Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

An Anglican parish church in Bradworthy village centre, with a complex building history spanning from the 13th century to the late 19th century. The church was originally built in the 13th century, then underwent major works including chancel enlargement in 1400 and tower addition around 1500. It was gutted by fire and restored in the 18th century, then comprehensively reseated and restored in 1840. A Victorian vestry was added in the 19th century, followed by major restoration and reroofing in 1883–4, with the tower itself restored in 1897.

The building is constructed of random rubble local stone with the tower having squared and coursed stonework, under slate roofs. The south transept roof is pitched higher than the nave, with offsets on the tower marking the height of the earlier nave roof. The entrance porch on the south side is gabled and slate-roofed, with decorative bargeboards.

The plan consists of an undivided chancel, an aiseless nave, a south transept, and a west tower. A manorial pew projection occupies the site of what would have been the north transept. The tower is a striking crenellated structure in three stages without buttresses, topped with crocketed finials. It features two-light bell-openings, square-headed stair openings on the west front, a three-light west window, and a depressed arch to the west door with square hoodmould and labels. The base is emphatic, with strongly moulded dado and plinth.

The south elevation includes a two-light cinquefoil-headed window, a round-headed arch to the 19th-century porch (which incorporates a reset sundial and has a boarded roof), a south door dating from around 1400, an 18th-century door, a three-light cinquefoil-headed window, and on the transept's east face a two-light trefoil-headed window. The chancel has a two-light uncusped window with an adjoining priest's door and a three-light cinquefoil-headed east window. The north front shows a two-light cinquefoil-headed chancel window, a similar window to the manorial pew projection, a three-light uncusped window adjoining a blocked 19th-century porch, and a cinquefoil-headed two-light window to the west.

Interior surfaces are largely rendered, though the west end retains exposed rubble. A 19th-century painted scroll rises above the east window. The vestry walls are rendered and grooved to resemble ashlar. A 19th-century panelled dado runs round the nave and transept. The chancel has a ribbed and ceiled barrel vault, whilst the nave is covered by an arch-braced roof. The tower arch has double chamfering that dies into the imposts. Unmoulded two-centred arches open to the south transept and north pew. A chamfered two-centred arch in the chancel flanks a piscina with small niches for candles.

Notable interior fittings include 18th-century raised and fielded panelling to the manorial pew, known as the Berridon pew. An octagonal pulpit dating from around 1700 features a frieze of winged putti and acanthus volutes, a dado of bay leaves, and turned balusters (which replaced original panels). The reredos is dated 1923 and commemorates C.P.C. Griffin; an earlier 18th-century reredos of inlaid fruitwood has been repositioned above the south door. Turned baluster altar rails, possibly 18th or 19th-century reused work, are in place.

A square Norman font stands on five circular columns and is surrounded by 16th-century Barnstaple tiles, which also appear in the chancel. A royal coat of arms of George III hangs above the north door. Two significant slate monuments are recorded: a tablet to Ann Nichols (died 1696) in a voluted frame with swan-neck pediment and putti, and a tablet to Thomas Cholwell (died 1681) and his wife (died 1714) with an architectural frame surmounted by an urn with flowers and leaves.

The stained glass is of 19th and early 20th-century date: a window in the south-west of the nave is dated 1909, one in the south-east is dated 1898, and there is 19th-century glass in the south transept.

The Berridon pew of the Griffin family may represent the remains of the north transept or possibly a tomb niche; Berridon is itself a 19th-century estate. The churchyard contains a large number of fine 18th and 19th-century slate headstones.