Church Of St John

Church of St John, Woodbridge

Built 1842–1846 by Alfred Lockwood and/or John M Clark of Ipswich, this is a Gothic Revival church designed in the lancet style. The building was commissioned after the parish church of St Mary was deemed insufficient for local Anglican needs. The building committee advertised for designs and received 42 entries; the attribution of the successful design remains uncertain, though Lockwood appears to have secured the building contract. The foundation stone was laid in 1842, but construction proceeded slowly and the church was not consecrated until 27 August 1846. It was designed to accommodate approximately 800 people.

The church is constructed of yellow brick laid in Flemish bond with limestone dressings and has slate roofs. The plan comprises a nave, small apsidal chancel, west tower, north and south vestries, southwest porch, and northwest vestry (now a toilet).

The most distinctive feature is the west tower, which stands in two stages and is crowned by an unusual four-way gabled top. The tower has polygonal angle buttresses with small octagonal pinnacles. The lower stage contains a large graded triple-lancet west window. The belfry stage has pairs of lancets on each face, each recessed within a super-arch. Above the belfry windows is a narrow arcade of trefoiled arches, and each gable is pierced by a plain circular recessed roundel. The tower was originally crowned by a tall and elegant spire 138 feet high, but this was replaced with a new, shorter design in 1975. The present lead-covered spirelet dates from this replacement.

The side walls of the church are of five bays, demarcated by buttresses, each containing a graded triple-lancet window. They have plain brick parapets. The east end terminates in a small polygonal apse with prominent buttresses and a single lancet in each bay. At the junction of nave and chancel stand a pair of square buttresses rising from the chancel walls and terminating in square turrets with pyramidal cappings. The south vestry is certainly an addition to the original church. Late 20th-century infilling has been added at the angles of the tower and nave.

The interior retains some features of the original building despite extensive late 20th-century alteration. Blind pointed arcading survives in three bays of the apse. Original trefoiled-section wall shafts rise from ground level to carry the roof, which is a replacement or remodelling of the late 20th century with large ribs and penetrations over each window. Original single shafts also rise between each bay of the chancel from floor to roof springing. The chancel is much narrower than the nave and is entered via a tall arch with a hood over.

The only original fitting remaining is the canted west gallery, which stands on cast-iron columns with straight struts. The gallery frontals are curiously decorated with intersected neo-Norman-style arcading and carry brattishing (ornamental cresting). Originally, north and south galleries ran the length of the nave, but these were cut back in 1896.

The church has undergone substantial alterations since its completion. In 1854 the parish of St John's was formally established. The three-decker pulpit was removed in 1888; the side galleries were cut back in 1896; and in 1901–1902 the church was reseated, refloored and restored under Brown and Burgess. The pinnacles on the tower were lowered in height soon after the Second World War. During the 1970s and 1980s new colour schemes were introduced. In 1987–1988 the pulpit and stalls were removed, a raised dais installed, and a lobby and vestry built at the west end. In 1997 the bench seating and pipe organ were removed, the floor was levelled, and the spaces under the gallery were infilled to create a serving area, vestry and other facilities.