Church of St John the Baptist

Details

SO 71 SE ELMORE -

4/18 Church of St. John the Baptist

10.1.55

GV I

Parish church. C13 with late C14 nave; restored by F. S. Waller 1879-80. Random rubble limestone, mostly with roughcast render; ashlar tower; stone slate roof. Nave with north aisle; chancel; west tower to aisle; north and south porches. Early English pointed-arched north doorway with Cl9 plank door; C15 timber-framed porch with cusped arched bracing'and splat balustrading to open sides; coursed limestone base walls with internal stone seats. Buttressed north aisle with two 3-light restored Decorated windows. Pointed arch to south doorway with large medieval plank and batten door; timber-framed porch with weatherboarding on coursed limestone base walls. Nave window left is 3-light Perpendicular; right early C16 5-light with low intersecting tracery head in square opening; buttressed south nave wall. Perpendicular 3-light west nave window in parapet gable. East end has 2 parapet gables of equal size and of 1 build; restored C19 chancel window has brattished super- transom; stops and panels in arcading below window are unfinished; 3-light aisle window with intersecting tracery; diagonal offset buttresses to east end. Ogee-headed priest's doorway with medieval door in south chancel wall; 2-light Early English lancet to left. 4-stage tower attached to west end of north aisle with angle buttresses to lower 2 stages; tower is rendered except for top stage which is C14 addition with 2-light belfry openings and slate louvres; moulded crenellated parapet; except for east side, 2nd stage has Early English lancets trefoil-headed west lancet below. Interior is limewashed; 5-bay Early English arcade has attached columns with moulded capitals and bases to inner pier faces; C19 restored 6-bay timber nave roof with arched braced collar trusses on stone corbels; arched wind bracing. Early English pointed chancel arch with attached columns to responds; tiled chancel floor raised in C19; C19 restored timber panelled roof. Wide and low 4- centred arch between chancel and east end of north aisle. C13 pointed tower arch; 5-bay arched braced collar truss aisle roof; trusses doubled with crown post sandwiched and above tie beam at junction between aisle and former chancel, now used as organ chamber and vestry, with 3-bay roof and brattished wall plate. Chancel contains monuments to Guise family of Elmore Court q.v.: on north side chest tomb, to Johannes Gyse died 1472, has incised line portrait of knight in armour with canopy over head and hound at feet on plain chamfered top, and Gothic script in incised border. Wall memorial above to William Guise, died 1716, by John Ricketts of Gloucester, is Baroque with bolection mouldings to panel with segmental headed pediment surmounted by mourning putti flanking Guise arms. On south chancel wall memorial to Sir William Guise, died 1642, by Joseph Reeve of Gloucester: Jacobean Baroque flanked by twisted Composite columns supporting scrolled pediment, surmounted by putti holding wreath over Guise arms. On south nave wall: memorial to Daniel Ellis, died 1797, by William Stephens of Worcester has scrolled pediment with crest; panel flanked by putti, death's head and hour-glass; to left memorial to Richard Leighton, died 1683, surmounted by broken pediment with central flaming funereal urn. C17 box pews throughout nave and aisle have linenfold panelling and are attached to matching wainscot. Plain C18 panelled octagonal timber pulpit; in north aisle High Victorian Gothic font by Waller with large architectural lid; C18 tall stone vase-font. 3 Cl9 Guise hatchments on west nave wall. Stained glass is mainly C19; large south nave window by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, dated 1903. (R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, n.d.; D. Verey, Gloucestershire: The Vale and the Forest of Dean, 1976.)

Listing NGR: SO7671514921

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

131676

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Verey, D, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 2 The Vale and The Forest of Dean, (1970)
Gunnis, R, Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, (1953)

End of official list entry

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