Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This church contains a possible pre-conquest core with a 12th-century tower, embattled in 1751. The chancel dates to the 13th century, and a north chapel was added in the 15th century. The south side of the nave and south transept chapel were rebuilt in 1793 by Lord Grantley in "Meeting House style" following a fire. The church underwent restoration in 1901, when the east end was rebuilt by Sir Charles Nicholson.

The building is constructed of ironstone rubble with chalk conglomerate, Bargate rubble with hard chalk and clunch dressings, and Caen stone inside the chancel and north chapel. The tower's upper stages are sandstone with brick plat bands and angle quoins. The south elevation displays red and blue brick beneath plain tiled roofs.

The plan comprises a nave with narthex to the west, a transeptal chapel to the south side, chancel to the east, a vestry chapel to the north, and a tower offset slightly to the north side. The three-stage tower rises from a tall ground floor stage, with plat bands above the first and second stages. The top stage features round-arched brick-dressed louvred openings to each face, the middle stage has one narrow rectangular opening to each face, and the lower stage displays a lancet window on the north side. A lancet window lights the north nave wall.

A 20th-century pantiled narthex stands at the west end, with two round-headed windows above under gauged brick heads and brick dentil eaves on the gable. Buttresses alternate with single-light windows; round-arched openings pierce the north and south ends, though the southern example is now blocked. The south side of the nave displays three round-arched leaded windows under gauged brick heads. The south transept features brick dentilled eaves and a hipped roof, with one round-arched leaded window over a door under herringbone brick detailing. An early 20th-century Decorated-style east window is present, with a round-arched window on the east side of the south chapel. The north vestry shows Perpendicular-style fenestration with panelled double doors to the west end beneath a fanlight.

Internally, the roof structure reveals remains of the old nave and aisle configuration, now all under one roof employing re-used timber. The chancel roof features billeted wall plates, while the north chapel retains a flat panelled roof. An arched entrance to the south side of the north chapel gives access to the chancel, and a 4-centred arched entrance to the west, both mounted on round piers. The chancel walls show evidence of blocked windows. A late 12th-century arched entrance connects the tower to the nave.

Fittings include triple 20th-century sedilia on the south side of the chancel, with an adjacent piscina and aumbry. An image niche with cinquefoil head adorns the south wall of the chapel. A 15th-century rood loft door survives. The old screen, recorded in the Victoria County History, was remodelled in the early 20th century by A. K. Nicholson in Jacobethan style. A massive tub font stands on a moulded plinth with thick cable moulding to the stem, beneath an elaborate columned and open font cover. A panelled 20th-century pulpit is present, alongside a good collection of 18th-century hatchments.

Monuments include the Lovall Memorial on the west wall, an Elizabethan work featuring Guilloche moulding on the cornice, flanking cherub heads, and a central vase on the apron with vine festoon and grape bunches. The inscription panel is now blank, and although Corinthian capitals of the flanking pilasters remain, the shafts have been lost.