Church of St John the Baptist

Details

MIDDLETON CHURCH LANE SP19NE (North side) 2/77 Church of St. John the Baptist GV II* Church. Mid-C12 with major additions of circa 1300 and of the late C15; further additions of the C18/early C19; restored 1876. C12 coursed sandstone rubble and late C15 ashlar; plain tile roof over the north aisle; the other roofs are hidden behind the parapet. West tower with diagonal buttresses, 4-bay nave with north aisle incorporating a western vestry, 2-bay chancel with diagonal buttresses. West tower: late C15. 4 stages: plinth with moulded coping, moulded third stage and parapet strings and a crenellated parapet with continuous coping around the merlons and embrasures. West door with 4-centred arch, 2 hollow-moulded orders, and a heavily crocketed hood mould. Pointed 3-light window above with cinquefoil cusping and panel tracery. Trefoil-headed loops to the third stage and pointed 2-light belfry openings with cinquefoil cusping and panel tracery. All windows have heavily crocketed hood moulds including the staircase loops at the south-west corner. On the south side of the tower is a niche with crocketed nodding ogee arch flanked by finials. Nave and north aisle: C12 south door with half-roll and chevron moulded arch within a C18 brick (Flemish bond) porch with stone coped gable. The entrance to the porch has a semi-circular arch springing from imposts, with a raised keystone. To the left is a C19 tall 3-light mullioned window and to the right 3 C15 clerestory windows each with 3 trefoil-headed lights and hollow-moulded surrounds. The north aisle is of circa 1300. It has a nail-studded door with semi-circular head, and 2 C19 rectangular windows. Early C19 single-bay vestry extension to the west in a Gothick style: large pointed north window of 4 lights with intersecting tracery incorporating an ogee arch, and ogee moulded surround. 3-light west window with intersecting tracery and pointed west door with raised surround. Chancel: blocked C12 loop with semi-circular head, roughly in the centre of the north side. The south side retains the head of a similar loop towards the west end above the existing priest's door. This latter is a C14 or C15 insertion and has a pointed head. Like the nave the chancel was given a clerestory in the late C15. The windows have 3 trefoil-headed lights beneath a 4-centred arch and a hollow-moulded surround. C15 east window of 4 trefoil-headed lights beneath a 4-centred arch. Both nave and chancel have a continuous parapet with moulded string and coping. Interior: north arcade of circa 1300 with pointed arches of 2 chamfered orders on octagonal columns with moulded capitals. Tall C15 pointed tower arch with outer sunk-chamfered order and inner wide ogee-moulded order, both interrupted by moulded imposts. Late C15 chancel arch of 2 orders with similar imposts to those of the tower arch. Squint between north aisle and chancel (restored). Both nave and chancel have plastered ceilings with exposed tie beams. Fittings: C18 baluster font. C19 octagonal font with panelled basin on a squat pedestal, and a conical Gothick style font cover. C19 pine benches with traceried ends. Late C17 pulpit, square with canted corners.a The sides have fielded panels; the narrow ones contain twisted baluster-shafts and the principal sides cherubs' heads. C15 chancel screen of 2:1:2 bays. The solid lower panels have trefoiled arches with rendant cusps. 4-centred open arches over the panel tracery; colonette shafts between the bays; the middle rail is decorated with paterae. C19 stalls with elaborate poppyheads. C19 altar rail with trefoil headed arcading on shafts. Monuments: chancel: Sir Richard Bingham, died 1476, and his wife Margeret; floor slab with brass effigies of a man and woman. Dorothy Fitzherbert, died 1507; brass plate and heraldic shield within an arched recess. Lord Edward Ridgway, second son of Thomas Earl of Londonderry, died 1638; kneeling effigy dressed in armour within a round-headed recess flanked by Corinthian columns on brackets; surmounted by a central achievement of arms and other heraldic devices to left and right. Francis Willoughby, died 1665, and his wife Cassandra, died 1675; very tall and elaborate wall monument. Outer semi-circular arched recess containing an aedicule with segmental pediment surmounted by an achievement of arms; pilasters decorated with trailing leaves, cartouches at the feet and skulls in the capitals; centrepiece of 3 putti with a garlanded urn above. North aisle: Samuel and Benjamin White, died 1688 and 1685; 2 busts within a recess with curtains to the sides and segmental pediment above. Anne Budd, died 1718; oval tablet with urn on top. Stained glass: south window by Kempe. (Buildings of England: Warwickshire: p355; VCH: Warwickshire: Vol IV, (1965), pp158-160)

Listing NGR: SP1768198346

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

309391

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Warwick, (1947), 158-160
Pevsner, N, Wedgwood, A, The Buildings of England: Warwickshire, (1966), 355

End of official list entry

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