Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a parish church largely dating to the late 12th century, with subsequent additions and alterations throughout the medieval period and a major restoration between 1853 and 1868. It is constructed of random rubble and ashlar limestone, with a stone slate roof. The church comprises a nave, a south tower and porch, a north transept, a vestry, and a chancel.

The south doorway, dating to the late 12th century, features a round arch with three orders, keeled shafts with waterleaf capitals, and heavily undercut chevrons. A hoodmould is topped with beast head terminals. An ancient plank door retains some early ironmongery. A 19th-century gabled porch, of Early English style with a pointed arch, stands to the south. Fragments of a moulded nave string course remain, along with a 15th-century crenellated parapet that features a beast’s head water outlet. A restored 19th-century traceried window is located to the right of the porch, alongside a smaller, blocked 12th-century window with a carved arched head depicting a demon pursuing a man. The west window, set within a crenellated gable end, has reticulated tracery. Decorated-traceried windows, also restored in the 19th century, are located on the north side of the nave, set within a buttressed wall. Further Decorated windows are present in the north transept, with its own crenellated parapet.

The south tower is a three-stage structure. The base is from the late 12th or early 13th century, incorporating clasping buttresses and a blocked round arched south doorway. A 19th-century east porch canopy sits below an earlier weather moulding. The middle stage features two tall lancet windows on each face, blocked on the west side, with a continuous hoodmould running over the lancets. The second stage is said to bear the initials of John de Gamages, abbot of Gloucester from 1284 to 1306. The Perpendicular belfry has two-light openings with stone louvres on each face, topped by a pierced parapet with crocket corner pinnacles displaying shields. A string course has two carved grotesque heads per face, and a moulded section of the parapet links to a small sanctus bellcote to the north. The chancel has plain Early English lancet windows, two of which are set in the parapet gabled east wall. A Tudor arched south priest's doorway is also present. A catslide roof covers the north vestry.

The interior, which appears plain due to the extensive 19th-century restoration, features a wagon roof in the nave and chancel, and a flat, panelled ceiling in the north transept. Arches to the chancel, transept, and tower are also 19th-century. The chancel has been refurnished in memory of the first Earl of St. Aldwyn, who died in 1916, with extensive use of linenfold panelling. Other fittings are mostly from the 19th century. A particularly noteworthy feature is a 1767 octagonal stone font with a Greek palindrome inscribed on its base. East stained glass windows commemorate John Keble's period as vicar from 1782 to 1835, executed by Powell, and another chancel and east vestry window is by Powell and Sons, dating from 1854-56. A north nave window is by Wailes of Newcastle, and a fine two-tiered chandelier from 1767 is also present.