Church Of St John Baptist

The Church of St John Baptist is a parish church dating from the medieval period. It is constructed primarily of flint with stone dressings, and has lead and pantile roofs. The church comprises a west tower, nave, south porch, a now ruinous north chapel, and chancel.

The embattled round tower, likely dating to around 1300, features an inserted south door with flint jambs, stone imposts, and a two-centred arch. A lancet window is located on the west side. The bell openings have Y-tracery and are adorned with gargoyles, topped by later flushwork battlements. Two two-light Decorated windows are set into the west wall of the nave, with quatrefoil heads, the southern window having a base to the central shaft, and the northern one having been restored.

The nave is buttressed across three bays with diagonal buttresses. The south side has two three-light windows featuring panel tracery; brick repairs are visible on a buttress. A blocked doorway and a single three-light window with panel tracery are located on the north side. The third bay has a blocked four-centred arch with remnants of a shallow-pitched roof, now enclosing a Y-tracery window. To the north of this are the ruins of a chapel with some stone reveals remaining from a large north window.

The chancel is buttressed on the south side with diagonal buttresses. The south wall was probably re-faced with knapped flints in the 19th century. It features a restored Y-tracery window, a priests' door with chamfered reveals and a hood mould, and a 19th-century two-light Decorated window. The east window is a Decorated design of three lights. The north side has no windows; a base for a rood stair is visible, alongside a blocked triangular-headed door.

A two-storey porch is integrated into the first south nave bay, featuring diagonal buttresses and cusped lights in its east and west walls. An external stair leads to the east, featuring quatrefoil lights. The archway has shafts with polygonal abaci, an arch with roll and fillet moulding with a deep hollow to both inner and outer orders, and a hood mould. A cusped niche sits above. A raised roof is evidenced by a cusped light with brick reveals and a square hood mould above the archway. The nave doorway has slender shafts with fillet, castellated abaci, a castellated shaft band, continuous inner and outer orders, and a hood mould supporting a castellated base for a statue.

Inside, a stoup has a fluted shaft, polygonal base, and abacus, topped with an ogee arch and a finial of feathers. An iron-bound door provides access to the parvise. A cusped piscina is present in the south wall. An archway indicates the former chapel's location, with lost shafts and polygonal abaci, leading to a hollow chamfered arch with a chamfered order. The rendered tower arch has an offset in the wall above, and a blocked opening above this. The chancel arch’s shafts were hacked to accommodate a 15th-century rood screen, the panels now lost. The chancel arch itself has a hollow chamfer with a deep hollow to its continuous outer and inner orders. Four re-used poppyhead bench ends have intersecting tracery and quatrefoils. A blocked north door features a continuous chamfer. Restored ogee-headed drop-sill sedilia and piscina are present, along with crocketted finials, cusps, and rosettes. The church’s roofs and font are 19th-century additions.