Church of St John the Baptist is a Grade I listed building in the North Devon local planning authority area, England. First listed on 20 February 1967. A Medieval Church.

Church of St John the Baptist

WRENN ID
solitary-transept-pine
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
North Devon
Constituency
North Devon MP: Ian Roome (LD)
Country
England
Date first listed
20 February 1967
Type
Church
Period
Medieval
Address
Church of St John the Baptist, Church Street, Witheridge
OS grid reference
SS 803 145
Coordinates
50.91813, -3.70389
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

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.

Local climate

Church of St John the Baptist receives an average of 940 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 72% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 74% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 26 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 72% of listed buildings. Of these, 11 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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