British Listed Buildings

Listing Text

SO 28 NE MAINSTONE C.P. CHURCHTOWN

3/234 Church of St John
21.3.68 The Baptist

GV II*

Parish church. 1887, on an earlier site and incorporating earlier fabric
and fittings. Snecked rock-faced limestone (coursed rubble to north) with
sandstone ashlar dressings; stone slate roof, plain tile to south. Late
C15 Gothic style. 3-bay nave, 2-bay chancel, south porch and north vestry.
Large buttresses with 2 set-offs, parapet between nave and chancel; western
bellcote projecting as buttress to west with weathering at roof level,
set-off to pair of square-headed bell-openings and set-off to gable.
Nave: square-headed windows with chamfered reveals and 2 trefoil-
headed lights; trefoiled ogee-headed lancet to west with chamfered
reveals; central south doorway with chamfered arch and pair of boarded
doors; stone south porch with inventive timber framed gable-end consisting
of chamfered ogee arch-braces with pierced quatrefoils in spandrels and
cambered tie-beam with king post above; double-framed roof and side-
benches inside porch. Chancel: trefoil ogee-headed lancets with
chamfered reveals; east window with 3 ogee-headed lights; lean-to
vestry to north with cinquefoil-headed window to west and boarded door
to north with chamfered surround. Interior: C15 six-bay nave roof
with arch-braced collars, cusped V-struts, moulded bases to arch braces,
2 pairs of moulded purlins, 3 tiers of cusped windbraces forming
quatrefoil panels, and blind ogee-arcaded panelled frieze above wall
plate; 3-bay C19 or-restored C15 chancel roof as nave with arch-braced
collars, V-struts, moulded purlins and cusped windbraces; double-chamfered
chancel arch has short shafts with carved-head corbels and foliated capitals,
and hoodmould with carved heads as stops; chamfered-arched boarded vestry
doorway; ogee-arched north piscina. Fittings include: restored C12 tub
font with C19 base and cover; Cl7 communion table; Cl7 parish chest;
painted C18 Royal Coat-of-Arms above chancel arch; early C19 painted
commandment and creed boards; C19 octagonal stone pulpit with pierced
ogee panels; C19 wrought iron communion rails; 2 late C18 wall tablets;
C20 neo-Rococo organ case. The stone from which the parish is said to
derive its name is kept in the church; it has been suggested that it
was used as the measure for a bag of wheat (20 lbs plus 4 ½ lbs for the
bag). The church is Grade II* on account of its fine C15 roof.
Cranage, Vol.5, Pp.447-8.


Listing NGR: SO2646387347

Source: English Heritage

Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence: PSI Click-use licence number C2008002006.