Church Of St John The Baptist

The Church of St John the Baptist is a parish church with a 15th-century west tower, significantly restored by R. Norman Shaw in 1876-78. The exterior is constructed of squared rubble with stone dressings and a slate roof. The west tower is of three stages and features a restored two-centre arched west door with a dripstone, flanked by a 19th-century plank door with decorative wrought iron hinges. Second-stage windows are 1870s, three-light Perpendicular with curved dripstones. The bell stage has a two-light trefoil headed window with mouchettes in the spandrels, set beneath a partly embattled parapet with four crocketed finials (two replacements dating from around 1980, with two original 15th-century finials now in the churchyard). A north entrance porch, also dating from the 1870s, has a two-centre arched entrance with a moulded surround and a plank door with decorative ironwork.

The nave has Perpendicular windows with three cinquefoil headed lights and hood moulds. Clerestory windows are similarly designed, with one serving the vestry. The chancel, also renewed in the 1870s, has a stepped east window of two-centre-arched design with five cinquefoil headed lights. Tudor flower decoration is present below the gable end parapet, along with finials to the buttresses and a cross on the ridge. A wreathed 15th-century two-light chamfered mullioned window with a trefoil head and a 19th-century hoodmould is found on the south wall of the chancel. Two similar windows are located on the south wall of the south side chapel, though the mullions have been restored with a cavetto profile. A late 18th/early 19th-century stone sundial with floral decoration and the inscription 'LAT 54° 7'' is set above these windows, with an iron gnomon.

Inside, a font by Lethaby dating from around 1890 is present, along with a Shaw-designed pulpit with a stone base and a wood surround featuring linenfold panelling. The interior has an exposed king post roof and stone corbels. A two-bay arcade leads to the north and south aisles. The chancel arch is a 15th-century two-centre arch. The chancel contains stalls with poppyhead carving also by Shaw. A 6-light cinquefoil headed mullioned window, also from the 1870s, is set within the north wall, partially obscured by a teak organ case by Shaw and Lethaby (dated 1886). A Caen stone reredos carved by Thomas Earp is accompanied by Maw’s majolica tiles on the walls. Several stained glass windows are by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, and a stone cruciform carving is found within a south aisle window, likely dating from the 13th century.