Church of St John the Baptist
CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, THE SQUARE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1173117
- Date first listed:
- 09-Feb-1961
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St John the Baptist
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, THE SQUARE
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2000-09-11
- Reference:
- IOE01/03049/24
- Rights:
- © Mike Bedingfield. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1173117
- Date first listed:
- 09-Feb-1961
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St John the Baptist
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, THE SQUARE
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:
- CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, THE SQUARE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Somerset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Axbridge
- National Grid Reference:
- ST 43151 54608
Details
ST4354 AXBRIDGE THE SQUARE (north sidel
12/44 Church of St John The Baptist
9.2.61
GV I
Parish church. Whole of c1400, restored 1888 by J D Sedding. Coursed and squared rubble, freestone dressings, gabled lead roofs with cruciform finials. Nave and chancel with aisles, crossing tower with transepts, broad west porch incorporating 2 rooms, further porch to south. Elaborate tower with set-back buttresses rising to pinnacles, parapet around top stage pierced with quatrefoils. Stair turret, 2-light bell-chamber windows with a repeating blank window each side; on the east and west sides figures of St John and Henry VIII. Tower parapet repeats over the aisles and west porch. All windows of restored Perpendicular type, except the east windows of the aisles altered C17 to provide for monuments, east chancel window reputedly of l857. Stone panelled roof to south porch; to the nave a plaster ceiling dated 1636, ribbed with pendants the tower with a fan-vault; the aisle roofs with Perpendicular panelled lean-to's; C19 wagon roofs to the transepts and chancel. 4-bay arcades to the nave differentiated only by the leaf decoration on the south capitals. Identical arches leading to the chancel aisles and transcepts, some with leaf capitals, some with angles. Richly furnished; octagonal Perpendicular font; chandelier of 1730; some remains of wall painting; brass in north transept to Roger Harper and wife of 1493; C17 bier in south transept; painted C17 chest in south transept; many large wall monuments, particularly to Prowse family who have connections with Compton House(qv), that to south chancel aisle with a kneeling figure of Anne Prowse of 1668, in north chancel aisle William Prowse, depicted as a three-quarter figure in an oval niche of 1670; further fine monuments to Thomas Welsh of 1678, J Andrews of 1720, Johns Tuthil of 1716 and Thomas Prowse of 1767; further C17 chest in north aisle; small C17 reading desk; painting to south transept of Christ showing his wounds, probably C15 though much restored and over-painted; altar frontal to north aisle of 1720. Many further lesser well monuments of C18 and C19. C19 pews and choir stalls. Stained glass to east window. (Pevsner, Buildings of England, North Somerset and Bristol, 1958).
Listing NGR: ST4314854607
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 268697
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol, (1958)
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 29-Jun-2026 at 12:39:33.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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