Parish Church Of St John The Baptist

TQ 49 NW LOUGHTON CHURCH LANE, 1/25 Parish church of St. John the Baptist

GV II

Parish church, 1846, by Sidney Smirke, in neo-Norman style, extended in 1877. Gault brick with stone dressings and slate roof. Cruciform plan with square tower at crossing, stair tower in NE angle, vestry in SE angle, N porch. All windows have round arches and internal splays, with external nook-shafts, the same moulding continuing round the arch. The tower has 2 louvred lights in each face, with nook-shafts and cushion capitals in recessed panels corbelled at the top. The nave is in 4 bays with corbelled eaves. There are 2 windows, with less splay than elsewhere. The interior is plastered, with plaster groined vaulting throughout, cushion capitals on corbels in the nave, nook shafts with moulded bases and cushion capitals at the crossing. The chancel was of one bay originally, extended by one bay in 1877, with 3 E windows and 2 on each side. The reredos is of painted tiles, mosaic and marble, and the same treatment extends to the sides of the E bay only. In the E wall of the S transept there is a wrought iron grill of flowing curves ending in six-petalled flowers, to Henry Maitland, 1878. There is coloured glass in the chancel and transepts, plain glass in the nave. The floor was of brick originally, replaced with planking in 1982 with a dais at the crossing. The vestry is gabled to the S, with a group of 3 round-headed lights and a round window above. The N doorway is round headed beneath a segmental arch.

Listing NGR: TQ4294496931