Church of Saint John the Baptist

The Church of Saint John the Baptist is a Grade II* listed building located in East Ayton on Main Street. The church dates back to the early 12th century, featuring a nave and chancel arch from this period, along with a 12th-century tower that has been rebuilt in its upper stages. The chancel was altered in the 13th century and partly rebuilt in the 18th century. The nave includes 15th-century windows and buttresses, while the south porch, dated 1634, and a 19th-century vestry are also present.

Constructed from sandstone rubble with some rebuilding in sandstone ashlar, the church has a pantile roof, with slate roofs on the porch and vestry. The three-stage embattled tower is partly integrated into the nave and features a single lancet window at the lowest stage on the west side, along with four lancet bell openings at the upper stage. The gabled porch has a flat-headed opening that leads to a 12th-century round-arched doorway adorned with beakhead moulding. To the right of the porch are two 15th-century two-light flat-arched windows, with one similar window to the left. The chancel has two rebuilt windows flanking a blocked priest's door, and a 13th-century lancet window to the right. The east end features a blocked door to the right of the vestry and an 18th-century Venetian window in a heavy plain surround. The church has coped gables and plain kneelers.

Inside, the early 12th-century semicircular chancel arch is chamfered and has plain imposts. The tower arch, which has stepped imposts, was likely altered in the 15th century to its current crude ogee shape. The church also contains a 12th-century tub font, which features a moulded arcade in shallow relief depicting semicircular arches on columns with capitals and bases.