Church of St John the Baptist is a Grade I listed building in the Colchester local planning authority area, England. First listed on 7 April 1965. Church.

Church of St John the Baptist

WRENN ID
white-pavement-clover
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Colchester
Constituency
Witham MP: Priti Patel (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
7 April 1965
Type
Church
Address
Church of St John the Baptist, Church Road, Layer-De-La-Haye
OS grid reference
TL 964 191
Coordinates
51.83621, 0.85066
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St John the Baptist is a Grade I listed building located on Church Road in Layer de la Haye. The church features a nave dating from the 14th century and a chancel that dates back to the 12th century. The east window is from the 19th century but is set within a 14th-century two-centred arch. There are two blocked windows in the south wall of the chancel, while one complete 12th-century window remains. The chancel arch, dating from the 15th century, is two-centred and consists of two hollow chamfered orders. The south-east quoins of the nave incorporate Roman brick.

In the north wall, there are three windows, two of which are 14th-century with two trefoiled ogee lights and a quatrefoil in a two-centred head, complete with a moulded label. The north doorway and south arcade were added in the 19th century. The west tower, also from the 14th century, is built in three stages and features an embattled parapet. The tower arch is two-centred, and the south wall includes a doorway leading to a stair turret, which has chamfered jambs and a two-centred arch. The west window consists of two cinquefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in a two-centred head, also with a moulded label. The north and west windows of the second stage have one trefoiled light in a square head with a moulded label. The bell chamber contains four similar windows, each with two lights.

The north porch, dating from the 14th century, has been extensively altered in the late 19th century. It features moulded top plates, chamfered and cambered tie beams, and arch braces, along with remains of original carved bargeboards. The nave roof consists of seven cants with scissor braces.

Local climate

Church of St John the Baptist sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 680 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 99% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 50% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 17 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 83% of listed buildings. Of these, 9 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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