Church Of St John Baptist

SAXMUNDHAM

TM3862 CHURCH STREET 841-1/4/6 (South side) 18/07/49 Church of St John Baptist (Formerly Listed as: SAXMNUDHAM CHURCH LANE Church of St John the Baptist)

II*

Parish church. C14 west tower: south chapel at east end of south aisle 1308 for Robert Swann, restored 1948: north aisle rebuilt 1853 by Henry Roberts: restoration 1872-73 by RM Phipson including rebuilding of south aisle, removal of south porch and partial reconstruction of chancel: north transeptal vestry added 1907-8 by Brown & Burgess of Ipswich. MATERIALS: flint and conglomerate with ashlar quoins. Aisle roofs lead, otherwise slate. EXTERIOR: 3-stage tower supported by diagonal west buttresses. Arched west door below 2-light Y-traceried window with C15 stained glass in vesica head. Trefoil niche above. Cusped 2-light belfry openings. Flushwork crenellated parapet with square corner pinnacles. South aisle with 3-light Perpendicular windows under depressed arches, one to west end and three to south flank. To east of these serving Swann chapel is one 2-light cusped Y-tracery window. Four 2-light Perpendicular north aisle windows. Six 2-light restored Perpendicular clerestory windows to north and south, the western two on south side with flushwork panelling and inscriptions. Gabled north vestry lit through one 2-light north window. 4-light Dec chancel east window of C19; C19 3-light south chapel east window in Perpendicular style. INTERIOR: 4-bay arcade on octagonal piers with polygonal capitals and triple-chamfered arches. Chancel arch with polygonal responds under double-hollow-chamfered arch. Eastern clerestory windows with moulded jambs, to the north on crenellated sills, to the south with black-letter inscription: `Sanct Johannes, ora pro Nobis'. Restored late C15 hammerbeam nave roof supported on moulded wall posts resting on corbels in form of singing angels. Crenellated hammerbeams and collars, the latter above arched braces. Arch-braced aisle roofs, to the north entirely C19, the south early C16, with pierced spandrels. 2-bay C19 arcade between south chapel and chancel. FITTINGS: octagonal C15 font with wild men and lions against the stem; angels bearing shields and lions alternate against the bowl. Cinquefoiled early C15 piscina in south chapel. MONUMENTS: various C19 tablets and monuments to Long family of Hurts Hall including tablet to Charles Long, d.1812, by Nollekins: weeping winged cherub with extinguished torch before an obelisk (chancel north wall). Monument to Charles Long, Baron Farnborough, d.1838, by Sir Richard Westmacott, a tablet with a profile bust (chancel north wall). (Brown C: Dictionary of Architects of Suffolk Buildings 1800-1914: Ipswich: 1991-; BOE: Pevsner N & Radcliffe E: Suffolk, 2nd Edition: Harmondsworth: 1974-: 412).

Listing NGR: TM3890062941