Church of St John the Baptist

Details

SK 89 SE NORTHORPE MANOR STREET

(East side) 5/36 Church of St.John 16.12.64 the Baptist

G.V. I

Parish Church. C12, C13, C14, C15, C16, C19, 1905. Coursed limestone rubble, ashlar, lead roofs. West tower, nave, chancel, north and south aisles. C16 2 stage tower has plinth with chamfered moulding, moulded string course, moulded parapet string course with 2 grotesque chutes to north and south only. Embattled parapet with corner pinnacles; it has angled corner buttresses to first stage only. South side has 2 narrow stair lights and an openwork clock beneath belfry level. The western face has a low doorway with a semi circular headformed in a massive stone lintel, with chamfered jambs. Over the door, slightly offset to the left, is a 3 light C16 window with panel tracery, hood mould with label stops and concave moulded jambs. The belfry lights to each face have 2 louvred openings with cusped heads, panel tracery over and a plain moulded hood mould. On the north side, where the tower butts up to the nave, half a blocked pointed arcade arch can be seen to have been cut by the addition of the tower. The existing north aisle, which is shorter than the nave by one half bay, has two 2 light C19 trefoil headed windows. The clerestorey has two 31ight C16, trefoil headed windows with flat heads with much Cl9 restoration. The north wall of the chancel has a C19 roll moulded sill string course and a moulded eaves course. There is a small blocked doorway with hood mould and human mask label stops and a 3 light early C14 window with geometric tracery having a C19 hood mould with human mask label stops. The C16 east window has 3 lights with trefoil heads under a very flat 4 centred arch. On the south side is a 3 light window similar to that on the north and at a lower level in the angle between the chancel and the south aisle a small single light which has been cut down and a square hood mould with human mask stops inserted over the top of it. The aisle roof has been lowered. The east window of the south aisle has 2 pointed lights under a flat hood mould. Lower part in ironstone and limestone banded work. The south face which has 2 two light C19 windows with trefoil heads and a fine C14 door with traceried woodwork in the side panels and head, the middle of the door is C19. The doorway has slender engaged shafts with octagonal capitals and moulded head. The hollow moulded hood mould has fleurons on the underside and terminates in human head label stops. In the west wall of the aisle is a single trefoil headed light with sunken spandrels. The blocked cut arcade is visible on this side as on the north. At the east end of the nave is a 3 light trefoil headed window at a high level. Inside are 3 bay north and south arcades, late C12, with circular piers and square bases and abaci and single plain arches. The capitals and responds are decorated with scallops and on the south side a leaf pattern. To the west are half bays of early C13 character with simply moulded chamfered imposts and hood moulds. The tower arch springs from corbels in the form of engaged octagons with human heads having a double chamfered pointed arch. The south aisle has a triangular headed stoup east of the south door and a cut back triangular headed piscina at the east end. The columns all have chases down their sides from former box pews. The C15 nave roof restored c.1905, retains extensive C15 fabric consisting of moulded tie beams, purlins, principal rafters and ridge having 4 original decorated roof bosses and C20 bosses at the intersections. The wall plate is brattished with battlements and has fleurons and other designs on its underside. The south aisle has 3 tie beams. The C13 chancel arch has engaged octagonal responds with curling corbels, and is double chamfered. On the south side are traces of an earlier chancel arch. Also on the south side is a piscina with an early quadrapartite pierced base and C19 trefoil head. On the north side is a triangular headed aumbry and further west a blocked doorway with timber lintel. The chancel roof is of 2 bays with a canted moulded tie beam and moulded rafters and purlins. Decorative bosses at the intersections, one displaying a coat of arms. The wall plate is also decorated with abstract patterns. Stained glass in chancel is late C19 and C20. The altar rails are C17 fine splat balusters and winged lions' heads to either side of the central opening; they are stained green and were originally grained. In the chancel are 2 C17 coffin stools. The pulpit is C18 with raised and fielded panels in oak. The pews, other fittings and font date from 1905. A prayer desk at the west end is also of C17 splat balusters and near it is an iron bound chest. On the eastern pier of the north aisle is a graffito of 2 hands with dots on the fingers. Monuments: fragments of 2 C15 inscribed recumbent slabs at the west end of the nave. Built into the sill of the south east window is a C13 stepped base cross slab. In the chancel are brass plates inscribed to members of the Monson family: William Monson, d.1638, Anthony Monson, d.1648, the latter with a brass plate showing an achievement of arms, the matrix of this brass is formed from a Medieval altar stone having 5 consecration crosses. Also a stone to Francis Monson, d.l664.

Listing NGR: SK8947097158

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

196846

Legacy System:

LBS

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.