Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

A parish church of early 13th-century date with a 14th-century tower and porch. The nave was partly rebuilt in 1840, and the church underwent restoration in 1897 by T. Colcutt, who added a north vestry. The building is constructed of uncoursed limestone rubble, regularly coursed and dressed to the rebuilt south side of the nave, with slate roofs featuring stepped coped verges.

The plan comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, south porch and north vestry.

Tower

The tower is narrow and octagonal in two stages with a chamfered plinth and string course. A narrow rectangular opening to the first stage is positioned on the west side. The belfry features louvred trefoil-headed openings to the north-east, north-west, south-east and south-west faces. An octagonal stone spire of contemporary date crowns the tower, with a ball finial and later brass weathercock. A datestone at the base of the spire reads "1699 IB" and probably refers to a repair undertaken at that time.

Exterior of Nave

The south side displays a small early 14th-century two-light window with reticulated tracery and hoodmould positioned high up to the west. A large 19th-century two-light Perpendicular-style window stands to the left of the porch, with a 19th-century four-light Decorated-style window to the right. The 14th-century porch is gabled with a foliated finial to the apex and carries a massive stone slab roof with a projecting central transverse rib. The porch has crenellated sides with weathered carved heads and stepped coped verges to the front. The pointed outer doorway has three orders with a concave hoodmould.

The north side of the nave has a two-light window with reticulated tracery and hoodmould similar to that in the south wall, positioned high up to the west. A two-light 19th-century Perpendicular-style window stands to the right of the vestry, with a 19th-century four-light Decorated-style window to the left. A gabled bellcote with a round-headed arch projects from the east gable end. The vestry is flat-roofed with a late Perpendicular-style doorway in its west wall and a single-light window in the north. An external lateral stack rises at the junction of the vestry with the nave to the east.

Chancel

The south side has two pairs of early 13th-century chamfered lancets with hoodmoulds, and the north side has two contemporary chamfered lancets. An early 14th-century three-light east window contains reticulated tracery and a hoodmould, with a mutilated foliated cross to the gable.

Interior

The porch roof is carried on a single arched transverse rib. A pointed 14th-century south doorway features continuous wave-moulding and a concave hoodmould. The early 13th-century chancel arch is broad, low, pointed and double-chamfered with semi-circular responds; the north respond bears nail-tread ornament and the south has a moulded capital. The nave is roofed with a 19th-century king-post roof in four bays, while the chancel has a 19th-century scissor-braced roof. A single-chamfered round-headed doorway gives access to the tower.

Apart from a 15th-century octagonal font with two blind trefoil-headed arches to each face, fittings and furnishings are of late 19th-century or later date.

Stained Glass

Reassembled fragments in the south-west chancel window (formerly in the east window) include a 13th-century shield of Zouche of Harrington and a shield of Barton quartering the quarterly arms of Radcliffe for John Barton, who married Cecilia Radcliffe in 1486, alongside fragments of 14th-century foliage designs and nineteen late 15th-century quarries. Further reassembled fragments of 14th-century stained glass appear in the Perpendicular-style window in the north wall of the nave. The east window was made in 1852 by William Wailes, and the north-east nave window, in memory of Mary Hambridge, also dates to 1852 and is by O'Connor. The south-east nave window in memory of Frederick Matthews (died 1911) was produced by the Keape/Tower workshop.

Monuments

A brass plate commemorating Mary Bray (died 1620) and her nine children is fixed to the north wall of the chancel.