Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This is an aisled parish church with origins in the mid-13th century, substantially developed in the 14th century, with 17th-century additions and major restoration of the north aisle and arcades in 1849 by architect E.F. Law. The building is constructed in regular coursed and squared limestone with ashlar dressings, with roofs of Welsh slate and 19th-century fish-scale tiles.

The church comprises an aisled nave, chancel, south porch, and a tower attached to the north aisle. The south elevation of the chancel is arranged in three bays with a two-window range; the left window is a 14th-century three-light square-headed opening, while the right is a restored lancet. A single chamfered south doorway occupies the centre, with two-stage buttresses positioned between the bays. The chancel has a steep gabled roof with ashlar gable parapets and is lit on the east by a three-light Perpendicular window with panel tracery, flanked by buttresses.

The north elevation of the chancel displays three blank bays separated by two-stage buttresses. The south aisle comprises four bays with a three-window range of three-light windows featuring intersecting tracery, sheltered by a lean-to roof with ashlar parapets. A rainwater head on this elevation bears the date 1913. The aisle contains a two-light east window with Y-tracery and a single lancet west window with renewed tracery. The gabled south porch is positioned left of centre, featuring a hollow chamfer and moulded outer arch, with a double chamfered and stepped inner doorway containing one order of shafts. The door itself is a 19th-century plank door with strap hinges, and a datestone on the porch records 1635.

The north aisle displays a three-window range of 19th-century two-light windows with two-stage buttresses between the bays, a lean-to roof with ashlar parapet, and a west lancet window. The 13th-century tower is attached to the east end of the north aisle through a vestry of a single window fitted with a two-light east window. The tower rises in three stages with shallow two-stage gabled angle buttresses at the lower stage. The north face of the lower stage features triple arcading with shafts; the centre opening is a restored 19th-century two-light window, while the outer arcades are blank with trefoil heads. A small doorway with roll moulding and shafts is set in the west face. The second stage is recessed with shallow angle buttresses at the mid-point of each face. The upper stage contains two-light bell-chamber openings on each face, each with an enclosing arch and shafts. The tower is finished with a castellated parapet and short plain pinnacles at the corners. An inscribed tablet on the east face commemorates 20th-century restoration funded by United States Air Force squadrons.

The west elevation of the nave features a four-light Perpendicular window with panel tracery. The nave clerestory comprises a three-window range of restored 19th-century lancets, and the nave is capped with a shallow gabled roof with ashlar gable parapet and finial.

Interior: The nave arcade consists of four bays with 13th-century double-chamfered arches and octagonal piers, all restored in the 19th century. The east pier on the north side is formed of two octagonal responds and a circular respond supporting the double chamfered arch at the end of the north aisle. The chancel arch is double chamfered with octagonal responds. A double hollow chamfered arch spans the east bay of the south aisle with a corbelled respond carved with a head and foliage. The tower arch is triple chamfered with octagonal responds. The roof structures are 19th-century work.

To the right of the altar is a double piscina with a shaft between, partially enclosed by the east wall of the chancel. Two square-head niches flank the left of the altar, and shallow niches to the left and right of the east window contain 20th-century figures. A trefoil-head piscina is positioned to the right of the south aisle altar. The font is a 19th-century octagonal example. Two mid-19th-century memorial tablets are located in the chancel. A 19th-century stained glass window is installed in the north-east window of the north aisle.