Church of St John

Church of St John

A parish church of rubble stone with stone-tiled roofs, coped gables and cross-finials. The building comprises a tower, nave, south porch, chancel and north vestry.

The tower rises in three stages marked by four dripcourses, with a heavy plinth and slightly battered walls, finishing with an embattled parapet and a north-east stair turret. Stone rainwater spouts serve the west and south faces. The bell-openings are small with square heads and two lights, fitted with louvres. The west front features a flat-headed two-light window of red stone dated to the 17th century, positioned above a chamfered segmental pointed west door with three-sided stops.

The south side of the tower contains a 19th-century flat-headed two-light window below the bell stage, with tiny chamfered lights to the second and third stages.

The south side of the nave displays a 15th-century two-light flat-headed window with cinquefoil heads to the left of the porch, and a 15th-century three-light flat-headed window with ogee heads and a deep hollow surround to the right. A large stone porch of 14th to 15th-century date stands before the entrance, featuring a deep chamfer to the arched doorway with pyramid stops and single-light windows to each side wall. The porch roof comprises two bays with two arch-braced collar-trusses and a much heavier tie-beam truss with arch braces to the collar, set against the south gable, which is presumably of earlier date. The 15th-century oak plank door retains studs and strap hinges, housed within an altered 12th-century surround with chamfered purple stone jambs and a monolith 12th-century tympanum bearing a lunette panel, now eroded of detail. To the right of the nave, the rood loft stair is expressed externally and lit by a tiny red sandstone 15th-century light with an ogee head.

The south side of the chancel contains a single renewed cusped lancet, a triangular-headed door, and a pair of 14th-century cusped lancets. The east end has a battered base and a 14th-century two-light east window comprising a pair of lancets. The north side of the chancel has no windows, but adjoins a 19th-century vestry with a tall square chimney topped by an octagonal ashlar cap. The vestry door is roll-moulded with a trefoil head, and a cusped window to the north.

The north side of the nave contains two 19th-century buttresses, one of which has been cut back to reveal a tiny Romanesque narrow single light. A small rectangular cusped pulpit light stands to the left, and a large 19th-century two-light Bath stone window of Perpendicular style with a flat head to the right. The nave's east gable shows signs of the roof being raised.

Interior

The interior is of exposed stone throughout, forming a long and narrow space with a low chancel arch. The nave features a 19th-century barrel-vaulted roof of eight-by-four panels. An off-centre chamfered tower arch dies into chamfered and stopped side piers, with a door to the tower stair to the right having a segmental-pointed head. The north side Romanesque window displays a deep splayed reveal. A square-headed two-bay recess in the north wall by the pulpit may be an aumbry. On the south wall, the rood loft stair ascends to a loft door set diagonally in the angle.

The chancel is entered through a broad low chamfered medieval arch, possibly of the 14th century. The chancel contains four large tie-beam trusses with cambered tie-beams and angle struts, possibly of the 17th century as they carry ovolo-moulded details. A chamfered arched door to the south may also be 14th-century, while a trefoil-headed 19th-century door to the north leads to the vestry.

The font is dated 1661 and carries Jacobean-type ornament to its octagonal bowl, with an incised inscription and roses to the rim, and incised roses to the octagonal shaft. The red stone base with malt-shovel panels may represent retooled medieval work. The pulpit dates from 1901, erected in memory of Queen Victoria, and is constructed of timber in the Gothic style on a stone base. Ornate Arts and Crafts Gothic rails of 1904 span the chancel arch in carved wood. Iron 19th-century Gothic standards support the altar rails. Plain 19th-century pews, a carved reading desk, and stalls date from around 1901. An early 20th-century panelled dado adorns the chancel.

Monuments

On the north wall of the nave stands a monument erected around 1740 by Benjamin Jenkins to his family, made by Michael Sidnell of Bristol. It comprises a tablet beneath a veined marble curved pediment with a plumed coat-of-arms above and marble pilasters. Adjoining is an exceptional Baroque oval memorial to Roger Otes (died 1706) and his son Roger (died 1710), decorated with putti, foliage, an urn, and a cartouche with a skull beneath. The south wall carries more vernacular painted memorials to Ann Hall (died 1790), Rachel Powell (died 1783), and Arnold Powell (died 1785). The chancel contains a series of neo-Gothic carved wood memorials, possibly by an amateur hand, dating from around 1920.

Stained Glass

The small north light by the pulpit and the south three-light window bear the signature of Daniell & Fricker of London, dated around 1910. An unsigned two-light window to the nave north, of around 1890, depicts Faith and Hope. The east window, dated 1881 and dedicated to the 1st Lord Raglan with the inscription 'Thy brother shall rise again', is of good quality and possibly by Hardman.