Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This is a parish church of great architectural interest, prominently sited in the Gade Valley. It displays work spanning from the early 12th century to the 20th century, though the major phases of construction were in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries.

The earliest parts are the chancel and east wall of the nave, dating from the early 12th century. The south aisle and south porch were added around 1230. The north aisle was constructed in the late 13th century, though the north arcade was rebuilt in the early 14th century. The clearstorey, nave and aisle roofs, west tower and alterations to the porch all date from the 15th century. A northeast chapel was built in 1730 as a mortuary chapel for the Halsey family.

The church has undergone several major restorations: a general restoration in 1863, the tower was largely rebuilt in 1866, the chancel was restored and opened to the north chapel in 1877–9, the porch was restored in 1895 (with a plaque marking this work), and the roof was restored with stonework of many windows renewed in 1912–14 by Paul Waterhouse (commemorated by a plaque on the north wall of the nave). A heating chamber was added in the angle of the south aisle and tower in 1961.

The building is constructed of flint rubble walls with roughcast and wavy incised patterning of various periods. Roman brick is exposed at the east end of the chancel as quoins to the corners and to two shallow buttresses. The tower features uncoursed knapped flint facing. Limestone dressings are used throughout. Exposed puddingstone foundations appear on many buttresses. The northeast chapel is built of red brick chequered with black headers in Flemish bond. Low-pitched metal roofs cover the porch, nave and aisles, whilst steep old red tile roofs cover the chancel and northeast chapel.

The church plan comprises a medieval structure with square ends to the chancel and northeast chapel set in line, a taller nave with low aisles, a long projecting south porch, and a large west tower. A drawing by Buckler from 1832 shows a recessed spire on the tower that was not replaced in the 1866 rebuild.

The chancel contains a boarded wagon roof with a deep crested cornice at the springing. The east window is a three-light window in 14th-century style, much renewed, containing stained glass of 1869 by Burlinson & Grylls. Below the sill outside are the Roman brick jambs of the lower part of an earlier window, with two dressed stones in the middle one bearing the inscription 'IHS' cut twice. The north wall features a two-bay 13th-century style arcade of 1877 opening into the north chapel. At the east end of the south wall is a 13th-century lancet window with deep internal splays. A late 14th-century pointed cinquefoil piscina is positioned below. Near the west end is a 15th-century low-side window of two cinquefoil lights with externally raised sill. A 17th-century communion table is present. Arts and Crafts style Commandment Boards with painted angels flank the east window. The floor is laid with red and black chequered tiles and 17th-century black marble floor slabs of the Halsey family. A monumental brass to William Croke (died 1506) and his wife with three shields and indents of three children and a shield is set in the south wall. Also on the south wall is a vigorous Baroque gadrooned monument to John Halsey (died 1670) with a cartouche and bust on top, attributed to Bushnell. A heavy Gothick wall monument north of the altar commemorates T.P. Halsey (1854).

The chancel arch dates from the 13th century and features two chamfered orders; the lower part of the inner order has been cut away to create a wider opening.

The nave features arcades of four bays with similar pointed arches of two hollow chamfered orders with dripmoulds and octagonal piers. The south arcade has large stiff-leaf capitals typical of the 13th century, whilst the north arcade has moulded capitals of the early 14th century. One or both arcades were probably rebuilt in the 14th century. The 15th-century clearstorey contains three-light cinquefoil windows with square heads: four on the north side and three on the south. In the southeast corner is the narrow upper doorway of the rood-stair, and there is a blocked external slit window. The roof dates from the 15th century and consists of four bays of open timber construction with heavy cambered moulded tie-beams, short king-posts, sub-principals, a ridge-beam and one purlin to each slope, all moulded with central roll intersecting at floral bosses. Long wallposts are fronted by figures of angels (renewed). Next to the tower arch is part of a stone base possibly belonging to the original early 12th-century nave. An early 19th-century octagonal font features a quatrefoil panel on each face.

