Parish Church Of St John The Baptist

The parish church of St John the Baptist largely dates to the 12th and 13th centuries, with significant alterations and rebuilding in later periods. It is constructed of flint and pebble rubble with a red clay tile roof. The nave’s west wall was rebuilt in the 19th century. The chancel was rebuilt in the 15th century, while the west belfry dates to the 15th or 16th century. A north porch and a south vestry were added in 1891.

The chancel is irregularly planned, wider on the south side and noticeably angled from the nave's axis. The east window is from the 19th century. The north wall contains a 19th-century window, doorway, and two arches. A 15th-century window on the south wall features two cinquefoiled lights and tracery within a two-centred head, partly restored and with a moulded label. The roof is a seven-canted structure with a boarded soffit, dating to the 19th century.

The north wall of the nave incorporates a late 14th-century window with a single wide light and a slightly ogee cinquefoiled head. Further west is a blocked doorway, probably from the 13th century, which has been converted into a window; it has chamfered jambs and a two-centred head. On the south wall are two windows: the eastern one is a partly restored 15th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a four-centred head. The western window is largely 19th-century, retaining only the eastern splay and a semi-circular rear arch, possibly dating to the 12th century; the splay has been cut back square. A doorway of uncertain date, with a two-centred head now plastered over, sits between these two windows. The west wall, with its window, is from the 19th century. The nave's roof is of seven cants, with a boarded soffit, likely of medieval origin.

The 15th or 16th-century west belfry is weatherboarded with a 19th-century pyramidal roof, supported on posts with tiebeams and chamfered arch-braces, along with single unchamfered arch-braces against the side walls. A piscina is located in the chancel, with chamfered jambs, a trefoiled ogee head, recessed spandrels, and a quatrefoil drain, dating to the 14th century. The font has an octagonal bowl with cusped panels enclosing a molet, roses, blank shields, and a four-leafed flower, set upon a 19th-century stem and base. There are two bells cast by Miles Graye in 1674. The chancel contains three floor slabs of black marble: one to Thomas Cracherode (1701), another to Waldegrave Sidey (born 1661), and a third to Sarah Cracherode (1705). At the west end of the nave, against the belfry, is a painted display of the arms of George I, within a gilt frame. An early 13th-century stone coffin-lid was found during the construction of the south porch; it features a coped slab with a beaded edge, a cross formy with plain scroll arms springing from the middle of the stem, and a stepped base. J.P. Seddon was the architect responsible for the north vestry, chancel screen, south porch, and general restoration work in 1891. The floor slabs belonging to Thomas and Sarah Cracherode relate to the family documented in an inscription at Red House.