Description

HUGHLEY C.P. HUGHLEY
SO 59 NE
8/60 Church of St John
the Baptist
13.6.58
I

Parochial chapel, now parish church. C13 and c.1360 with early C18
belfry; restored 1871-2 by Richard Norman Shaw. Roughly coursed
limestone and conglomerate rubble, sandstone ashlar dressings; timber
framed belfry with red brick infill, machine tile roof with ornamental
cresting and coped verges. Nave and chancel in one with west belfry;
south porch. Nave: fabric of north wall C13, lancet to each side of
pointed double-chamfered doorway with hoodmould; south doorway in
similar style under late C17 gabled wooden porch (restored c.1871)
with stone slate roof; windows in south wall (c.1360) have 2 cusped
lights with quatrefoils above, one to west and 2 to east of porch;
west window of 3 cusped lights with mouchettes above, restored by
Shaw; timber framed belfry (1701) has close-set vertical posts with
long straight tension braces; louvres and early C19 octagonal clock
on south side. Chancel: in one bay has north and south windows
identical to those in south wall of nave; east window of 3 lights
with curvilinear tracery and cusped quatrefoil to apex; remains of
stone cross to east gable. Interior: mid-C14 trussed rafter roof
with carved bosses extending full length of church restored and
boarded up by Shaw; late C17 carved wooden pulpit and late C19
octagonal stone font; in chancel are a pillar piscina (probably
C15) and on the east wall a statue pedestal resting on the carved
stone head of a woman which retains faint traces of paint;, also a
stone altar slab fixed to wall on left of altar; late C14 stained
glass in north and east windows - fragments of architectural canopies
and figures, south window with stained glass of c.1915; chancel
screen probably early C15, eight broad one-light divisions, 2 to
centre with depressed arch beneath and 3 to either side, richly
carved throughout with upper part of dado delicately pierced with a
variety of late Decorated and Perpendicular tracery patterns, this
is surmounted by a band of unpierced quatrefoils with a row of pierced
quatrefoils and brattishing above; tracery to top of divisions also
in a variety of forms, lierne-vaulted coving with large bosses and to
the top a cornice and cresting with interweaving foliage and figural
decoration; behind the screen, set in the floor, is a stone altar
slab and a good set of late C14 glazed tiles; oak parish chest
(possibly medieval) at west end of nave. No monuments of note.
The church was originally a dependent chapelry of Much Wenlock and
did not become a separate parish until the latter half of C14. The
screen is said to be the finest in the county. B,o.E., Pp. 154-5;
D.H.S. Cranage, The Churches of Shropshire, Part 3 (1897), Pp. 197-9.

Listing NGR: SO5648497932

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529738

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
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  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)