Church of St John

Church of St John

A geometrical style parish church comprising an aisled nave, lower and narrower chancel, north-west tower and south vestry with organ chamber. The building is constructed of snecked rock-faced Deudraeth stone with Bath stone dressing and cornices, and red sandstone banding, with a slate roof behind coped gables.

The buttressed west front features an entrance within a slightly advanced steep coped gable. The doors are pointed and double, enriched with C-hinges and studs, and flanked by a single order of polished stone nook shafts. Small cusped lights flank the doorway. Above is the main two-light west window with quatrefoil plate-tracery light. The buttressed four-bay lean-to north and south aisles have alternating two-light plate-tracery windows with quatrefoils and three stepped cusped lights. The clerestorey has pairs of cusped lights.

The three-stage tower has angle buttresses and a north entrance with similar detail to the main west doorway. Narrow lights appear in the east and west walls. The middle stage has narrow lights in the west and north faces only, and a small west stair light. The bell stage features paired openings under linked hoods, with louvres and sill band. Above is a corbel table below the coped parapet, dominated by bold octagonal corner turrets with narrow blank arches. Each face of the parapet has a stepped merlon in Bath stone.

The lower projecting and gabled south vestry has a boarded door within the lean-to of the original vestry, and a cusped window to the right with iron bars. The south gable end has a two-light window, and on the east side is a cusped window with iron bars and an external stone stack. Further right is the end of the original lean-to vestry with paired cusped lights under a relieving arch. In front is a dwarf wall and railings to basement steps.

The two-bay buttressed chancel has a single two-light plate-tracery south window, a three-light east window, and on the north side a two-light plate-tracery window and a three-light window with plate tracery over the outer lights. The north aisle and clerestorey are similar to the south side.

Interior

The interior is plastered and the windows have segmental moulded freestone rear arches. The nave has four-bay arcades in which the central piers on each side are octagonal and the remainder are round. The nave has a clerestorey sill-band and an eight-bay roof of arched-brace trusses on corbelled wall posts, of which alternate trusses also have bracketed tie beams. Aisle roofs have corbelled brackets. The chancel arch has an outer order of ringed shafts of polished black stone with foliage capitals, and inner order with similar detail to corbelled shafts, and a double-chamfer in the arch. The chancel has a roof of cusped arched braces on corbels in three unequal bays. The south aisle and chancel have double-chamfered arches to the organ recess. The chancel also has a pointed south vestry door with studs and strap hinges. On the south side is a cusped piscina and roll-moulded jambs of, possibly unfinished, sedilia. The north side has a corbelled aumbry.

Reset in front of the chancel arch are communion rails of twisted iron uprights and scroll brackets, and a moulded wooden handrail. Under the chancel arch is a reset reredos, of which the central portion has cusped-arch panels and painted cross and Evangelists with central gable and crocketed finials. Outer sides have plainer cusped panelling.

The square freestone font is rounded at the angles and has round panels with Christian motifs in relief. It stands on a round stem with detached polished stone shafts at the angles, to a moulded base and polished stone plinth. Simple benches have shaped ends with low-relief foliage in small panels. The large polygonal wooden pulpit stands on posts and has two tiers of panels enriched by foliage in low relief, and carved emblems of the Evangelists below the cornice. A low chancel screen attached to the pulpit has similar detail and raised inscription band. The wooden reading desk has a large wooden sculpture of St John.

Stained Glass

All windows have stained glass. In the chancel, the north windows depict the Crucifixion and Resurrection. The east window, post 1881, depicts the Ascension and other smaller scenes. On the south side the single window shows Jesus at Emmaus.

In the south aisle, beginning at the east end, is Christ as a shepherd, John the Baptist and the Baptism of Christ (post 1887); Jairus' daughter by Lavers & Westlake of London (1894); Child Christ (post 1893, also by Lavers & Westlake); and 'suffer little children' (post 1907). The west wall of the south aisle depicts the anointing of David as King of Israel and the infant Samuel in the Temple (post 1905). In the nave, the main west window depicts the calling of James and John to become disciples of Jesus. In the small windows, the left-hand shows St Peter (post 1914), and the right-hand, above the font, has a semi-abstract interpretation of Baptism incorporating a font with IHS monogram, dove and bell motifs by Celtic Studios (1974). In the north aisle, the west window depicts Faith, Hope & Charity (post 1911). In the north aisle, from the west end, is the Sermon on the Mount by Lavers & Westlake (1908); the Annunciation by E. Frampton (1899); and Christ teaching Nicodemus. The aisle east window depicts Saints Peter and Paul (post 1886).