Parish Church Of St John The Baptist

Parish Church of St John the Baptist

This is a parish church of mainly 14th-century date, substantially restored in the 19th century. It stands at Pebmarsh, on The Street.

The building is constructed of stone rubble with limestone dressings, the rubble largely exposed inside and out, though the east and north walls of the chancel are cement rendered. The porch and parapets are of red brick in English bond. The roof is covered with handmade red clay tiles and lead.

The earliest part is the west tower, dating to the early 14th century, which was added to a pre-existing nave. The chancel and nave were rebuilt soon afterwards, followed by the addition of north and south aisles. In the early 16th century the chancel was shortened and a south porch added; most of the parapets were rebuilt at this time. A north organ chamber was added in the 19th century, along with general restoration work including the removal of all plaster.

The chancel has an early 16th-century east wall and a 19th-century east window. Both north and south walls display moulded internal and external string-courses dating to the 14th century. In the north wall are two 14th-century windows, each with two cinquefoiled lights and tracery in a two-centred head, partly restored, with moulded label and head-stops. Between these windows stands the 19th-century organ chamber. The south wall contains three windows: the two eastern examples, set high in the wall, are 14th-century with two trefoiled ogee lights and tracery in segmental-pointed heads, moulded labels and head-stops; the western window is similar to those in the north wall and much restored. Below the middle window is a 14th-century doorway with moulded jambs, two-centred arch, moulded label and head-stops. The 14th-century chancel-arch is two-centred with two chamfered orders, the outer continuous and the inner resting on semi-octagonal shafts with moulded capitals.

The nave has in its east wall above the chancel-arch a small opening with a two-centred head, blocked externally. The north and south arcades are mid-14th-century, each comprising four bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders. The columns consist of four attached shafts (two semi-octagonal and two semi-circular) with moulded capitals and bases, while the responds have semi-circular shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The 14th-century clerestorey has three windows on each side, each with two trefoiled ogee lights and tracery in two-centred heads. The nave roof spans five bays with queen-posts on straight tiebeams, one purlin in each slope, and curved braces from the queen-posts to the purlins. The wallplates are cavetto moulded. There has been some 19th-century restoration, mainly to the queen-posts and their braces.

The north aisle is 14th-century and has an east window of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a two-centred head. The north wall contains two windows, each with two cinquefoiled lights and tracery in a two-centred head. Further west is the north doorway, with moulded jambs, two-centred arch and label. In the west wall is a 14th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights in a two-centred head with moulded label and head-stops. The south aisle has east, south and west windows uniform with those of the north aisle. West of the windows in the south wall is the south doorway, with moulded jambs, two-centred arch and crocketed and finialed label springing from flanking buttresses with crocketed pinnacles. The aisle roofs retain some original plain rafters, the remainder dating to the 19th century. The crenellated brick parapets are 16th-century.

The west tower, the oldest part of the present building, is early 14th-century, square and in three stages. The tower-arch is 19th-century. In the south wall of the first stage is a window of one cinquefoiled light. The second stage has windows in the north, south and west walls, each of one pointed light with moulded label, trefoiled in the south window only. The east wall contains a pointed opening and shows the weathering of the earlier and lower roof of the nave. The bell-chamber has a pointed window in each wall. There is a 16th-century crenellated brick parapet with corner pinnacles and blue diaper design.

The south porch, early 16th-century and constructed of brick, has a crow-stepped gable. The outer archway has moulded jambs, two-centred arch and label, and is set in a projection with crow-stepped head. Above the arch is a niche flanked by two square cinquefoiled panels and surmounted by a rectangular panel enclosing a rose. The side walls each contain a window of two four-centred lights, hollow-moulded inside and out, with pierced spandrel. The wallplates are moulded and crenellated, carved with running foliage; the roof has been rebuilt.

The church contains five bells, the fifth cast by John Bird and inscribed 'Sum Rosa Pulsata Mundi Maria Vocata', dating to the early 15th century. In the chancel is a brass to Sir William Fitzralph, circa 1323, showing a large cross-legged figure of a knight in mixed mail and plate, feet resting on a dog, with prick spurs, greaves, knee-caps and arm-pieces with elbow and shoulder roundels. The shield of arms of Fitzralph appears on the left arm, now mutilated, with an indent for a gabled canopy and marginal inscription. On the south wall is a brass to Joseph Birch, rector of the parish, dated 1674, set in a wooden frame. In the south aisle is a 14th-century coffin-lid with a foliated cross, much worn. The south wall of the chancel bears floor-slabs to Thomas Cross, 1634, pastor of the parish, and to Elizabeth, widow of Steven Crosse, 1667.

The church retains 14th-century glass in the north-west window of the chancel, comprising one shield of arms for Bourguylon and two for Fitzralph, with fragments elsewhere. The chancel contains a range of two sedilia, formerly extending further east but shortened with the chancel, with moulded two-centred arches, ogee crocketed and finialed labels with head-stops. The middle shaft is of Purbeck marble, while jamb-shafts and shafts at the back of the recess are in clunch, all with moulded capitals and bases, dating to the 14th century and restored. In the south aisle is a 14th-century piscina with shafted jambs, cinquefoiled and sub-cusped head and sexfoiled drain. The south door is 14th-century, constructed of V-edged boards but refaced inside and out in the 19th century, with a refitted domed scutcheon-plate and drop-handle, the latter probably original.