Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist, Thaxted

This is the largest church in the county, built over three centuries from the 14th to early 16th century, constructed of flint rubble with limestone and clunch dressings, and roofed in lead, slate and tile.

The earliest elements date to around 1340, when the north and south arcades were constructed. The late 14th century saw the addition of the south transept, south porch and porch chamber. The north transept was built in the early 15th century, followed by a mid-15th-century north porch and porch chamber. The west tower, with its early 19th-century spire, dates to the late 15th century. The chancel, north and south chapels were rebuilt in the early 16th century, when the clerestorey was added.

The arcades are particularly fine, with four bays to both north and south, featuring moulded piers and attached shafts with moulded bases and capitals, and four-centred arches with pierced traceried spandrels. The early 16th-century chancel east window has five cinquefoiled lights with tracery beneath a segmental pointed head. Similar windows appear in the north chapel (four cinquefoiled lights in a four-centred head with moulded jambs and mullions, with stone benches between windows) and the south chapel. The north chapel also contains four similar windows in the north wall with square heads, a doorway with a four-centred arch, and an arch to the north transept with moulded, four-centred arches and attached shafts with moulded bases and capitals.

The south transept contains a blocked 15th-century window and a 18th-century south window inserted into a 14th-century opening. The four-centred north and south crossing arches and the two-centred east end are early 16th-century work, while the west arch is mid-14th-century with two moulded arches with moulded labels, later raised in the 16th century. The 15th-century west arch features four-centred work with attached shafts and moulded bases and capitals.

The north transept contains a 15th-century wheel window with eight radiating cinquefoiled lights, and 18th-century windows in 15th-century recesses, one bearing angel stops. The west wall displays a 14th-century arch of two moulded arches with curved angels at the apex of the labels; a capital on the south side bears a figure of St Katherine.

The nave arcades, matching the west arch of the crossing, are 14th-century work with piers featuring four round shafts with rolls between. The north aisle has five mid-15th-century windows: three with four trefoiled ogee lights with tracery under a three-centred head, and two similar but with three and five lights respectively. The north doorway has moulded jambs, a two-centred arch, attached shafts with moulded bases and capitals, and angel stops. The south aisle contains two windows similar to those in the north aisle and two late 14th-century windows with cinquefoiled lights and tracery in segmental heads. The late 14th-century south doorway has moulded jambs and a two-centred arch. A 15th-century doorway leads to the porch chamber stairs, and there is a modern west window.

The west tower rises in four stages with semi-hexagonal and battered turrets to the lower stages and diagonal buttresses above. It has a panelled and embattled parapet with crocketted pinnacles, and a late 15th-century two-centred tower arch. The bell chamber features two two-light windows in each face with square heads.

The mid-15th-century north porch has a two-centred entrance archway with traceried spandrels. Its east wall contains a blocked original window, and it is covered by a stone vault roof. The porch chamber features 19th-century windows. The late 14th-century south porch has a two-centred entrance archway, with smaller four-centred archways in the east and west walls, and is covered by a church vault roof. The porch chamber retains two original windows of four ogee lights beneath a square head.

The nave roof, dating to the early 16th century, is camber-beamed and four panels wide. The north aisle roof of the 15th century features knees and angel carvings at bay centres. The south aisle roof of the 16th century is carved with angels. The south transept roof dates to the 14th century. The north transept roof contains a late 14th or early 15th-century king post. The early 16th-century roofs to the chapels and chancel feature stout king posts.

Internal features include 15th or early 16th-century north and south doors, a circa 1400 nave door with ogee-headed niches, a 16th-century font case and cover, a 17th-century pulpit, a late 17th-century communion rail, 17th-century screens to the north and south chapels, 17th-century benches, and a brass of 1450 in the chancel.