Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a church dating from the late 12th century, with additions and alterations made in the early 13th, 14th centuries, a datestone of 1625, and a restoration in 1900. It is constructed of regular coursed limestone with ashlar detailing on the chancel, porch, tower and spire, and features lead roofs. The church comprises an aisled nave, a chancel, a south porch, a vestry, and a west tower.

The south elevation of the chancel showcases a two-window range of 14th-century windows, each with two or three lights and reticulated tracery, one featuring lozenges. There are two blocked door openings and a shallow gabled roof with ashlar parapets and a finial. The east window is a fine example of 14th-century design, being a four-light window with reticulated tracery. A single 2-light window, similar to those on the south elevation, is visible on the north side of the chancel, alongside a central gargoyle in the parapet. An attached 19th-century vestry features a three-light window with plate tracery in its north gable.

The south aisle of the church has a three-window range of 2-light windows with intersecting tracery, concealed beneath a lean-to roof with ashlar gable parapets. A three-light east window, similarly decorated with intersecting tracery and cusping, is also present. A single-light window marks the west end of the aisle. The gabled south porch, situated between the windows, features a chamfered and moulded outer arch bearing the datestone 1625/IP, as well as a sundial and finial above. The porch’s interior has a stone gabled roof supported by chamfered transverse ribs, a stone ridge member, and stone purlins, with modern doors set within a stone surround.

The north aisle, restored in 1900, also has a three-window range of 2- and 3-light square-head windows, flanked by 2-stage buttresses. A lancet window is at the west end. The nave clerestory features a three-window range of 2-light square-head windows. The chancel roof may contain 14th-century timbers, with other roofs being of 19th-century origin.

The Decorated west tower, rising over three stages, is distinguished by its 5-stage angle buttresses. The west door has a chamfered and moulded surround, with a blocked window above it, and a single-light window to the south face. The north face consists of only two stages, with the lower section built of coursed rubble and two-light bell-chamber openings on each face of the upper stage. A quatrefoil frieze adorns the tower. The broach spire is capped with short octagonal pinnacles at each corner and pairs of carved heads at the broaches' apex, and incorporates two tiers of lucarnes.

Inside, the nave arcade is of three bays. The two bays of the south arcade, dating from around 1200, feature double chamfered arches, octagonal piers, and responds with upright stiff-leaf capitals, while the west bay, added around 1300, is similar. The north arcade is a 19th-century addition with moulded and chamfered arches on octagonal piers. A double chamfered chancel arch and a chamfered, now blocked, tower arch are also present. Triple, ogee-headed sedilia and a piscina with cusping in the spandrels are featured in the chancel. A triangular-headed tomb recess to the left of the altar displays crockets and two orders of shafts, while a trefoil head piscina is located in the south aisle. The church also contains a late 19th-century stone pulpit and a late 12th-century circular font with dogtooth arcading. Stained glass is incorporated into the north chancel window and the centre of the north aisle, along with fragments of medieval glass. Early 20th-century glass, likely by Morris and Co., is found in the south chancel windows and in one north aisle and two south aisle windows.