Church Of Saint John Baptist

The Church of St. John Baptist is an Anglican parish church with a history spanning several centuries. The chancel dates to the 13th century, the tower to the 14th century, and the rest of the church was largely rebuilt in 1853 and 1874. The building is constructed of local lias stone with Ham stone dressings, and has plain clay tile roofs with stepped coped gables and cross finials. The church follows a three-cell plan, comprising a two-bay chancel, a four-bay nave, and a single-bay south transept, along with a north-east vestry, a south porch, and a west tower.

The chancel, rebuilt in 1853, features a stepped plinth and no buttresses. It has a three-light east window with reticulated tracery under a headstop label, incorporating a triangular cusped vent in the gable. The south wall has cusped lancet windows, one single and one pair, flanking a pointed arched doorway with a label. The north wall has two single lancets, and between them, a gabled vestry with a two-light cusped ogee traceried flat arched window.

The nave, rebuilt in 1874, has bay buttresses on the north side, supporting cusped paired lancet windows that are transitional between plate tracery and reticulation, though all are 19th century. The south wall contains two three-light windows of 15th-century style, with square-stop arched labels, and a simple porch with a cinquefoil cusped outer arch and a plain chamfered pointed inner arch.

The south transept, with origins in the 15th century, has a plinth, angled corner buttresses, and a castellated parapet. A three-light south window with 15th-century tracery, set in a hollowed recess, is likely original, while the two-light east window is probably 19th century.

The three-stage tower, likely from the 15th century although with earlier proportions, features a plinth, offset strings, angled corner buttresses to two stages, and a crenellated parapet with corner pinnacles and gargoyles. A square-plan stair turret rises two stages on the north-east corner. The west wall has a moulded pointed arched doorway and a three-light curvilinear traceried window with a plain label. A small triangular headed window is set into the south face of the second stage. The third stage has 15th-century two-light traceried windows, one on each face, with pierced stone baffles.

The interior is predominantly 19th century in character. The chancel has a rib and panel vaulted ceiling, with a later 19th-century reredos and choir stalls. The nave is characterized by an arch-braced collar and kingpost roof, unplastered walls, and mostly 19th-century furnishings, aside from an elaborately decorated 17th-century pulpit, standing on a stone base, and a lectern with 17th-century panelling. A font, with a plain bowl on a moulded base displaying Tudor roses in the undercoving, dates from the 14th or 15th century and has a cover in a 17th-century style. A moulded rib and panel ceiling is present in the South Chapel.