton funded the construction of a south aisle between the porch and south chapel (he died in 1416). The chancel's east wall was rebuilt, possibly in the late 17th century. The church underwent significant restoration during the 19th century.

The walls are constructed of flint rubble with Barnack limestone and clunch dressings, with roofs of plain tile and lead.

The south elevation displays a two-stage tower with a moulded plinth and embattled parapet, surmounted by a lead-covered octagonal timber spire with crocketed finial and sanctus bell. A three-stage diagonal buttress reinforces the west end, and a trefoiled-light belfry window lights the upper stage. The nave roof features a cross finial rising to a parapet gable. The south porch, which has been restored, has an embattled parapet. The south aisle exhibits a stepped plain parapet with a large 15th-century window of four trefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a segmental head. The south chapel has an embattled parapet at its gable end and a 15th-century window of three cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head. The chancel, possibly shortened in the 17th century, contains a carved shield of arms of Hinde in its east wall and a small 13th-century doorway with stop-chamfered jambs and a two-centred head.

The interior reveals the church's structural history in detail. Within the nave, rood doorways and stairs are incorporated in the wall thickness. A blocked 12th-century doorway with plain square jambs and shouldered head survives, alongside a 15th-century arched opening to the south aisle with a four-centred arch. A similar arch connects the south chapel and south aisle. The late 14th-century south doorway features a two-centred inner arch with a square outer head decorated with traceried spandrels and quatrefoils. The chancel arch is two-centred with one plain order and narrow chamfers; the square responds carry small attached shafts with plain capitals. The opening to the south chapel is segmental and pointed, with double ogee and wave-moulded orders.

The chancel roof dates from the 17th century, arranged in three bays with side purlins and chamfered tie beams. The 14th-century nave roof, restored, employs collar rafter scissor-braced trusses, with 19th-century tie beams added later. The south chapel's low-pitched 15th-century roof spans two bays with moulded principals, curved solid braces and moulded wall posts supported on carved stone head-corbels.

The 14th-century font comprises a square clunch bowl with corner shafts and scalloped cap, set on an octagonal stem. A 14th-century piscina in the south chapel displays a moulded trefoiled head. A 15th-century stoup by the south door features a trefoiled head. The 15th-century screen beneath the chancel arch spans three bays and has been restored. Seating includes reused poppy head bench ends. A 17th-century communion table and an early 17th-century pulpit with a sounding board (restored in 1912) are present. Glass fragments and a figure in quatrefoil date from the 14th or 15th century.

The church contains numerous hatchments (four in the chancel and three in the south aisle). A brass memorial in the south transept commemorates Sir Thomas Skelton (died 1416) with three figures on a Purbeck marble slab. A coffin lid is positioned at the porch entrance.

Monuments include works by the sculptor Edward Stanton: a monument in the chancel to Dame Mary Dayrell, her son Marmaduke and daughter Sarah, executed in grey and white marble with a garlanded urn on a pedestal. Also in the chancel are monuments to Sir Thomas Dayrell (died 1669) with an inscription concerning his lineage and an additional tablet to Barbara Lady Hinede (died 1667), and to Sir Marmaduke Dayrell in grey and white marble with two putti holding symbols of mortality and a shield of arms. The south chapel contains white marble tablets to Sarah Stutter (died 1830) and James Spencer (died 1841). In the nave stands a black and white marble monument with a draped urn by Regnart commemorating Mary, wife of William Vachell (died 1795) and William Vachell (died 1807).

Floor slabs mark the burials of Thomas Dayrell (died 1664), Catherine Dayrell (died 1757), Sarah Dayrell (died 1728), Dame Mary Dayrell (died 1717), Sir Marmaduke Dayrell (died 1729), James Spencer (died 1841), Sarah Stutter, Reverend Clarkson (died 1833), Mary Vachell (died 1795) and William Vachell (died 1807).