Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This parish church at Horrabridge was built in 1893 with a porch added in 1913, designed by architect Fellowes Prynne. It is constructed of snecked greenstone with limestone dressings and slate roofs featuring raised coped verges and crestings, with cross finials to the nave and chancel.

The church comprises a west porch, nave, north and south aisles, and a chancel with a north vestry and south organ chamber. The nave and chancel form a single space spanned by a tall fleche with a lead broached base and finial over the crossing, where the north and south transepts meet. The roof sweeps down over the aisles, which are shorter than the nave. A wooden bellcote and clock are present. The west gable end of the nave contains two 2-light windows with cusped lights and quatrefoil tracery, hoods with uncut stops, plus 2-light flat-headed windows with cusped heads to the north and south. Weathered diagonal buttresses and a plinth complete the west elevation.

The flat-roofed porch has a central bay breaking forward with a 4-centred arched opening and hood-mould with uncut stops. Angle buttresses with undercut mouldings, a string course, and a brattished parapet stepped at the centre with a lantern and cross are present.

The 4-bay north aisle has a continuous pitch of roof to the nave. The west porch door has a shouldered head; weathered diagonal buttresses are present. Windows under the eaves include 3-light outer windows and 2-light inner windows, all with cusped heads, flat heads, and chamfered surrounds. An external stair with a half-arch below leads to an upper door serving the north vestry. A plinth runs throughout.

The south aisle mirrors the north in arrangement, with a west door and two windows to its left. A gabled south chapel features a 3-light Perpendicular-style window with a pointed arch, two straight mullions and upper tracery, hood-mould and stops with carved flowers.

The chancel has a 3-light east window with a 4-centred arch, mullions and brattished transom, cusped heads and upper tracery with a central quatrefoil, hood-mould with stops featuring carved flowers, and a lancet above. Diagonal buttresses and a central low weathered buttress with a foundation stone are present. North and south windows under the eaves match those on the aisles. A plinth runs around.

The gabled north vestry has two 2-light 2-centred arched windows at lower level and a 3-light Perpendicular-style window with a lancet above at upper ground level, with a cross finial and buttresses. A single cusped lancet faces east. The upper west door has a shouldered head, and a lower ground-level plain door sits in a chamfered surround.

The gabled south organ chamber has a 3-light south window matching that of the south chapel, plus a buttress and diagonal buttress.

Interior

The porch interior has a 2-centred arched opening with two moulded orders to the surround and a hood-mould with mask stops. Half-glazed double doors are present, with recesses to left and right featuring cusped stone tracery heads. The space is ceiled.

The nave west door has a segmental head with two chamfered orders and a stepped cill string above; window heads are chamfered. Two-bay north and south arcades feature wide 4-centred arches with two wave mouldings and continuous hood-moulds with ballflower stops, supported on octagonal piers. The roof comprises common rafters, collars and scissors trusses with one row of purlins. An octagonal stone pulpit base on a cylindrical stem is attached at the base of the north-east pier, with a wrought-iron top.

The north aisle windows have segmental rere-arches; 2-light windows have pointed segmental rere-arches. The north aisle roof is pitched with common rafters and one row of purlins, with one collar rising from a corbel on the north arcade pier. The south aisle has two bays to the west door and a half-arch to the east leading to the organ chamber and vestry. A double-chamfered half-arch rises to the south arcade pier. The roof pitches to the west, with a separate roof over the chapel bays comprising common rafters, collars and one row of purlins.

The chancel arch is formed by moulded pilasters north and south with a panelled wooden soffit featuring quatrefoils in panels, painted and brattished. A rood beam and cross are present. The chancel has a ceiled wagon roof of four bays with moulded and painted principals. Wide 4-centred double-chamfered arches open to north and south. Sedilia and a Perpendicular-style piscina sit to the south. An aumbry with a door and strap hinges is positioned to the north. Cill strings with ballflower stops are present to the north, and moulded cill strings to the east. The vestry and organ chamber have ceiled roofs.

Fittings include an octagonal stone font in the nave with carved sides on an octagonal stem, enhanced with coloured marble colonnettes. A fine set of choir stalls features bench ends carved with foliage and flowers, with pews of half-scissors truss design. A pair of large gilded candle holders stands in the chancel on square pedestals. A carved wooden panelled reredos depicts figures of the saints. Mid-twentieth-century glass is present in the windows of the chancel and south aisle.