Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

Parish church of 12th-century origins with substantial development and alterations spanning several centuries. The building is constructed in red sandstone rubble with white freestone dressings and has a slate roof with crested ridge tiles.

The church began as a 12th-century structure comprising nave, chancel, and crossing tower. A five-bay north aisle was added in the 15th century, with no surviving evidence of transepts. By 1814, the building had deteriorated significantly, leading to major interventions. The crossing tower was dismantled and some of its stone reused in a new tower built at the west end of the north aisle, designed by William Burgess of Exeter and completed in 1815. The chancel was enlarged in 1825 under architect Andrew Patey of Teignmouth. A north chancel aisle serving as an organ chamber was added in 1854, designed by J.W. Rowell of Teignmouth, along with general refurbishment. The spire was removed and the upper tower rebuilt in 1863. In 1912, the chancel underwent restoration, and a chancel arch and east-end vestry were added.

The exterior displays evidence of these extensive alterations in its masonry. The chancel features Beerstone quoins, a 3-light 19th-century Perpendicular east window, and a 3-light 19th-century Perpendicular south window, with a niche in the gable and an east-end buttress. The nave has three 3-light 19th-century Perpendicular windows. Above a blocked doorway to the west is a remarkable 12th-century tympanum, considered the finest in the county, depicting the three magi in profile beneath an arcade with the Virgin Mary, shown full-face in a pleated dress, at the right end. The figures and detailing are highly stylized.

The 12th-century west doorway, described as one of the best in Devon, features two orders of colonettes with carved capitals and zig-zag and scale patterns on the shafts. The doorway itself has three orders of carved decoration: the outer order with fleur-de-lis decoration and the inner order with beakheads and grotesque masks holding a roll moulding. Some 19th-century re-cutting has been applied to the doorway. Above this stands a 3-light 19th-century Perpendicular west window.

The north aisle displays four 3-light 19th-century Perpendicular windows, a rectangular rood loft stair turret, and a blocked two-centred doorway. Its 3-light Perpendicular 19th-century east window is flanked by a 1912 lean-to vestry with mullioned windows at the eastern end.

The three-stage battlemented tower, dated 1815 by datestone, was Gothicized in 1863 with crocketted corner pinnacles bearing carved heads and pinnacles to each face. A string course carved with flowers and grotesques runs across the tower faces. The 1863 Decorated belfry openings appear on all four faces with stone lattice work; the north face includes a round-headed bellringers' window. The south face contains a 19th-century Romanesque window inserted into an earlier arched opening. The west face features a 19th-century Romanesque doorway with three orders of carved chevron decoration and two orders of colonnettes, a clock in a stone frame, and the builder's datestone reading "This tower was built Anno Domini MDCCCXV Wm Rossiter and Jn Hammond Wardens".

The interior has plastered walls and a timber chancel arch of 1912. The five-bay north arcade features moulded piers with re-cut foliage capitals and rounded moulded arches. Both nave and aisle roofs are 19th-century unceiled wagons plastered behind the rafters, decorated with carved foliage bosses; the chancel roof is a boarded wagon with painted decoration from 1912. The tower contains a small doorway into the aisle within a Tudor arched recess, with a blocked recess above, probably associated with a former gallery.

The wall between the 1854 chancel aisle and the main aisle is pierced by a high stone arch with brattished sill and angel corbels, and by a doorway with carved spandrels and hoodmould. The wall between aisle and chancel aisle features an arch with carved foliage bosses and flowers. The organ has been relocated to the easternmost bay of the aisle.

The chancel contains an early 19th-century brattished stone reredos with blind tracery and text, alongside late 19th and early 20th-century choir stalls. The nave features a timber drum pulpit with blind traceried panels and 19th-century benches with panelled ends.

The 12th-century font has undergone 19th-century re-cutting. It displays a round bowl with a decorated rim and palmettes carved on the surface, with cable and scallop mouldings to the stem.

Monuments include a late 17th-century wall monument on the north chancel wall commemorating Sir Peter Lear, died 1682, with an inscription panel, scrolled pediment, and achievement. A large late 17th-century classical mural tablet with broken pediment and achievement in the aisle commemorates members of the Martyn family of Lindridge. Several early 19th-century white marble wall tablets and various ledger stones reused as floor slabs are also present.

The church contains notable stained glass. The south chancel window is dated 1858 and bears the marker's mark of William Warrington. Two fine windows at the easternmost part of the nave bear memorial dates from the 1850s and 1860s, probably by Gibbs. The westernmost nave window is probably by Lavers and Barraud, with a memorial date of 1873. The aisle retains remains of an 1850s quarry and medallion scheme, with one window replaced with a memorial dated 1868, possibly by Drake of Exeter. A west window by Andrew Johnston was being installed at the time of survey in 1987.

This church is particularly important for the exceptional quality of its 12th-century work and is unusual for the comprehensive documentation of its early 19th-century alterations to the fabric, which are historically interesting and predate the ecclesiological movement.