Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a parish church largely dating to the 15th or early 16th century, with a 13th-century chancel and a 19th-century vestry. The church is built of roughcast stone, with the tower, porch, and north aisle buttresses of granite ashlar, all set beneath slate roofs. It comprises a nave, chancel, south transept, and porch, with a vestry on the east side of the transept. The chancel has a triple lancet window on the east side and a single lancet window on the north. The north aisle, clearly of the early 16th century, has three-light granite windows with almost pointed heads to the lights, and straight granite hood-moulds above. A deep south porch features battlements and two-centred arched doorways, the outer with wave moulding and the inner with a plain chamfer. Inside the porch are granite seats, and a wagon roof covers the space. A plain holy water stoup is also present. The two-stage tower is topped with battlements and pinnacles, featuring a west doorway with a moulded two-centred arch and two-light belfry openings with almost rounded arches. Internally, the nave and chancel are separated by a north arcade of four granite arches with four-centred heads, supported by monolithic columns with attached shafts having hollow mouldings. In the north wall of the aisle are two recesses with four-centred arches, containing re-set effigies. A stair to the rood loft is present, with granite steps, and doorways with rounded heads at the top and bottom. A wide, pointed double-chamfered arch leads to the south transept, and a chamfered, round-headed arch defines the tower. The chancel features three sedilia with trefoiled arches in the south wall. Adjacent to the sedilia is a piscina with two pointed arches and a quatrefoil panel above. In the north wall of the chancel, a blocked recess is found, displaying double hollow moulding and a pointed head. High up in both the north and south walls are small carved stones, each with two holes, originally designed for hanging the Lenten veil. Wagon roofs are present throughout, ornamented with carved bosses. The church contains a Norman font with a plain bowl supported centrally by a thick cable-moulded shaft and around the perimeter by six later black marble columns. A mid-16th century carved rood screen and a plainer parclose screen are also present. A tomb slab dating to approximately 550-600, previously on the floor of the south porch, bears the inscription “DATUIDOCI CONHINOCI FILIUS”, meaning Datiudoc, son of Conhinoc. Re-set medieval effigies are incorporated into wall recesses, two within the north aisle and one in the south transept. Good 17th-century floor slabs are also present.