The north aisle features an unglazed east window of around 1280 with two uncusped lights and a trefoil over. The west window dates from around 1500 and has two trefoil lights under a four-centred head. Two 15th-century type windows in the north wall have been renewed, one with three cinquefoil lights under a square head. A plain north door is positioned below. A large external brick and flint buttress is attached on the east side to a projecting 15th- or 16th-century chantry with a three-light trefoil window and flat four-centred arch inside. A finely carved wall monument of around 1700 is centrally placed above, featuring a draped bellied cartouche with putti and armorial crest. The north aisle roof consists of four bays of open timber construction with hollow chamfered principals, curved braces to wallposts, moulded longitudinal timbers and hollow chamfered flat-laid joists. An organ in the west part of the aisle partly covers a floor brass of a woman (around 1520) with indents of a husband, children and inscription. A small ancient chest cut from a log is present. A wall monument dated 1656 commemorates Stephen Munne. A piscina is positioned at the east end.

The south aisle has a three-light east window of late 15th-century type containing stained glass by Wailes (around 1863). A 15th-century bracket for an image survives with traces of colour. A 15th-century piscina with square head has been restored. Two 15th-century two-light cinquefoil windows on the south have been restored. An early 14th-century window of two lights with a quatrefoil over under a label is positioned west of a 15th-century south door with a moulded four-centred door head, though the rear arch is 13th-century moulded. The open timber roof consists of four bays with plain flat rafters, a moulded purlin and curved knee braces to principals from wallposts.

The long south porch has 13th-century moulded rear arches to its side windows but is otherwise 15th-century with an original low-pitched timbered roof. The outer arch features continuous moulding and 15th-century trefoil-headed single-light side windows.

The tall buttressed west tower is in 15th-century style, though largely rebuilt, and is embattled with a half-octagonal stair turret on the north running the full height. It comprises three stages with stone string courses, gargoyles at the foot of the parapet, and diagonal buttresses founded on mable of puddingstone. Trefoil lights appear in the second stage and two-light belfry openings with quatrefoil circles in the heads. The west doorway and two-light window above contain fragments of old stained glass in the trefoil heads. A Bath-stone tower arch in French 13th-century style has foliate caps to jamb shafts. Three round-headed benefactions boards are positioned in the lower stage of the tower, along with another recording that the clock was brought from one of the pavilions of Gaddesden Place in 1955. Seventeenth-century scratch-moulded panelling in a screen under the tower arch was set up in 1936.

The early 18th-century northeast mortuary chapel has an original two-light pointed east window. Two-bay arcading to the chancel and a pointed stone north door down steps were both inserted around 1877. The chapel contains a splendid series of carved black and white wall monuments of the Halsey family: William Halsey (died 1637) and Letitia Halsey (died 1649), erected 1650, are of alabaster and marble. Four separate monuments follow the same design, each with a bust under a draped baldachino with open segmental pediment on pilasters: Thomas Halsey (died 1715), Anne Halsey (died 1719), and Jane Halsey (died 1725), all attributed to Guelfi, and Henshaw Halsey (died 1739), attributed to Rysbrack. Charles Halsey (died 1748) is commemorated by a white epitaph with bust against an obelisk, and Frederick Halsey (died 1762) by a white epitaph with profile medallion against an obelisk, both attributed to William Tyler. On the west wall is an asymmetrical monument to Agatha Halsey (died 1782) signed by Flaxman, with an angel holding a book. Thomas Halsey (died 1788) and his wife are commemorated by an obelisk with an oval medallion of Mrs Halsey being taken up to heaven. The south wall of the chapel incorporates 12th-century billet and zigzag carved stones. Two 17th-century chests are present.

This church is a prominent landscape feature in the Gade Valley and is of outstanding interest for its 13th-century arcades, 15th-century roofs, and the exceptional series of Halsey family monuments.