Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a Grade II listed church located on Church Lane in South Moreton. It dates back to around 1240 for the south aisle, with the nave constructed in the 14th century. The church underwent significant restoration in the 19th century, which included the east wall of the aisle and part of the east end of the nave being rebuilt.

The exterior features a mixture of flint and stone with stone dressings, topped by an old plain-tile double-depth roof. The layout consists of a continuous nave and chancel with a south aisle. There is a 19th-century porch on the left, made of render, likely on brick, with an old plain-tile gabled roof and shaped bargeboards. The porch includes a two-centre archway with quatrefoil spandrels and a two-centre arched doorway with a chamfered surround, leading to a plank door with wrought iron hinges.

To the left of the porch, there is a trefoil-topped lancet window, and to the right, another lancet window. The centre features two paired lancets with flat heads and hood moulds, alongside a three-light Perpendicular tracery window with a flat head and hood mould to the right. The right return showcases coursed squared sandstone and a reset early 14th-century three-light window with intersecting tracery to the left, and a 19th-century three-light window with complex tracery to the right.

At the rear, there is a 19th-century vestry to the left of centre, with a paired lancet window to the left and a 14th-century paired lancet window to the right of centre. A blocked two-centre arched doorway is located to the right. The left return features a blocked reset Romanesque doorway to the left, a three-light reticulated tracery window to the left, and a 19th-century round window with complex tracery to the right. A 19th-century bellcote is positioned on the right gable end.

The roof structure includes a 19th-century arch-braced collar truss on mainly 19th-century recarved stone corbels. Inside, there is an arched piscina in the south aisle and an arcade of five arches between the nave and aisle, featuring two-centred arches, except for a segmental two-centred arch at the centre. The church also contains a 19th-century stone pulpit and font.