Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a Roman Catholic church built in the 19th century. The nave was constructed between 1868 and 1869, and the chancel between 1873 and 1876, by J.A. Hansom. It was designed to be linked with a priest's house (No. 20) and a connecting block, forming an overall U-shaped layout. The church is built of local limestone rubble with rough courses, featuring Bathstone dressings (some of which have been replaced with concrete in the late 20th century), and a slate roof.

The church is in a minimal early Decorated style. The west-facing front gable sits on a chamfered plinth and has two windows. The lower level features paired trefoil-headed lancets, above which are taller lancets and a roundel, all incorporating trefoil-based tracery. An image niche is positioned between the upper lancets, topped with a Gothic canopy and pinnacles. Bathstone quoins and bands are present at window sill and arch levels, although many have been replaced with concrete. The front of the connecting link block to the right is in a similar style. The doorway has a two-centred arch with a hoodmould, housing a plank door with Gothic-style fittings. A small lancet window above lights the steps and is presumably accompanied by a secondary gabled dormer. The chancel has two arched, near-triangular headed windows with tracery creating three quatrefoils.

Inside, the main nave has plastered walls, a floor of 20th-century plastic tiles, and a four-bay roof supported by open scissor-braced trusses. A tall chancel arch springs from slender columns standing on corbels. Similar columns support the ribbed roof of the chancel. A trefoil-headed arch leads to a piscina. The stone altar is adorned with a blind Gothic arcade and marble panels. An ornate Gothic-style reredos features carved figures in niches flanking a taller central niche with a canopy for the cross. Another, less ornate, reredos stands against the south wall behind a plainer stone altar. A 20th-century communion rail is also present. The gallery and benches have plain joinery. This church contributes variety to an attractive street of predominantly 19th-century buildings.