Church Of St John The Baptist

Church of St John the Baptist

This aisled church is of late 12th-century, 13th-century and 14th-century date, with significant restorations carried out in 1891. The building is constructed of squared and coursed limestone and lias stone, with ashlar used for the aisles and spire. The roofs are covered in lead and Collyweston slate.

The church comprises an aisled nave, chancel, west tower and south porch. The south elevation of the chancel features a 2-window range of 2- and 3-light Perpendicular windows with 4-centred arch-heads. A square-head priests' door sits to the left of centre, with a 2-stage buttress to the right. The chancel has a shallow gabled roof with plain ashlar parapets. The east window is a striking 5-light Perpendicular composition with panel tracery, flanked by 2-stage clasping buttresses with carved beasts at the upper stage. A shallow gable with finial rises above the window.

The north elevation of the chancel shows 2 bays with a 3-light Perpendicular window to the right, with 4-centred arch-head, and a 2-stage buttress at centre. The south aisle is of limestone ashlar, partly banded with lias stone, spanning 4 bays with a 3-window range. From left to right, these comprise a 3-light window with reticulated tracery, a similar window to the right of centre, and a 3-light square-head window at the far right. Two-stage gabled buttresses sit at the corners and between bays to the right. The aisle has a lean-to roof with ashlar parapet, a 2-light east window with reticulated tracery, and a 2-light west window with roundel and roll mouldings.

The gabled south porch has a Collyweston slate roof. Its wide outer doorway is marked by a 2-centred arch-head with roll moulding, nail-head decoration and one order of shafts. The inner doorway has a 2-centred arch-head with roll moulding, and contains a 15th-century doorway set within the original opening, featuring a 4-centred arch-head with decorated spandrels and a central device, probably a crown.

The north aisle spans 4 bays with a 2-window range of 2-light windows to the left. The north doorway, positioned to the right of centre, features a 2-centred arch-head with roll moulding and 3 orders of shafts. Two-stage buttresses sit between bays and at corners. The aisle has a lean-to roof with ashlar gable parapets.

The south nave clerestory comprises a 4-window range of 2-light square-head windows with hood moulds and carved label stops, with a shallow gable roof, ashlar parapet and finial. The east wall of the nave shows the outline of an earlier chancel roof line. The north nave clerestory has a 4-window range of 15th-century 4-light square-head windows with king mullions and arch-head lights.

The west tower is of late 12th-century date, comprising 3 stages with shallow pilasters at each corner. Lias dressings mark all angles, and the south-west corner contains the stair turret. The lower stage west face features lancet windows, as does the south face of the second stage. The upper stage bell-chamber openings on each face are 2-light compositions with 2-centred Transitional arch-heads and 3 tiers of lucarnes.

The interior retains a 4-bay nave arcade of double-chamfered arches supported on octagonal piers with polygonal responds. A similar chancel arch, also with polygonal responds, echoes this design. The tower arch is triple-stepped and single-chamfered, with polygonal and stepped responds and waterleaf capitals. The nave and aisle roofs contain some original timbers, restored in the 19th century; the chancel roof is of 19th-century date.

Liturgical fittings include a trefoil-head piscina to the right of the altar, with the remains of triple ogee-head sedilia alongside. The south aisle possesses a piscina and triple sedilia with carved label stops, and there is staircase access from the south aisle to the rood loft. A Perpendicular rood screen with one-light divisions and ribbed coving survives, while a restored Jacobean panelled screen occupies the north aisle vestry. A Jacobean pulpit, dated 1605 and originally from Barrowden in Leicestershire, is also present. The square font, supported on 5 shafts, is decorated with trefoil panels at its sides.

Stained glass includes medieval fragments in the aisle and chancel windows, and late 19th-century and early 20th-century east windows in the chancel and south aisle. A hatchment is displayed in the north aisle.

Monuments of note include a Tryon family vault in the north aisle, forming a raised platform built in the early 18th century, probably in 2 stages. The vault features a central doorway with a flight of steps down and 2 flanking flights up, together with fine iron railings. Above the platform is a wall monument to 4 generations of Tryons, likely dating to around 1710, adorned with 2 standing cherubs, cherubs' heads and garlands, with a shield at the head and an oval inscribed tablet alongside. An inscribed brass plaque in the floor of the nave commemorates William Gardiner, who died in 1719.