Details
LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH
SS7149 WATERSMEET ROAD, Lynmouth
858-1/4/95 (East side)
Church of St John the Baptist
GV II
Anglican parish church. Foundation stone laid 1869, finished
1870 at cost of »1700. By E Dolby (of Abingdon); N aisle
enlarged 1908, cost »600, and tower added 1921, cost »600.
Rubble, later sections squared and snecked, ashlar dressings
and detail, slate roofs.
PLAN: nave with bellcote over W gable, S porch, apsidal
chancel, wide gabled N aisle with low tower at E end. In Early
English style with some plate tracery lights.
EXTERIOR: the nave has a thin saddle-backed bellcote with 2
openings under a blind oculus. This is flush with the main
gable which has a quatrefoiled plate rose window set flush
above an arcade of 5 arches with pointed arches in voussoirs
in 3 coloured stones, on slender red sandstone shafts to a
full-width weathered cill, and covering 3 lancets. To each
side a deep square buttress with broad offsets. To right is
the aisle gable of almost equal height and width, with a
2-light plate tracery window under a drip course; low left is
a plank door on strap hinges. Both gables are coped.
The S front has 3 paired lancets with plate tracery containing
3:4:3-foil oculi, under a drip-course continued as a string
course at springing level. Set back at the right-hand end is
the square tower, with a large 2-light casement with
drip-course immediately below the crenellated parapet, and a
smaller casement below. To the right is a square buttress with
offsets.
The tower, with similar fenestration to the E, but a door to
an escape stair at the mid level, partly covers the E gable to
the aisle, with a quatrefoil oculus. The N front has a high
gabled entrance porch over a chamfered pointed opening, and
with coping. The inner plank door is on decorative strap
hinges in a broad chamfered pointed arch and shafts with crude
capitals. There are 2 windows as to the S, and 3 deep square
buttresses with offsets and plinth. On this side are the
original square hopper-heads and downpipes. To the left,
slightly set in, is the apse, with 1:1:2 lancets, with head
stops to the drip course, above a cill band, and with a high
plinth. At a lower level is the vestry, following the apse
curve, and abutting an external iron staircase to the E side
of the tower; small double lancet window to N, with chamfered
edges and incised cross above.
INTERIOR: the nave has a trussed rafter roof, on unplastered
walls, with chamfered rere-arches and flat cills, all on a
floor in small square tiles. A 3-bay arcade has circular
columns to square bases and broad square abaci on stylised
scrolled leaf capitals. The arches are chamfered to a broad
flat intrados, with continuous hoodmould. The chancel, with
plain arch to flat intrados and roll-mould edges, is on a
total of 5 steps, and has coursed and banded stone to a
pointed barrel vault, and apse with chamfered ribs on simple
corbels, with a moulded string. The cill-mould is continued as
a string course. To the right are 3 sedilia and a piscina in
stone, and the organ in an arch.
The N aisle, which is as wide as the nave, was enlarged in
1908, and this is reflected in the floor, which is part tile
and part wood. It has a roof and rere arches as the nave, and
a door at each end. Above the arcade are 6 corbels, possibly
remaining from the original roof structure.
FITTINGS: hexagonal stone pulpit with cusped panels containing
fine carved detail; brass eagle lectern of 1895; low
embellished font bowl on free-standing Purbeck shafts. The
carved oak choir stalls have a hint of Art Nouveau, and there
is a carved wood altar behind a simple brass rail. There is
stained glass in the apse only; one of the original lancets is
now blocked by the later tower.
(Allen NV: Churches and Chapels of Exmoor: Dulverton: 1974-:
62).
Listing NGR: SS7244749377
