Church Of Saint John

Church of St John, Terrington St John

This is a parish church of early 14th-century date, substantially remodelled in the 15th century. The tower dates from the late 13th century. The building comprises a nave, aisles and chancel. It was first rendered in 1835, the tower was restored in 1843, and the remainder of the church in 1853. The walls are rendered Barnack stone with some brick, and the roofs are slate and lead.

The south-west tower was originally detached. It rises in 3 stages with stepped angle buttresses which become polygonal at the belfry level. The ground floor has lancets to the north, south and west. The ringing chamber has 2-light cusped windows, and the belfry has 2-light windows with ogee cusping. The parapet is crenellated with corner turrets topped by ball finials set on tapering stalks. The tower is connected to the south aisle by a 3-storey extension containing an undercroft, priests' room and 2 passageways. The ground floor has two square-headed lancets. A plain tiled roof slopes to the second storey. This passageway is lit through one pointed quatrefoil. A square brick walk provides external access to the ringing chamber door in the tower. The gabled top storey is a passage between the nave roof and tower staircase, lit by one cusped lancet to the south, with a hollow chamfered arched doorway to the clerestory and a roof of stone slabs. The north facade of this extension is a sheer wall pierced intermittently by lancets.

The west nave doorway is of 13th-century date with undercut mouldings and hood moulding embracing an ogival form. It has 2 orders of engaged shafts. Above this is a 15th-century 5-light transomed west window. There is a stepped buttress to the north. The north aisle has an early 14th-century 2-light reticulated west window with angle buttress to the north-west corner. The aisle windows are mostly 3-lights with supermullions and of 15th-century date, except the first bay of the nave which has 2-light 14th-century Y tracery windows with rounded trefoils on both south and north sides. The clerestory alternates between circular and arched windows; the circles have cusped 4-petal flowers arranged diagonally, while the others have 2 trefoil centres supporting a cusped punched vesica in the centre.

The south porch is gabled with two side buttresses to north and south. The entrance has arched mouldings of double wave and roll and hollow profile. Two square spirlets flank the gable. The porch is barrel vaulted on moulded transverse ribs. The inner south door has late 13th-century undercut mouldings. The nave clerestory has parapets terminating at the east end in polygonal turrets. The turret to the north expands into a rood stair turret. The east gable has 2 square-headed windows. The chancel is lit by two 3-light 15th-century windows to the south and one to the north, with a south priests' door and angle buttresses to the east. A 5-light Perpendicular window lights the east end. The north side east bay is blank except for 2 segmental arched niches, with a further niche below the window in the west bay.

The interior has 5-bay double chamfered arcades on octagonal piers with moulded bases and polygonal capitals. Circular clerestory windows sit over the apexes of the arches. The interior of the west door has a basket rere arch. Stilted rere arches to the north and south nave doors have head stops. The flat nave roof, dated 1688, comprises tie beams dropping to wall-posts and arched braces, with 3 tiers of moulded butt purlins. The aisle roofs have principals resting on wall posts, with each alternate principal having a straight brace and one tier of roll-edged butt purlins. The south aisle roof is partly altered, and the north is 19th-century work. The chancel arch piers are encased in panelling painted to imitate pilasters, and the arch is similarly encased. An arched rood stair door opens to the north. The chancel roof is 20th-century work of principal and collar construction. Opposing priests' doors stand in the chancel. Two arched aumbries are set in the north chancel wall. The south aisle east chapel contains a piscina of rounded trefoil form. Five 18th-century box pews with plain panelling and HL hinges remain in the nave. An octagonal font dated 1632 has a traceried stem and strapwork to the bowl. Painted Royal Arms to George II are displayed. The undercroft of the passage between tower and south aisle forms a barrel-vaulted passage with 2 chamfered ribs leading to the base of the tower through the site of the original tower east door. The passage is of brick, as is the interior of the tower. The priests' room above is also barrel-vaulted in brick with 2 ribs and 2 arched recesses to the north. The 2 upper passages are similarly barrel-vaulted.