Church of St John the Baptist in the Wilderness

Details

UPPER SHUCKBURGH SP46SE 2/154 Church of St. John the 30/05/67 Baptist in the Wilderness

GV II*

Church. C13 or earlier origins; tower C13 with C19 bell stage. Very largely rebuilt mid C19. Ironstone: chancel and nave north walls and lower stages of tower of rubble; chancel and upper part of tower squared coursed stone; south chapel and nave walls, porch and turret regular coursed; north chapel rock faced. Tile roofs have coped gable parapets and kneelers. Chancel, north and south chapels, nave, north porch, west tower, south-west turret. 2-bay chancel, 2-bay nave. Chancels and chapels have diagonal buttresses with 2 offsets. Varying tracery, mostly Perpendicular. 3-light east and 2-light chapel north windows have hood-moulds with return stops. North chapel has east and west lancets. Sill course, stepping down to left and right. Tudor-arch and hood-mould with carved lozenge stops below. C14 foliated stone child's coffin lid inset. Gable has small foliated cross inset. Cross finial. South chapel similar, but with early/mid C18 inset carved panels of a skull, hour glass, sickle etc. All insets of white stone. Porch has splayed plinth and sill course. Moulded C14/C15 arch with 2-light windows. Moulded north doorway with plank door. Porch and nave have largely or wholly C19 Decorated straight-headed windows. North side has 3-light window. Frieze of ogee arches on corbels. South side has blocked chamfered-arch doorway with hood-mould. 3-light eastern and 2-light western windows. Tower of 3 stages has west lancet. Blank second stage. Third stage has 2-light openings with geometrical tracery and nook shafts, and slate louvres. Moulded cornice and parapet with pinnacles. Round south-west turret to first stage only. Chamfered straight-headed west door. Slit window to south. Moulded cornice and parapet. Interior: plastered walls. Perpendicular style. Chancel east and north windows have plaster hood-moulds; east window has head stops. Sanctuary has plaster panelled dado of blind tracery. Good mid C19 encaustic tile floor, probably Minton to designs by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. Chancel and nave have richly decorated hammer-beam roofs with moulded timbers and openwork. Chancel roof has moulded corbels with carved symbolic animals holding banners. Hammer-beams have angels holding texts. Ribbed panelled roof has elaborate bosses. Moulded stone arches to chapels have shafts and hood-moulds. Early English style chancel arch of 3 orders has triple shafts. Cinqfoiled circular opening above. Nave north door has hood-mould. Double hammerbeam roof, each bay divided into 2 by subsidiary hammerbeam trusses. Hammerbeams have gilt foliage bosses; upper beams have painted shields. Elaborate carving, Panelled roof with decorative wind bracing. Early English style moulded tower arch has colonnettes with naturalistically carved capitals and corbels. Fittings: C17 octagonal font and lid with finial on C19 stem. Perpendicular mid C19 altar rails and mid/late C19 screen. Lavishly carved mid C19 pulpit and with twisted columns, Gothic tracery, naturalistic foliage, etc. Lectern with buttresses and angle brackets. Benches with carved fleurs-de-lys ends and Gothic open panels. Mid C19 chancel stalls have arcading. Text panels on east wall have elaborate plaster Gothic frames with painted curtain, from which a plaster hand emerges, holding a board painted as an open book. Stained glass: some late C16 heraldic panels in nave south-west window. Many mid C19 windows. Monuments to the Shuckburgh family. Chancel south: Anthony 1594 and Anne; pair of brasses. John 1724; wall monument by Hunt of Northampton. Catherine 1683; fine Baroque wall monument with portrait bust. North chapel: Margaret Cotes c.1500; lower half of brass. Thomas 1549 and Elizabeth; parts of brasses. Sir Stukeley; classical wall monument of coloured marble with fine portrait medallion. South chapel: Margery 1629 and John 1631; large painted monument with effigies , deep arch and canopy with columns. Richard S. 1663; elaborate Baroque monument on pedestal with bust in niche, said to be by Beniers. Nave north: Sir Stewkeley 1809; Neoclassical wall monument. Lady S. 1783; Neoclassical wall monument with sarcophagus angel and urn. Sir George Shuckburgh-Evelyn 1804; wall monument with globe and astrolabe by Flaxman. Nave south: Lady Grace 1677: wall monument. Lady Shuckburgh-Evelyn 1797; fine Neoclassical wall monument by Flaxman, with relief of the deceased and her grieving family around her. Lady S. 1846; elaborate Gothic wall monument by R. Brown, with a hand holding a brass scroll. Many good C18, C19 and early C20 tablets. An excellent example of a small estate church with fine monuments to the Shuckburgh family who have lived at Shuckburgh for 1000 years.

(V.C.H.: Warickshire: Vol.VI, pp.217-218; Buildings of England: Warwickshire, pp.438-439).

Listing NGR: SP4970961761

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

305730

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Warwick, (1951), 217-218
Pevsner, N, Wedgwood, A, The Buildings of England: Warwickshire, (1966), 438-439

End of official list entry

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