Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist, Lynmouth

Anglican parish church built in the Early English style. The foundation stone was laid in 1869 and the building was completed in 1870 at a cost of approximately £1700, designed by E Dolby of Abingdon. The north aisle was enlarged in 1908 (cost £600) and a tower was added in 1921 (cost £600).

The church is constructed of rubble stone with later sections squared and snecked, ashlar dressings and detailing, and slate roofs. The plan consists of a nave with a bellcote over the west gable, a south porch, an apsidal chancel, and a wide gabled north aisle with a low tower at its east end.

The exterior features a thin saddle-backed bellcote with two openings under a blind oculus, set flush with the main gable. Above an arcade of five arches with pointed arches in voussoirs in three coloured stones on slender red sandstone shafts, sits a quatrefoiled plate rose window. The arcade covers three lancets and has a full-width weathered cill. Deep square buttresses with broad offsets flank the gable on each side. The north aisle gable is almost equal in height and width, with a two-light plate tracery window under a drip course; a plank door on strap hinges is positioned to the left. Both gables are coped.

The south front displays three paired lancets with plate tracery containing three-, four- and three-foil oculi, under a drip course that continues as a string course at springing level. A square tower, set back at the right-hand end, has a large two-light casement immediately below its crenellated parapet and a smaller casement below. A square buttress with offsets stands to the right of the tower. The tower has similar fenestration to the east, but features a door to an escape stair at mid-level and partly covers the east gable to the aisle, which displays a quatrefoil oculus.

The north front has a high gabled entrance porch with coping over a chamfered pointed opening. The inner plank door is set in a broad chamfered pointed arch with shafts featuring crude capitals, and is hung on decorative strap hinges. Two windows match those on the south, and three deep square buttresses with offsets and plinth are positioned here. Original square hopper-heads and downpipes are visible on this side. Slightly set in to the left is the apse, with lancets grouped as one, one and two, featuring head stops to the drip course above a cill band and a high plinth. At a lower level is the vestry, which follows the apse curve and abuts an external iron staircase on the east side of the tower. The vestry has a small double lancet window to the north with chamfered edges and an incised cross above.

Interior

The nave features a trussed rafter roof on unplastered walls, with chamfered rere-arches and flat cills throughout, all set on a floor of small square tiles. A three-bay arcade has circular columns on square bases with broad square abaci, supporting stylised scrolled leaf capitals. The arches are chamfered to a broad flat intrados with a continuous hoodmould.

The chancel, reached by a total of five steps, is reached through a plain arch with flat intrados and roll-mould edges. It contains coursed and banded stone with a pointed barrel vault, and an apse with chamfered ribs on simple corbels and a moulded string. The cill-mould continues as a string course. Three sedilia and a piscina in stone are positioned to the right, with the organ set in an arch.

The north aisle, widened in 1908, is as wide as the nave. Its floor is part tile and part wood, reflecting the later enlargement. It has a roof and rere arches matching the nave, with a door at each end. Six corbels above the arcade may be remnants of the original roof structure.

The church contains a hexagonal stone pulpit with cusped panels and fine carved detail; a brass eagle lectern dated 1895; and a low embellished font bowl on free-standing Purbeck shafts. The carved oak choir stalls display a hint of Art Nouveau styling, and there is a carved wood altar behind a simple brass rail. Stained glass is present in the apse only; one of the original lancets is now blocked by the later tower.