Church of St John the Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a church built between 1861 and 1862 by C E Giles and enlarged from 1869 to 1871 by Arthur Blomfield, designed in the Gothic Revival style. It is constructed from limestone ashlar and features a Welsh slate roof.

The original structure includes a nave, a chancel with a semi-octagonal sacrarium, and the base of the tower, which now forms the present north aisle. The larger nave and chancel were added later in the 19th century to accommodate the growing local population. During this time, the upper part of the tower and the spire were also added, along with the baptistery.

On the exterior, the west wall of the nave features a deeply moulded gabled doorway and a large window divided into two compartments, each with three lights. Above this is a circular compartment with three smaller circular lights, each trefoiled, all enclosed by a moulded outer arch. The south wall has stepped buttresses that separate three-light windows, each adorned with a rose of four, five, or six lights. A tall gabled porch projects from the second bay. The north aisle contains a triple window in the west wall and paired lancets in the north wall, with bays divided by stepped buttresses. The spire sits on an octagonal base, featuring a single pointed bell-opening on the main faces and a finial with a spirelet on the corner faces.

Inside, the three-bay nave arcade extends beyond the earlier wall, with plain polished shafts and stiff-leaf capitals, and a clerestory of quatrefoils above. The nave has a hammer-beam roof, while the chancel has a simpler panelled roof. A rood screen designed by Sir Ninian Comper was added in 1923.