CHURCH OF ST JOHN

Overview

Location

Details

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 20/10/2016

SO8454SW 620-1/19/585

WORCESTER ST JOHNS (North West side) CHURCH OF ST JOHN

(Formerly listed as CHURCH OF ST JOHN, ST JOHN'S)

22/05/54

GV II* Church. Late C12, early C14 chancel aracade and south chapel; C15 south chancel arcade, chancel arch and west tower (1481); north aisle rebuilt and south porch of 1841 by Parsons, to house interior gallery; east end extended and north chapel with vestries built 1884 by Ewan Christian. Red sandstone with plain tile roofs.

PLAN: 3-bay nave with north and south aisles, the latter extended by a chapel attached to the chancel.

EXTERIOR: Offset buttresses throughout. East gable has 5-light Perpendicular-style window; south chancel wall has similar 2-light windows flanking pointed arched doorway; similar window to north. North chapel: east wall has rose window above 2 trefoiled lancets. South chapel has C15 flat-arched 3-light east window and doorway with pointed chamfered arch west of 2-light Decorated windows. This is continued as south aisle, refenestrated with gables over each of the 3 bays in the C15: two C15-light windows with panel tracery east of narrower bay to west which has 3-light window and blocked C15 doorway. North aisle has 4 tall transomed Decorated-style windows in the north wall and a rose window to the west end. Projecting porch has diagonally offset buttresses flanking 4-light flat-arched window with segmental-arched heads and sunk spandrels. Tower of 3 stages has recessed west window - similar to All Saints (qv) - 2-light windows to upper stages and battlemented parapet with pinnacles around a pyramid roof with fleche (which replaced a spire destroyed in the Civil War).

INTERIOR: nave arches, rebuilt in 1841, rest on late C12 piers with multi-scalloped capitals and square abaci. Early C14 south chancel arcade with continuous wave moulding; chamfered arches to C15 chancel arch and double-chamfered arches to south arcade, with a squint set into pier adjacent to arch. Mid/late C19 open timber roofs, except C15 carpentry in south arcade which has slight timbers dividing arched plastered vault of E bay into panels; two arch-braced trusses exposed in S chapel. Door from S porch into vestibule which has spiral stair with wrought iron balustrade and panelled dado. North chapel framed by two 2-bay arcades.

FITTINGS: gallery by Parsons; Perpendicular-style pulpit and choir stalls, the latter with openwork Perpendicular-style tracery to book rests, by Christian; oak reredos also by Christian, forming centrepiece to ornate dado with Perpendicular-style panelling, brass communion rail; C17 commuinion rail. North chapel has Perpendicular-style organ case and screen by Christian.

MONUMENTS: fine series of late C17 to C19 tablets, including Bearoque memorial to Abel Gower, d 1669, with female allegorical figures set between twisted columns surmounted by open pediment with putti. Unusual memorial in S porch to John Garmston Hopkins, d1871, with a photograph of the dead boy set into the stone.

STAINED GLASS: small fragments of medieval stained glass in the chancel side windows; E window of 1884 and N aisle window of 1901 (to Albert Buck) by Clayton and Bell; E window in S chapel of 1889 by Burlison and Grylls; S window of S chapel of 1889 by Lavers, Baraud and Westlake; aisle window of 1922 showing the Good Shepherd by Archibald Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild.

HISTORICAL NOTE: granted to the monks of Worcester Priory in the C12.

(Victoria County History: London: 501-510; Bridges, T: Churches of Worcestershire: Worcester: 2000).

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

489090

Legacy System:

LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.