Church Of St John The Baptist

SU 88 NE LITTLE MARLOW CHURCH ROAD

5/72 Church of St John the Baptist

21.6.55

GV II*

Parish church. Originally late C12; chancel much rebuilt late C13; nave rebuilt and extended C14; C14 N. aisle and W. tower; S. aisle and S. chapel much rebuilt early C15 for Nicholas Ledewich; C16 N. porch; restored 1902. Flint, part roughcast, with chalk dressings; some time bricks in plinth; old tile roofs. W. tower is of 2 stages, with battlemented parapet, diagonal buttresses and chamfered arched lights, 2 to each side of bell-chamber. C19-C20 W. window with plate tracery, over altered doorway with double chamfered arch. Nave has C19-C20 gabled dormer windows concealed by aisle roofs. Aisles have 2 bays of C15 2-light traceried chalk windows with flat heads and Tudor hoodmoulds, and single cusped W. lights. N. aisle also has Perpendicular E. window of 3 traceried lights with arched head. Small S. door with almost semi-circular moulded arch; restored N. doorway with 2-centred moulded arch in timber-framed porch with rendered infill, cusped bargeboards and re-used arched door. S. chapel has fenestration similar to that of the aisles, with 2 2-light windows to S., and restored 3-light E. window. Chancel has 2 late C13 N. windows, with 2-lights and tracery in arched heads, and restored 3-light E. window with ogee tracery. Small blocked N. door. Interior: tall double-chamfered tower arch with moulded imposts and stop-chamfered jambs. 3-bay nave arcades with moulded double-chamfered arches on octagonal piers. N.E. corner of nave has opening to roof-loft, and trefoil-headed niches with restored original dogtooth ornament. Nave roof is of 1902; remainder of church retains original roofs, refurbished, with arched-braced collars and arched windbraces. Double chamfered arch between S. aisle and chapel; late C12 unmoulded 2-centred chancel arch. N. windows of chancel have moulded inner arches on slender shafts with moulded caps and bases. Between chancel and S. chapel are an unmoulded C12 semi-circular arch, and a 4-centered moulded arch over tomb of Nicholas Ledewich d. 1430. Fittings include a medieval tub font and some C15 glass re-set in E. window of S. chapel. Other fittings are C19-C20. Monuments: brass of Nicholas Ledewich¿s wife on arched tomb; good marble wall monuments in S. chapel to James Chase of Westhorpe, M.P., with gadrooned base, fluted pilasters, and arched cornice with paterae and urn; mid C19 marble tablets to Nugent family of Westhorpe House, by E. Gaffin of Regent St.; 2-tier tablet in S. aisle to Wilkinson family of Westhorpe, c. 1784; small oval tablet to Henry Corker d. 1696/7, in N. aisle. RCHM I p. 230-231.