Church Of St John

Church of St John

This is a parish church with probably 13th-century fabric visible in the north wall of the nave and chancel. It was remodelled and enlarged in the early 15th century with the addition of a south aisle, and a west tower was added in the late 15th or early 16th century. The chancel was rebuilt in 1850, the nave roof was renewed in 1867, and a general restoration was carried out in 1869. The tower was restored in 1883.

The church is constructed of unrendered stone rubble with ashlar dressings, except for the tower which is of ashlar. The roofs are slate with coped parapets to the gable ends. The plan consists of a nave, chancel, west tower, south aisle and south porch.

The west tower is a particularly fine structure of three stages with diagonal buttresses, an embattled parapet and crocketed pinnacles that are diagonally braced. There is an internal stair turret to the north-west corner. The bell-openings to each face have 2 four-centred arched lights with louvres and hoodmoulds; the south side has a single four-centred arched light, and the middle stage features a relieving arch. A 19th-century Perpendicular style three-light pointed arched west window with hoodmould sits above a Perpendicular virtually semi-circular arched west doorway with hollow-ogee moulded surround and large rams-horn stops.

The south aisle has 19th-century Perpendicular style fenestration with pointed arched two-light windows to the west end and to the left of the porch, and pointed arched three-light windows to the right. Two three-light windows are positioned to the south side and to the east end of the south aisle and chancel. The chancel has straight-headed single-light windows to each side and two two-light pointed arched windows to the north side. The windows to the nave have human head corbels. The south porch was largely rebuilt in the 19th century with a hollow-ogee moulded surround to the outer doorway. The inner doorway is from the 15th century and has a double ogee and sunk chamfered moulded surround with an original framed and ledged studded plank door retaining its old lock, latch and handle. A weathered sundial is positioned between two windows to the right of the porch, and there is a four-centred arched priests' doorway at the right end. A blocked doorway is visible between two windows on the north side of the chancel.

Four external wall memorials with shaped heads are located below the south aisle east end window, commemorating Elizabeth Snow (died 1752), John Hill (died 1792), Laurence How (died 1752) and Robert Howe (died 1758). Slate wall memorials below the chancel east end window commemorate William Hill (died 1828) and Mary Hill (died 1827), both by Manning. A large buttress stands at the east end by the north side of the nave.

The interior features a south aisle and chancel chapel arcade of four bays. The piers are of Pevsner B type with capitals only to the main shaft. The chancel bay is wider than the others and has a double arch with a cusped-headed squint through the west pier and an image bracket between the mouldings of the eastern pier. The wide four-centred arched chancel arch has Pevsner 'A' type mouldings. The nave and chancel have 19th-century ceiled wagon roofs with moulded ribs and large carved bosses at the intersections with the purlins. A crenellated wall plate runs along the chancel. The south aisle has a 15th-century ceiled wagon roof with moulded wall plate and carved bosses at the intersections of the moulded ribs and purlins. Patterned 19th-century tiled floors extend throughout the church. The nave seating is 19th-century.

A stone reredos serves as a memorial to Frances Elizabeth Thorold (died 1904) and consists of two bays flanking four raised bays with open tracery filled with mosaic panels to the sides and geometrically patterned tiles to the centre bays. 19th-century altar rails feature trefoil-headed open traceried lights. The tower screen is composed of a re-used chancel screen of five bays, each bay of two lights divided by elaborate turned engaged colonnettes at the base and Renaissance foliage and profile heads in medallions above.

The unique Warkleigh Pyx (documented in Baring Gould: Transactions of the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society 1892) was under repair at the time of survey.

The stained glass includes a chancel east window to John and Mary Mortimer from 1892, a south aisle east window by Heaton Butler and Bayne from 1897 to Preston and Emily Karslake, and a tower window to James Gould from 1852.