Church of St John the Baptist

Details

SO 59 NW; 7/24

CHURCH PREEN C.P.,
CHURCH PREEN

Church of St John the Baptist

13.6.58

GV

II*

Parish church, formerly part monastic. Circa 1220-50, restored 1866
with south chapel of c.1920-25. Uncoursed limestone rubble with ashlar
dressings, machine tile roof. Nave and chancel in one with west
bellcote; north porch and vestry, south chancel chapel.

Nave: north wall
has two lancets, one of 1866 to west and an original lancet with transom
and low-side window below to east; gabled stone porch to west probably
C17 but restored when adjoining vestry was added to west in 1866;
south wall has two lancets and a pointed doorway to east, all of 1866;
west wall also largely re-built at this date, external gabled bellcote
with buttresses beneath,forming narrow pointed arch to ground, frames
window of two paired lancets. Chancel: in two bays, original lancets to
north and one on south which also has embattled south chapel (now partly
roofless) concealing blocked C13 doorway; original east window of three
lancets, unusually all of same height, and internally under a segmental
scoinson arch.

INTERIOR: retains original long narrow plan but
considerably restored 1866, especially at west end; pointed north door-
way renewed at this time and most of the fittings and furnishings are
contemporary including continuous trussed rafter roof to nave and
chancel; latter has C13 trefoil-headed piscina in south wall and
recessed sedile below lancet immediately to west, 2 corbels for statues
flank east window, blocked doorway with shouldered arch was presumably
the monks' entrance to the church; reading desk dated 1646 has initials
"ID" and the letter "S" backwards, pulpit probably a little later,
contemporary re-used panelling fixed to walls; Romanesque-style font
on clustered shaft mid-C19 but square-shaped basin in north porch may
be C13; another font (now in south chapel) is probably late C13/early
C14 - octagonal, the diagonal sides being shorter and ending in small
broaches; stained glass in east and west windows c.1870 and c.1900
respectively with pre-Raphaelite style glass to north-east and north-
west windows of chancel. The yew tree in the churchyard is said to
be one of the oldest in England. Founded as a cell of the Cluniac
Abbey at Much Wenlock c.1150, the eastern part of the church was
monastic and the western part parochial; the house was dissolved
in 1534.

B.o.E., Pp.99-100; V.C.H.VIII (1968), p.128; D.H.S.
Cranage, The Churches of Shropshire, Part 6 (1903), Pp.470-3.


Listing NGR: SO5432798145

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

258806

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Cranage, DHS, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire, (1908), 470-3
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Shropshire, (1968), 128
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, (1958)

End of official list entry

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