Church of St John the Baptist
Church of St John the Baptist, ST JOHNS ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1402509
- Date first listed:
- 30-Jun-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St John the Baptist
- Statutory Address:
- Church of St John the Baptist, ST JOHNS ROAD
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1402509
- Date first listed:
- 30-Jun-2011
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St John the Baptist
- Location Description:
- The Church of St John the Baptist is situated at the north end of St John's Road in the City of Bath.
- Statutory Address 1:
- Church of St John the Baptist, ST JOHNS ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Church of St John the Baptist, ST JOHNS ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Bath and North East Somerset (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- ST7536765546
Summary
A Gothic Revival church built in c1861-2 to a design by C E Giles, and enlarged by Arthur Blomfield in c1871.
Reasons for Designation
The Church of St John the Baptist, St John's Road, Bath is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: it is a good example of a mid-C19 church by C E Giles, enlarged in the later C19 by Arthur Blomfield, and displaying good quality architectural detailing in the Gothic Revival style
* Interior: it has a good quality interior and contains a bespoke rood screen of 1923 by the Scottish architect Sir Ninian Comper
History
The ancient parish church which stood nearby was demolished in c1818. The chancel arch is said to have been incorporated in the mortuary chapel at that time (qv). The parish was catered for by the new St Mary's church (qv), but the increasing population growth, allied with the desire to provide a proper amount of church-going provision, made it necessary to build St John's. Blomfield was responsible for the tall nave with its bands of contrasting stone, and a bespoke rood screen was added in 1923 to a design by the Scottish architect Sir Ninian Comper.
Details
A church built in 1861-2 by C E Giles, enlarged in 1869-71 by Arthur Blomfield, in the Gothic Revival style.
MATERIALS: limestone ashlar with a Welsh slate roof.
PLAN: the earlier part comprised nave, chancel with semi-octagonal sacrarium, and the base of the tower. This all survives as the present north aisle; the present large nave and chancel being added later in the C19, when the local population had greatly expanded. The upper part of the tower and the spire were also added at that time, together with the baptistery.
EXTERIOR: the west wall of the nave has a deeply moulded gabled doorway with a large window of two compartments having three lights in each, above them a circular compartment enclosing three smaller circular lights, each of which is trefoiled. A moulded outer arch encloses the whole. The south wall has stepped buttresses separating three light windows, each with a rose of four, five or six lights. A tall gabled porch projects from the second bay. The north aisle has a triple window in the west wall, and paired lancets in the north wall, the bays divided by stepped buttresses. The spire is on an octagonal base, the main faces having a single pointed bell-opening, the corner faces a finial with spirelet.
INTERIOR: the three bay nave arcade extended beyond the earlier wall. It has plain polished shafts with stiff-leaf capitals, and a clerestory of quatrefoils above. The nave has a hammer-beam, with a plainer panelled roof to the chancel. The rood screen designed by Sir Ninian Comper was added in 1923.
Sources
Books and journals
Forsyth, M, Pevsner Architectural Guides: Bath, (2003), 190
Jackson, N, Nineteenth Century Bath - Architects and Architecture, (1991), 154
The Builder in , Vol. 10, (1872)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 06-Jun-2026 at 08:22:11.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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