Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is an Anglican parish church dating to around 1500, with significant restoration work undertaken in 1841 and 1884. It is constructed of coursed local rubble with freestone dressings, and has slated roofs with coped verges and some lead-sheeting. The church’s plan incorporates a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a south porch, a small chancel south porch (1884), a north vestry (1884), and a west tower (1841). The architectural style is primarily Perpendicular, with Victorian Gothic details.

The lofty, three-stage west tower was rebuilt in 1841 and features set-back buttresses, an embattled parapet, corner pinnacles on square bases, small semi-circular headed bell-chamber windows with louvres, and labels. A small 3-light semi-circular headed west window and doorway (the doorway blocked and replaced with small 2-light windows in 1884) are also present. The south aisle has four bays of 3-light Perpendicular windows with replaced tracery and a polygonal stair turret to the east, giving access to the former rood loft, with a tiny foiled stairlight. A south porch, featuring diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet with three large pinnacles (19th century), is also present. The north aisle mirrors the south, with four bays of Perpendicular windows. The vestry of 1884 incorporates a reused 13th-century 2-light window and displays a datestone. The chancel is single bayed, with a 13th-century 2-light window reset into the south wall and a large 19th-century 3-light east window with reticulated tracery. A scratch dial is visible on the south wall, and a priest's door is located to the south, approached by a neo-Perpendicular porch likely dating to 1841.

Inside, the walls are plastered with a colourwash, and the nave and aisles have tall, four-bay arcades. The piers are of Pevsner's B-type with "standard capitals." A squint provides a view from the south aisle into the chancel. The nave is covered by a wagon roof. A Perpendicular font, octagonal and richly decorated with quatrefoils, is a prominent feature, alongside a Perpendicular stone pulpit with figures in narrow panels beneath ogee canopies, one panel depicting a Crucifixion. The church contains 19th-century pews with plain bench ends, some 19th-century stained glass, and several plain 19th-century monuments. The main entrance is a good 4-centred arch with carved decorative spandrels, leading to a ribbed and studded door.