Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a parish church largely dating to the 15th century, with significant remodelling in 1536. The exterior is roughcast on stone, with a 20th-century corrugated iron boiler house at the west end of the aisle. The roofs are slate-covered. The church consists of a nave, chancel, north aisles running the full length of the nave and chancel, a west tower, and a south porch. The south wall of the nave contains two straight-headed windows with three almost round-headed lights, each with a hood mould terminating in square terminals. The north wall of the north aisle has three similar windows, but with smaller terminals to the hood moulds. The chancel and aisle have Perpendicular windows with three cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights; the east window of the chancel is slightly larger than the others. The east window of the aisle may be a reset feature from when the aisle was added. The two-stage west tower tapers slightly, with string courses and battlements at the top. The battlements have a finial at each corner, with the two on the south retaining their crenellations. A cross-shaped stair turret is positioned centrally on the south face, featuring slit windows. A Perpendicular window with three cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights occupies the lower stage of the west face. Paired belfry openings with almost rounded arches are found on the east, west and north faces, plus a similar single opening at either side of the stair turret on the south face. The gabled south porch has gabled ends, with both the inner and outer doorways incorporating two-centred arches with pyramid stops. Inside, the north arcade features three rounded arches supported by piers with four attached columns and hollow mouldings, alternating rounded and facetted capitals. A plain, two-centred arch defines the tower’s opening. A blocked doorway is present in the west wall of the tower. The church contains an octagonal granite font with a lightly moulded bowl, and a brass plaque memorial to Thomas Culling (died 1670) set into the north wall, framed by winged cherub-heads in low relief. The church’s bells date to approximately 1400, 1678, and 1636, and were founded in Exeter, Totnes, and Exeter respectively.