Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This is a parish church of outstanding interest, with substantial Early English fabric that is rare for Devon. The church was built in the mid 13th century and first consecrated in 1259. A 12th-century font survives from an earlier phase. The south aisle and porch were added in 1498 at the cost of Lady Margaret Beaufort according to the church guide. The original Early English tower with spire was replaced in 1815 with a new west tower. The remainder of the church was restored in 1863 at the cost of the Reverend G W R Ireland, and an organ and vestry were added in 1870.

The building is constructed of local red sandstone conglomerate stone, with coursed ashlar to the nave and chancel, neater ashlar to the tower, and rubble to the aisle and porch. Early English purple volcanic ashlar detail is used throughout, with 15th-century Beerstone and 19th-century Hamstone detail. The roof is of slate.

The plan consists of an Early English nave and chancel under a continuous roof, with a late 15th-century Perpendicular south aisle and porch at the west end under the same roof. The 1815 west tower replaced the earlier Early English tower with spire.

The tower is an interestingly early example of 19th-century Gothic. It comprises three stages with diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet with corner pinnacles. The belfry windows are 2-light openings in Early English style. The west doorway is an unusual 2-centred arch with a moulded surround containing a square-headed door with a fanlight above containing cusped tracery. Directly above is a worn plaque which originally commemorated the 1815 rebuild, and above that a Perpendicular style window. The clockface on the south side has a cusped hoodmould. The 1870 lean-to vestry against the west end of the porch features Perpendicular detail. The gable of the porch above the vestry roof is Beerstone ashlar, panelled with sunken quatrefoils and containing a small window with a carved lintel.

At the left end of the south aisle is a large 2-centred outer arch with a moulded surround. Above it is one of several Hamstone plaques around the church commemorating the 1863 renovation. Above that is a cinquefoil-headed lancet. The remainder of the aisle has restored 3-light windows with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmoulds. The chancel and nave contain volcanic Early English windows, most with plate tracery. On the north side a wide buttress (probably a former rood stair turret) marks the break between the nave and chancel. There is a north doorway, a recessed pointed segmental arch with half-engaged shafts each side and a hoodmould.

Interior: The south door is a 19th-century replacement 2-centred arch with a moulded surround. The nave and chancel have a continuous roof, as does the aisle. The roofs are open with 19th-century arch-braced trusses and boarded backs. In the nave the trusses spring from moulded Beerstone corbels, whereas those in the chancel have corbels carved with stiff leaf foliage. The chancel roof also has single sets of windbraces. The tower arch is blocked with the organ in front of it. There is no chancel arch.

A tall 5-bay Beerstone arcade, with one bay overlapping the chancel, divides the nave from the aisle. The piers are moulded (Pevsner's type B) with moulded caps to the shafts only. The floor is laid with red quarry tiles and includes some graveslabs in the chancel. The walls are plastered. The Early English windows have volcanic ashlar inner arches with half-engaged shafts, moulded caps and bases, and hoodmoulds. A volcanic stringcourse runs around the nave and chancel below sill level. The aisle windows have chamfered Beerstone inner arches.

The north side of the chancel contains a volcanic double piscina with arched heads and a pier with a moulded cap and base. The double-headed niche on the south side is thought to be the remains of an Easter sepulchre.

The furniture and fittings are mostly from the 1863 renovation. There is a Gothic style carved oak reredos featuring a central panel with a representation of the Good Samaritan. An oak communion rail stands on twisted wrought iron standards with repoussee brackets. Oak choir stalls with linenfold panelling on the fronts are dated 1959. The chancel also contains two richly-carved 17th-century oak chairs. A Low Salcombe stone chancel screen is carved on the front as a blind Early English arcade enriched with marble shafts, with a stone book rest on top serving as a lectern. The Salcombe ashlar pulpit is in a similar Early English style. The nave and aisle have plain pine benches remarkable in that they still retain brass candle holders on twisted wrought iron standards.

The font is of late 12th-century Beerstone and is drum-shaped, containing three bands of ornamentation. It was altered in the 19th century and has a new base. A 17th-century oak chest with a carved panelled front stands in the south aisle.

The monuments are of considerable note. North of the altar lies a very worn Beerstone recumbent figure of a knight in armour said to be Sir Hugh Peverell, who was patron of the church in 1278. Above it is a good marble mural monument in memory of Margaret Poulett (died 1602), which includes a brass plate and is framed with carved garlands and symbols of death. In the nave is a marble monument in memory of Margaret Collins (died 1655). The remainder are 19th-century, the finest being a marble mural monument in memory of Elizabeth Dawbney (died 1809). Painted royal arms of George I, dated 1722, survive in the tower.

The church is remarkable for its complete set of late 19th-century and early 20th-century stained glass windows, which were made by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake. The best is located at the east end of the aisle.