Parish Church of St John the Baptist (Church of England)
PARISH CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST (CHURCH OF ENGLAND), WARE ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1101926
- Date first listed:
- 24-Jan-1967
- List Entry Name:
- Parish Church of St John the Baptist (Church of England)
- Statutory Address:
- PARISH CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST (CHURCH OF ENGLAND), WARE ROAD
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-08-20
- Reference:
- IOE01/04853/28
- Rights:
- © Mr A. Gude. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1101926
- Date first listed:
- 24-Jan-1967
- List Entry Name:
- Parish Church of St John the Baptist (Church of England)
- Statutory Address 1:
- PARISH CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST (CHURCH OF ENGLAND), WARE ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- PARISH CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST (CHURCH OF ENGLAND), WARE ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Hertfordshire
- District:
- East Hertfordshire (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Widford
- National Grid Reference:
- TL 41326 15795
Details
TL 4115 WIDFORD WARE ROAD (north side)
5/3 Parish Church of St John the Baptist 24.1.67 (C of E)
GV II*
Parish church. A largely. C14 church incorporating fabric and arch fragments of early C12, C15 tower arch and windows in church: restored 1887-8 probably by G E Pritchett (framed plan in vestry) when S porch and vestry off church were added and roof rebuilt, chancel roof painted in 1881-3 by Miss F C Hadsley Gosselin, spire rebuilt and vestry heightened as an organ chamber 1890 by J (or G) Slater BA of London, new vestry off navel897-8 by J T Micklewaite. Flint rubble with clunch dressings (Barnack stone to tower), knapped flint to Cl9 vestry and organ chamber, on N, timberframed open gabled S porch. Slender octagonal copper sheathed spire. An unaisled nave and narrower rectangular chancel now under a continuous Cl9 steep roof with overhanging eaves. 3-stage unbuttressed W tower with battlements and rectangular stair projection on S rising to middle stage. Projection on N wall of nave for rood-stair concealed inside. In the nave: 2-light SE window c1350, similar recut on NE, copy at SW of 1871, S doorway and door on N to vestry c1370 with C13 ironwork on present doors, C12 chevron arch stone inset over S door, 4-bay roof reusing cambered tie beams with hollow chamfers and soffit mortices for wall-posts and arched braces, 7-sided Cl9 waggon roof with moulded battens and bossed, panelled octagonal stone font c1420, small C15 plastered piscina with shelf at SE. The lower part of the tower has a wide C15 arch, C14 W door of two moulded orders and 2-light traceried window over, small pointed doorway to stair and a ceiling of heavy chamfered beams with a central square panel. In the chancel: a C15 2-light Perpendicular window in each side, C14 sedelia or tomb recess in S wall, credence table formed from a C12 carved cushion capital on a turned plain shaft perhaps from an altar (assembled 1879) at SE, fine wall paintings survive with on N wall Christ ofthe Apocalypse sitting on a rainbow with a sword c1300, and flanking the E window C14 saints in the form of a knight and a bishop or abbot wearing a chausible and mitre. 3-light traceried C19 E window with stained glass of 1894, attributed Burlison & Grylls (Pevsner (1977) 406) commemorating John Eliot the 'Apostle to the Indians' born in the parish in the C17 whose Bible for the Massachusetts Indians was printed by Samuel Green in 1661. The church is associated with Charles Lamb whose grandmother Mary Field was a housekeeper at Blakesware nearby and whose grave is in the churchyard. The church is described in his poem The Grandame. A small medieval church, little altered, with many features of special interest and of outstanding interest for its medieval wall paintings and literary associations. It stands on the edge of the precipitous valley of the River Ash to the N and is an important landscape feature especially from the park of Blakesware. From the S it is part of a picturesque group of buildings in this part of the Conservation Area. (EHAS Trans (1903) 124-9: RCHM (1911) 240-1: VCH (1912) 405-6: Pevsner (1977) 406: J Traviss-Lockwood Widford and Widford Church Hertford 1883).
Listing NGR: TL4132615795
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 160045
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Doubleday, A, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1912), 405-6
Traviss-Lockwood, J, Widford and Widford Church Hertford, (1883)
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 406
Transactions of the East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society in Transactions of the East Hertfordshire Archaeological Society, (1903), 124-9
Other
Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 19:09:48.
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