The Parish Church Of St John

The Parish Church of St John is a church constructed between 1861 and 1863, with a vestry added in 1889. Designed by T Talbot Bury, it is built in the Gothic style. The church is constructed from polychrome brickwork in a Flemish bond, featuring red brick with decorative designs using black and yellow brick, alongside dressings of Wealden sandstone. The roof is tiled, incorporating bands of both plain and fishscale tiles. The building consists of a three-and-a-half bay nave, north and south aisles, a south porch, transepts, a chancel, and a north-west tower topped with a spire.

The north-west tower has three stages. The top or bell stage features double trefoil windows, a circular window above, and tall gables with iron crosses. The tower has angel waterspouts at the corners, double trefoil lancets on the middle stage, and an arched doorcase on the ground floor. The tower stands on a deep plinth supported by buttresses including diapered patterns. The tiled spire is banded with plain and fishscale tiles. The west end of the nave is distinguished by a traceried window with five trefoiled lights. The clerestory has two double and two triple quatrefoil windows. The south aisle exhibits double or triple trefoil windows, while the north aisle has three gables. A gabled south porch is present with colonnettes and a triple window. The south transept includes a rose window, accompanied by two double trefoiled windows beneath, and lancets on its sides. The north transept is similar, but with lancets below the rose window and a arched doorcase below. The chancel features a traceried east window and double trefoil windows to its sides, with quatrefoils above. A polygonal vestry is attached to the north-east. This, along with the north transept, has been converted into a parish hall and pastoral centre.

Inside, the nave originally had a gallery at the west end and now has octagonal columns supporting an arched braced roof with kingposts. The church houses an octagonal font, original pews, a wooden lectern and gilded pulpit, an elaborate wooden chancel screen, and a marble and stone altar. The chancel roof is elaborately arched and braced. Stained glass windows in the south aisle were created by Mayer and Co of Munich and London. The east window may also be the work of this firm. While the walls have been whitewashed, traces of the original polychrome brickwork are visible in the chancel. A twentieth-century screen now separates the north transept and north aisle from the rest of the church.