Church of St John the Baptist

Details

SO 96 SW
3/37 (14/1A)

HADZOR CP
Church of St John the Baptist

14.3.69

GV
II
Parish church, now deconsecrated and used as a store. Early to mid C14, restored in 1835 and again in 1866, possibly by G.E Street; interior altered c1975 after deconsecration. Sandstone ashlar, slate roofs with parapets at gable ends. Small west tower, three-bay nave, and two-bay chancel with north vestry. Decorated style.

West tower: mid C19; ground floor forms main entrance porch; two stages; lower stage has offsets and also string above a continuous battered plinth; pointed west entrance archway has a single roll moulding and the porch has a quadripartite vault with an ornamental boss; the door into the nave has a simple pointed-arched chamfered surround. Above the entrance is a blind two-light window having a hood mould (with returns) and in the north and south side elevation is a lancet with a smaller lancet above. The belfry stage is gabled; the west elevation has a pair of louvred lancets with single lancets in the side elevations all having hood moulds (with returns); the gables have parapets set above a square fleuron frieze and with moulding copings; at each corner and at the apex of the west gable is a small turret corbelled out from the wall and enriched with cusped, pointed-arched panels except for the turret at the west gable apex which has a central cusped pointed-arched opening and is surmounted by a broken finial.

Nave: three bays; C14 stonework evident at base, in windows and square fleuron eaves frieze; sill string continues around east end buttresses and west end, angled buttresses all with offsets, gables and with an additional finialed gable at mid-height having cusped blind tracery. Both north and south elevations have three two-light windows with different tracery designs and flattened ogee hood moulds with foliated finials (which interrupt the eaves frieze). The north-west window is probably a C19 copy added when the north doorway was blocked.

Chancel: two bays; frieze and sill string continue from nave; east end was refaced in C19, with angled corner buttresses similar to the nave. The three-light east window has a hood mould with label stops carved like grotesque heads; the two south windows and the north-east window are all similar to those in the nave; to the left of the south-west window, immediately beneath the sill string is a small, square blocked window. The north vestry is a C19 addition and projects from the north-west bay; the north gable end has a three-light square-headed window and hood mould with returns; at the east side elevation a flight of four steps with simple cast iron railings leads up to a central pointed-arched doorway.

Interior: altered late 1970s after the church was deconsecrated when pews and altar table removed. Pointed chancel arch has flattened ogee hood mould with foliated finial. Roofs are C19 with cusped arch-braced collar trusses. Windows similarly detailed to chancel arch and have grotesque head label stops; flanking east window are narrow semi-circular headed niches with crocketted and finialed gabled canopies and slender, pinnacled buttresses; the piscina has a cusped ogee arch and in the north-east corner is an arched recess. The nave has a west gallery with cusped pointed arcading, a C19 octagonal stone front and the pulpit has also been retained.

Memorials: between the east end and central window of the north nave wall is a large possibly C14 monument, with a C19 chest tomb in the cusped, wide pointed-arched recess beneath to John Howard Galton, died 1862, set behind ornate cast iron railings. Above the finialed hood mould to the recess is a niche for a figure with a crocketted gabled and pinnacled head; this is enclosed within an outer crocketted pointed hood mould with blind tracery below. The niche is flanked by two similar niches. In the chancel are several C18 and C19 memorials commemorating members of the Galton and Amphlett families.

Glass: chancel windows and east and central window of south nave wall probably by Hardman and include a little C14 glass.

A small church with some good Decorated detailing; internally the elaborate tomb recess in the north nave wall is of particular interest.

Listing NGR: SO9156362552

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

147714

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Worcester, (1913), 137
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, (1968), 175-6

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.