Parish Church of St John the Baptist

Details

PEBMARSH THE STREET TL 83 SE (north side) 4/101 (27/572) Parish Church of St. John the Baptist 21 6 62 GV I Parish church, mainly C14, restored in C19. Walls of stone rubble with dressings of limestone, the rubble mainly exposed inside and outside, but cement rendered on the E and N walls of the chancel. Porch and parapets of red brick in English bond. Roofed with handmade red clay tiles and lead. W tower early C14, added to a pre-existing nave. Chancel and nave rebuilt soon afterwards, and N and S aisles then added. Chancel shortened and S porch added in early C16, and most of the parapets rebuilt. N organ chamber C19, and general restoration, including the removal of all plaster. The Chancel has an early C16 E wall and a C19 E window. The N and S walls have moulded internal and external string-courses of the C14. In the N wall are 2 C14 windows, each of 2 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 2-centred head, partly restored, with moulded label and head-stops; between the windows is the C19 organ chamber. In the S wall are 3 windows; the 2 eastern, set high in the wall, are Cl4, of 2 trefoiled ogee lights with tracery in segmental-pointed heads with moulded labels and head-stops; the western window is similar to those in the N wall, much restored. Below the middle window is a C14 doorway, with moulded jambs and 2-centred arch, moulded label and head-stops. The C14 chancel-arch is 2- centred, of 2 chamfered orders, the outer continuous and the inner resting on semi-octagonal shafts with moulded capitals. The Nave has in the E wall above the chancel-arch a small opening with 2-centred head, blocked externally. The N and S arcades are mid-C14, each of 4 bays with 2-centred arches of 2 chamfered orders; the columns consist of 4 attached shafts, 2 semi-octagonal and 2 semi- circular, with moulded capitals and bases; the responds have semi-circular shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The C14 clerestorey has on each side 3 windows of 2 trefoiled ogee lights with tracery in 2-centred heads. The roof of the nave is in 5 bays, with queen-posts on straight tiebeams, one purlin in each slope, and curved braces from the queen-posts to the purlins. There has been some C19 restoration, mainly of the queen-posts and their braces. The wallplates are cavetto moulded. The N aisle is C14 and has an E window of 3 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 2-centred head. In the N wall are 2 windows, each of 2 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 2-centred head. Further W is the N doorway, with moulded jambs, 2-centred arch and label. In the W wall is a C14 window of 2 cinquefoiled lights in a 2-centred head with moulded label and head-stops. The S aisle has E, S and W windows uniform with those of the N aisle. W of the windows in the S wall is the S doorway, with moulded jambs, 2-centred arch and crocketed and finialed label springing from flanking buttresses with crocketed pinnacles. The roofs of the aisles retain some original plain rafters, the remainder C19. The crenellated brick parapets are C16. The W tower, early C14, is the oldest part of the present building, square and in 3 stages. The tower-arch is C19. In the S wall of the first stage is a window of one cinquefoiled light. The second stage has in the N, S and W walls a window of one pointed light with moulded label, trefoiled in the S window only. In the E wall is a pointed opening and the weathering of the earlier and lower roof of the nave. The bell-chamber has a pointed window in each wall. There is a C16 crenellated brick parapet with corner pinnacles and blue diaper design. The S porch is of brick, early C16, with a crow-stepped gable. The outer archway has moulded jambs, 2-centred arch and label, and is set in a projection with crow-stepped head. Above the arch is a niche flanked by 2 square cinquefoiled panels and surmounted by a rectangular panel enclosing a rose. The side walls each have a window of two 4-centred lights, hollow- moulded inside and out, with pierced spandrel. The wallplates are moulded and crenellated, carved with running foliage, the roof rebuilt. Fittings: there are 5 bells, the fifth by John Bird, inscribed 'Sum Rosa Pulsata Mundi Maria Vocata', early C15. In the chancel there is a brass of Sir William Fitzralph, c.1323, large cross-legged figure of knight in mixed mail and plate, feet on dog, prick spurs, greaves, knee-caps and arm-pieces with elbow and shoulder roundels, mutilated shield of arms of Fitzralph on left arm, indent of gabled canopy and marginal inscription. On S wall, brass to Joseph Birch, 1674, rector of the parish, in wooden frame. In the S aisle a coffin-lid, with foliated cross, C14, much worn. On the S wall of the chancel there are floor-slabs to Thomas Cross, 1634, pastor of the parish, and to Elizabeth, widow of Steven Crosse, 1667. There is C14 glass in the NW window of the chancel, one shield of arms for Bourguylon and two for Fitzralph, and fragments elsewhere. In the chancel there is a range of 2 sedilia, formerly extending further E but shortened with the chancel, with moulded 2-centred arches, ogee crocketed and finialed labels with head-stops, the middle shaft of Purbeck marble, jamb-shaft and shafts at back of recess in clunch, all with moulded capitals and bases, C14, restored. In the S aisle there is a piscina with shafted jambs, cinquefoiled and sub-cusped head and sexfoiled drain, C14. The S door is C14, of V-edged boards, but refaced inside and out in the C19, with a refitted domed scutcheon-plate and drop-handle, probably original.

Listing NGR: TL8536733489

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

114899

Legacy System:

LBS

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