Description

SAXMUNDHAM

TM3862 CHURCH STREET
841-1/4/6 (South side)
18/07/49 Church of St John Baptist
(Formerly Listed as:
SAXMNUDHAM
CHURCH LANE
Church of St John the Baptist)

II*

Parish church. C14 west tower: south chapel at east end of
south aisle 1308 for Robert Swann, restored 1948: north aisle
rebuilt 1853 by Henry Roberts: restoration 1872-73 by RM
Phipson including rebuilding of south aisle, removal of south
porch and partial reconstruction of chancel: north transeptal
vestry added 1907-8 by Brown & Burgess of Ipswich.
MATERIALS: flint and conglomerate with ashlar quoins. Aisle
roofs lead, otherwise slate.
EXTERIOR: 3-stage tower supported by diagonal west buttresses.
Arched west door below 2-light Y-traceried window with C15
stained glass in vesica head. Trefoil niche above. Cusped
2-light belfry openings. Flushwork crenellated parapet with
square corner pinnacles.
South aisle with 3-light Perpendicular windows under depressed
arches, one to west end and three to south flank. To east of
these serving Swann chapel is one 2-light cusped Y-tracery
window.
Four 2-light Perpendicular north aisle windows. Six 2-light
restored Perpendicular clerestory windows to north and south,
the western two on south side with flushwork panelling and
inscriptions.
Gabled north vestry lit through one 2-light north window.
4-light Dec chancel east window of C19; C19 3-light south
chapel east window in Perpendicular style.
INTERIOR: 4-bay arcade on octagonal piers with polygonal
capitals and triple-chamfered arches. Chancel arch with
polygonal responds under double-hollow-chamfered arch. Eastern
clerestory windows with moulded jambs, to the north on
crenellated sills, to the south with black-letter inscription:
`Sanct Johannes, ora pro Nobis'.
Restored late C15 hammerbeam nave roof supported on moulded
wall posts resting on corbels in form of singing angels.
Crenellated hammerbeams and collars, the latter above arched
braces. Arch-braced aisle roofs, to the north entirely C19,
the south early C16, with pierced spandrels. 2-bay C19 arcade
between south chapel and chancel.
FITTINGS: octagonal C15 font with wild men and lions against
the stem; angels bearing shields and lions alternate against
the bowl. Cinquefoiled early C15 piscina in south chapel.
MONUMENTS: various C19 tablets and monuments to Long family of
Hurts Hall including tablet to Charles Long, d.1812, by
Nollekins: weeping winged cherub with extinguished torch
before an obelisk (chancel north wall). Monument to Charles
Long, Baron Farnborough, d.1838, by Sir Richard Westmacott, a
tablet with a profile bust (chancel north wall).
(Brown C: Dictionary of Architects of Suffolk Buildings
1800-1914: Ipswich: 1991-; BOE: Pevsner N & Radcliffe E:
Suffolk, 2nd Edition: Harmondsworth: 1974-: 412).

Listing NGR: TM3890062941

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17546459

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

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)