Church Of St John The Apostle

The Church of St John the Apostle is a parish church built in 1847 by J Derick, and subsequently repaired after 1945. It is constructed of yellow brick with stone dressings, covered by a slate roof. The church’s plan incorporates a chancel, a nave with gabled transepts, and south aisles, with a south-west tower. Its style sits between that of Commissioners’ churches and Ecclesiological Early English architecture.

The east chancel has two bays with angle buttresses at the corners and flat buttresses between the bays, all with sloping details at string level. It features a triple lancet window with a label and quatrefoil in the gable, which also has a cross. There is a lancet window with a label in each bay and machicolated eaves. A low, gabled vestry projects from the north transept, with a large diagonally set corner stack and rectangular lancets on each face. The nave has a kneelered gable wall with a cross, and short north and longer south transepts featuring angle buttresses with sloping steps at sill string level, kneelered gable walls, and triple lancets with labels. The south transept has paired lancets with labels on each side. The north side of the nave has four bays separated by flat buttresses with steps at sill string level, each containing paired lancets with labels, except for the narrower west bay, which has a single lancet. A lean-to aisle projects south, containing paired lancets in each bay and a flat buttress between. The west end of the nave has an angle buttress on the north corner. A two-order pointed doorway with a label leads into the church, and a large two-light plate tracery west window with a quatrefoil in the head and label is also present. The gable has a quatrefoil and a kneelered gable wall.

The south-west tower consists of three stages surmounted by a broach spire. It has large clasping corner buttresses that step with the stages. Two south buttresses have setback buttresses up to the second stage, while the north-west buttress has a square-section, pyramid-roofed stair tower extending to the second stage. The lowest stage has a pointed two-order south door and a tall lancet to the west. The second stage features rectangular lancets to the east and west, and a lancet in a gablet to the south. A blind pointed arcade is found around the top of this stage, with unequal trefoiled arches to the south. The top stage has a plate tracery two-light bell opening and machicolated eaves. The stone spire has a gablet on each face.

The interior is described as having a grand scale, but with oversized and heavy detailing. Original 19th-century fittings remain, including a font that is a copy of the Tournai marble font in Winchester Cathedral. Stained glass is present in the east window.