Church of St John the Evangelist

Church of St John the Evangelist

This is a 19th-century church constructed of regular coursed local limestone with ashlar dressings and pitched roofs of graduated slate. It occupies a prominent elevated site overlooking the Kent Estuary, oriented east to west.

The church follows a rectangular plan with a nave, south porch, west tower, and organ chamber attached to the north. The chancel is narrower and has a vestry attached to its north side.

The exterior features a plinth and continuous sill band running across all elevations. The main south elevation displays a narrow rectangular chancel with angle buttresses and a single lancet window. The six-bay nave has angle buttresses with lancet windows alternating between them; a stone cross finial crowns the apex. The fourth bay contains the principal entrance, approached by stone steps leading up to a gabled and buttressed porch. The porch has paired lancets in its returns and a large pointed-arch entrance with modern double doors. The three-bay buttressed west end has lancets in each end bay, with the central bay featuring the main tall pointed-arch entrance flanked by stepped lancets above that light the gallery. Above this rises a steeple comprising a rectangular tower supporting an octagonal belfry surmounted by an octagonal spire. Four louver windows light the belfry. The east elevation has stepped lancets and a stone cross finial at its apex. Attached to the right is a single-storey pitch-roofed vestry with short paired lancets and a pointed-arched entrance approached by steps. The rear north elevation mirrors the main elevation's styling but includes a full-height organ chamber lit by a single lancet, attached to the end of the nave.

All window and door openings throughout have hood moulds and carved stops.

The interior has plainly painted walls and stone-flagged floors, with carpeting in some areas. Early 20th-century photographs show the Sanctuary floor was originally tiled. Roofs are of scissor-braced construction. The narrow chancel features a corbelled arch and 20th-century stained glass by A K Nicholson (east window) and Abbot & Co of Lancaster (north and south windows). The Sanctuary retains the original oak altar rail formed by a trefoil-headed arcade, though it also has 20th-century oak panelling and reredos. On the north side of the chancel, a studded door provides access to the vestry. A full-height pointed-arched organ chamber with organ occupies the north-east corner of the nave, with 20th-century oak choir stalls nearby.

Opposite the organ stands the original oak pulpit, reduced in height, which has an octagonal drum with panels carved with blind trefoil-headed arches with hood moulds and detached stops. Adjacent to this is an octagonal oak lectern with carved panels surmounted by an eagle. The original oak benches have blind pointed-arch arcading to their inner backs and shaped ends; they have been slightly modified by removal of their finials and book rests. An octagonal marble font is positioned at the west end.

The gallery runs behind three tall pointed arches and their flanking buttresses, which support the east side of the tower. The gallery fronts feature heavily moulded top and bottom rails with a colonnade of trefoil-headed arches. The arch to the right leads through a narrow pointed-arch studded door to a stone winder stair giving access to the narrow two-tier gallery. This has wide oak floor boards and benches similar in detail to those of the nave. A plaque recording the opening and consecration of the church is affixed to the rear wall.

The churchyard is surrounded by a drystone wall pierced by an entrance with a timber lychgate set upon a pair of stone piers and with clay roof tiles; the double gates are later 20th-century replacements. Immediately to the north of the west end stands a detached roofed open framework containing bells, which were imported from Milnthorpe.