Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This is a substantial parish church at Yarcombe, built in the 15th century with more than one building phase, the latest possibly dating to the early 16th century. The church was comprehensively restored between 1889 and 1891, when the chancel was rebuilt. It is constructed of local stone and flint rubble with Beerstone and Hamstone ashlar detailing. The roofs are lead over the nave, aisles, transepts and porch, with slate covering the chancel.

The church follows a cruciform plan with north and south aisles, a west tower, south porch, and 19th-century vestry and organ loft on the north side of the chancel. Most of the building displays Perpendicular styling, though the 19th-century chancel is designed in the Decorated style.

The west tower is tall and of three stages, with diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet featuring carved gargoyle waterspouts. A semi-octagonal stair turret sits on the north side. The belfry contains large two-light windows with Perpendicular tracery and plain hoodmoulds. The west side has a two-centred arch doorway with moulded surround, above which sits a three-light window with Perpendicular tracery, then a small two-light window with crank-headed lights serving the ringing floor, and finally an iron clockface at the top.

Both aisles are three bays with embattled parapets, though they differ slightly in detail. The south aisle parapet is entirely Hamstone ashlar with carved gargoyle waterspouts depicting caricatured people. The south porch matches this treatment, with an embattled parapet and diagonal buttresses. Its outer entrance has a two-centred arch with moulded surround and plain hoodmould, and the south doorway is similarly detailed. The porch roof is Perpendicular in style, though probably a 19th-century replacement, with moulded ribs and carved oak bosses. Square-headed three-light windows with cinquefoil-headed lights and plain hoodmoulds light each side of the porch, with another in the west end.

The north aisle parapet is of stone rubble with ashlar coping, and features a moulded eaves cornice interrupted by carved gargoyle waterspouts and other grotesque carvings. A Tudor arch doorway at the centre has carved foliate spandrels and a hoodmould with carved human head label stops. Three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmoulds featuring carved human head label stops flank this doorway, with another in the west end. Each transept end contains a three-light window with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmoulds; only the northern window has carved human head label stops. The south transept has a plain gable, while the north transept gable features an embattled parapet continuing from that of the north aisle. A rood stair turret projects from the angle where the south transept meets the chancel.

The chancel windows display Decorated tracery: two three-light windows with a priests' doorway between them on the south side, a large three-light window in the east end, and a small three-light window in the squint between the north transept and chancel. The vestry is designed in Tudor Gothic style.

Inside, the nave and south transept have repaired open wagon roofs with moulded ribs and purlins, and replacement carved oak bosses. The north transept roof is low-pitched with moulded intersecting beams and replacement carved oak bosses, as are the lean-to aisle roofs. The chancel has a boarded wagon roof in the same style as the nave, entirely 19th-century in execution. The tall tower arch has a moulded surround. Both aisles contain three-bay Hamstone arcades with a fourth arch to the transept; the moulded piers (Pevsner's type A) have caps to the shafts only. At the east end of each aisle, an arch springs from corbels carved as angels. A hagioscope runs from the south transept to the chancel, alongside which is a narrow doorway to the disused rood stair. A trefoil-headed piscine occupies the south transept, with another in the sanctuary. A tall arch connects the chancel to the organ loft. The walls are plastered throughout.

The floor is mainly parquet blocks, with 19th-century encaustic tiles in the sanctuary. A large and ornate 19th-century carved oak reredos in Gothic style features a painted triptych. Contemporary with this are the altar table and altar rail, the latter being oak on wrought iron twin standards with scrolled brackets. The stalls are also late 19th-century, oak with an open Gothic arcade on the frontals. Two small prayer desks in the same style incorporate high-quality 16th-century carved bench ends depicting St John the Baptist, St James, St Peter and the Virgin and Child. The Gothic style lectern is said to be made from pieces of an earlier pulpit and includes linenfold panels. Plain pine benches are arranged throughout. A good 15th-century Hamstone font has an octagonal bowl with quatrefoil panels enriched with four-leaf motifs; badges and rosettes encircle the base, and the plinth and stem have trefoil-headed panels. The tower screen dates to 1986. Good late 19th-century hanging lamp holders are distributed throughout the church, with the finest being the brass example in the chancel. A 17th-century oak table serves as an altar in the south transept, and a probably 17th-century oak chest stands in the north transept. Only a couple of 20th-century memorials occupy the chancel.

The tracery of the north transept end window incorporates some good 15th-century stained glass featuring complete figures. Further 15th-century glass fragments have been assembled in the north squint window to the chancel. 19th-century stained glass appears in the south aisle.