Description

ABTHORPE MAIN STREET
SP6446 (East side)
14/6 Church of St. John the Baptist

GV II

Church. Rebuilt 1870-1 by Ewan Christian incorporating some of the medieval
structure. Coursed squared limestone and ironstone with limestone dressings and
slate roofs with ornamental ridge tiles. Chancel, vestry, nave, north and south
aisles, south porch and north-west tower. 2-bay chancel has 3-light Decorated
style east window with hood mould; quatrefoil window in stone-coped gable above.
Vestry to north with one-light east window with pointed trefoil head and single
lancet window to north. Aisles overlap chancel. Nave and aisles are under one
roof. North aisle has 3-light window to north with reticulated tracery whose
head is in a gable, flanked by smaller 2-light Decorated style windows, another
similar window further west, all with hood moulds. South aisle has similar
composition to south and 2-light east window with quatrefoil in head. South
porch has double-chamfered doorway with hood mould, one-light windows east and
west with cusped heads and stone-coped gable with kneelers. South door within
has quadrant moulding and hollow chamfer and hood mould. West front has 3-light
Decorated style window, flanked by 2-light windows with quatrefoils to heads,
all with hood moulds and low offset buttresses either side of central window.
2-stage north-west tower has polygonal stair turret projection to south-west
with small rectangular chamfered windows lighting stair, quatrefoil windows at
top and ridged stone roof. Doorway to north with semi-circular responds, moulded
capitals and wave-moulded arch. North door within, similar to south door.
2-light bell-openings with quatrefoils in heads and hood moulds, corbel table,
spire with one tier of lucarnes and pyramidal corner pinnacles. Interior:
chancel has a piscina to north with cusped ogee head, another to south with
pointed-arched head, both probably medieval and re-used. Nave has 4-bay arcades,
medieval to north, with octagonal piers, moulded capitals and double-chamfered
arches. C17 moulded octagonal font. C19 communion rail with fine wrought-iron
supports. Stained glass east and west windows, that to east signed Mayer of
Munich. Wall monument to Joseph Key d.1783 with incised slate inscription in
stone surround. Incised slate wall monument to Reverend Richard Smith d.1778,
another to Reverend John Jones d.1793. Incised slate wall monument in stone
surround recording parish charities and their donors erected 1737.
(Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.75; Kelly's Directory for
Northamptonshire, 1928).

Listing NGR: SP6494246516

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26652754

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

• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)