Parish Church of St John the Baptist

Details

TL 0475 BYTHORN AND KEYSTON KEYSTON

19/40 Parish Church of 28.1.58 St John the Baptist

GV I

Parish church. Nave, north and south aisles mid C13, chancel late C13. West tower and south porch mid C14. Late C15 east wall of chancel rebuilt and north and south walls heightened, north and south transepts added and aisles largely rebuilt; clerestory added to nave. Restorations in 1883, 1898 (Pevsner suggests a C19 rebuilding of the spire). Roofs renewed in C16 and former vault to tower replaced by a wooden floor. Walls of Weldon rubble with dressings of Weldon and Barnack limestone. Roofs of zinc and lead. South elevation: West tower of three stages with moulded plinth and octagonal broach spire, second stage window of one trefoiled-light with moulded label and beast-head stops; belfry with two embattled transomed windows each with two upper and lower trefoiled-lights and a quatrefoil in a two-centred head with moulded labels and head stops, the jambs are enriched with flowers and the cusping of the tracery with rosettes at the points. Below the cornice a deep band of panels with blind tracery. Octagonal spine with shaped finials to the broaches and three tiers of gabled spire-lights divided in first two tiers by a central shaft and with shafted jambs, quatrefoils or trefoils; the windows of the third tiers have single lights with trefoiled ogee heads. (The west doorway is recessed within the thickness of the wall with a very fine outer ogee headed cusped arch). Clerestory and aisle with plain moulded parapet; five clerestory windows each of two trefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a four-centred head with moulded label. South aisle with moulded plinth continuous around south transept, three C15 windows each of three cinquefoiled lights in four-centred arches with moulded reveals and labels, transept window with two-lights in a four-centred head, possibly C17 using earlier material. South porch with moulded plinth and plain parapet, has a two-centred arch of two wave-moulded outer orders and inner order springing from attached shafts with moulded capitals. Chancel with raised walls and plain parapet. Three windows from left to right; C15 window of three cinquefoiled lights in a four-centred head with moulded label and beast-stops, eastern window C13 of two pointed lights with pierced spandrel in two-centred head with moulded label and defaced head stops. Interior: Nave arcade, mid C13 north arcade of five bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders, east respond semicircular, piers round and octagonal with moulded capitals and bases on square plinths: south arcade mid C18 similar in design to the north arcade; south doorway with moulded jambs and two-centred head with moulded label and head stops. Tower arch, two-centred of three chamfered orders with moulded label to the nave; circular staircase in south-east angle with quadripartite ribbed vault. Chancel arch, c.1300 of three chamfered orders, responds each with three attached shafts, moulded capitals and bases. South doorway C13 with moulded and shafted jambs with 'stiff-leaf' capitals and moulded bases, and moulded trefoiled arch with foliated spandrels and moulded labels. Roofs: North transept late C15 or early C16 low pitched of two bays with cambered tie beam and curved braces with foliated spandrels carved with an eagle, moulded purlins and principal rafters and wall-plate, spandrel above the tie beam with foliate carving, a grotesque face and two roses; south transept roof of two bays and nave roof of five bays, both similar, with cambered and moulded tie beams, curved braces, wall-posts and ridge purlins, with bosses in the centre of the tie beams, the spandrels between the braces and tie-beams to the nave have pierced traceried panels, some painted decoration in east truss survives: north aisle roof, C16 of four bays enriched with foliate spandrels and moulded carved braces forming four-centred arches: south aisle roof C17 of four bays: south porch roof of two bays with cambered tie beams and moulded rafters and ridge piece restored. North and south doors C16. Font, C13, octagonal bowl with tapering sides. C15 glass in chancel, north transept, and south transept. Original C17 pews in aisles, one dated 1608, and seats reusing C17 material. Sedilia c.1300 in chancel of three bays with piscina forming fourth bay, divided by small shafts with moulded caps and bases, chamfered jambs with trefoiled heads and carved spandrels. Two C18 carved stones in south porch and south wall of tower. For brass indents and monuments and floor slabs see (RCHM).

Pevsner Buildings of England p274 RCHM Huntingdonshire p166 VCH Huntingdonshire p69

Listing NGR: TL0436675445

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

54759

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of Huntingdonshire, (1926), 274
Page, W, Proby, G, The Victoria History of the County of Huntingdon, (1936), 69
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough, (1968)

End of official list entry

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