Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St. John the Baptist is a parish church with medieval origins, and a chancel significantly restored in 1879. It comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, south porch, and north vestry, aligned southwest to northeast. The construction is primarily of random flint and stone rubble, with some coursed work to the tower and nave. The upper part of the nave features red brick, while the south chancel is faced with large knapped flints. Remnants of plaster remain on the nave and north chancel, with stone dressings and a leaded roof on the nave and plain tiles on the chancel.

The two-stage west tower, likely dating from the 12th to 13th centuries, features 12th-century slit windows approximately halfway up on the west and south faces. It has 2-light Y tracery bell chamber openings and a crenellated parapet. The 12th-century west angles of the nave retain nook-shafts, now acting as small buttresses to the tower. The nave’s north and south sides each have a 13th-century lancet window and an early 16th-century 2-light brick window at clerestory level; the remaining windows predominantly date from the 15th century and have been restored.

A fine south porch, constructed around 1480, exhibits knapped flint with panelled flushwork on its facade, an enriched plinth, a moulded entrance arch with carved spandrels, and an empty canopied niche above. It is topped with a crenellated parapet and contains the original door leading into the nave.

The two-bay chancel was substantially restored in 1879, with windows and a Priest’s doorway in the Decorated style. A wide tower arch features 12th-century nook-shafts. A diagonally-set canopied image niche is found on the north side of the nave. The nave boasts a very fine 8-bay single hammerbeam roof, characterized by a richly decorated wallplate, pierced tracery above the hammerbeams and collars, and arched bracing between the wallposts and along the roof ridge. The angels at the ends of the hammerbeams are replacements dating from around 1900. The chancel has a late 19th-century 4-bay arched-braced roof.

Other notable features include a very fine late 15th-century carved octagonal font, whose bowl depicts the Seven Sacraments and the Baptism of Christ. A good mid-17th-century pulpit, complete with tester, is also present, along with five simple 15th-century poppyhead bench ends in the nave. The traceried dado from the rood screen now forms part of the stalls. Early 19th-century framed copies of the Lord’s Prayer, Creed, and Commandments are located at the base of the tower.

A fine altar tomb in the north west chancel, likely belonging to Sir John Carbonell (d.1423), contains a tall recess with a carved tomb chest (partly obscured by benches), an upper cresting with 8 blank shields and 3 carved helmets, and wall shafts with broad brackets. The north east chancel contains the tomb of William Cotton (d.1616) and his wife, featuring a large standing monument with painted recumbent effigies, two kneeling children below, and elaborate heraldry of the Cotton and Rous families. The church is designated Grade I for its surviving medieval fabric.