Description

GREAT RISSINGTON GREAT RISSINGTON VILLAGE
SP 1917-2017
9/151 Church of St John the Baptist
25.8.60
GV II*
Anglican parish church. C12, C15, C16, largely rebuilt 1873
(possibly by S.L. Pearson). Coursed squared and dressed limestone
interspersed with bands of ashlar. Dressed stone quoins. Stone
slate roof. Cruciform plan with crossing tower. Lean-to vestry on
the north side of the chancel. Nave, rebuilt c1500, restored late
C19. Two-light pointed stone-mullioned windows with quatrefoils on
the south side. C19 porch projects forwards towards the west end.
Early-mid C18 headstone with an almost illegible inscription to the
left of the porch, segmental head, ornately carved margin to the
inscription. Winged cherub's head at the top, foliate scrollwork
and bunches of grapes either side. Large C19 west window
comprising two 2-light pointed windows with quatrefoils with a rose
window above all set back slightly within a pointed surround. The
north wall retains some of its early C16 features; a blocked
Tudor-arched doorway with quatrefoils in the spandrels and a
moulded rectangular surround. The torsos of winged and crowned
angels each holding a shield, upper right and left. Two 2-light
cinquefoil-headed windows with hollow-moulded chamfers and hoods
(one with circular stops one with plain stops). North transept,
rebuilt C14. Squat segmental pointed 3-light window with a moulded
stopped hood in the north facing gable. Early east window with
three trefoil-headed lights and quatrefoils within a rectangular
surround with a roll-moulded hood. Monument built into the wall to
the right of the window to Josiah Palmer, died (?)1772, fluted
pilasters with decorative capitals either side of the inscription.
Vestry added late C19. Two C19 lancet windows. Two C19 plank
doorways within flat-chamfered segmental-pointed archways. Single
lancet in the east facing wall of the vestry. Chancel restored in
C13 style. The east window of the chancel comprises 3 graded
lancets with stopped hoods with either foliate or head stops. Two
C19 pointed 2-light windows in the south wall with relieving arches
and hoods with foliate stops. The south transept was restored late
C19 but retains a single C12 round-headed window with a hollow-
chamfered surround in its left-hand return. C16 four-light south
window (restored C19) with four-centred arched heads to each light
all within a rectangular casement moulded surround, moulded hood
with diamond stops. Sundial with a metal gnomon immediately above
the window. Similar but 3-light window to the left-hand return.
Three-stage tower. The base of the tower dates from c1200 (see
church interior). The upper stages were rebuilt during the C15.
Diagonal buttresses. String course between the stages. Two-light
belfry windows with stone louvres to the second stage. Segmental-
headed hood with large stops in the form of human heads over each
window. Battlemented parapet. String below parapet with head
gargoyles offset from the corners. Crocketed pinnacles at each
corner. Porch, rebuilt 1873 with a pointed entrance with engaged
C13 columns either side. Boot scrapers either side of the
entrance. Stone bench seats along the inside walls. Mutilated C15
carved stone panel (formerly painted) representing in the upper
part the Crucifixion and in the lower the Ascension. Shallow
canopy and brattished cornice reset in the east wall of the porch.
Church interior. Plastered five-bay nave, crossing with north and
south transepts (with chantry chapel at the south end) and chancel.
Pointed arches on all four sides of the crossing. The west arch of
the crossing has two orders of semi-cylindrical shafts with
scalloped capitals. The north respond of the chancel arch similar.
The arch opening into the north transept is much lower springing
from single responds with heavy foliated capitals, probably a
little later in date. The south transept has plain square-cornerd
responds like the south respond of the chancel arch, this arch is
probably the latest of the four. C19 arch-braced roof trusses,
rising from C19 corbels, to the nave. C19 straddle beams and plank
boarding to the crossing. Wagon roof to the south transept. C19
roof to its north transept. C19 roof to the chancel. C15
cinquefoil-headed niche decorated with stencilled stars of David in
the north-east corner of the north transept. Diagonally set cream
and red floor tiles to the nave and transepts. Stone flag floor to
the chancel. C14 piscina with an ogee-curved head reset in the
south wall of the south transept. Pointed arches over the windows
and along the north wall in the chancel rising from C13 engaged
columns with keel mouldings and capitals. Similar engaged columns
over the chancel east window.
Furniture and fittings; C15 octagonal font at the west end of the
nave. Organ erected 1940 at the west end of the nave. Late C19-
early C20 pews. The pulpit, desk, lectern, the dorsal, painted
riddle posts and curtains and the screen dividing the chantry
chapel from the rest of the south transept were designed in 1940 by
H. Stratton Davies. Monuments; white marble plaque commemorating
those who died in World War I in the nave. Four monuments in the
south transept from left to right; simple oval marble plaque to
John Ansell, died 1796 and Betty Ansell, died 1813. Limestone
monument to Mary Crips, died 1739, winged angel's head at top with
a segmental moulding above linking two fluted columns. Short
rhyming verse below the inscription. Monument to the right to
Thomas Cambray, died 1740. Oval inscription plaque with a moulded
margin, winged cherub's heads upper right and left outside the
inscription plaque. Foliate scrollwork lower right and left.
Rhyming verse below the inscription. Fine monument to the right to
John Barnarde, Gent, died 1621. Limestone. Two kneeling figures
in bold relief with a winged angel's head above. Marginal panels
either side with foliate, knotwork, hourglass and skull motifs.
Jacobean scrollwork incorporating the letters 'I.B' and a plain
heraldic shield above. Vitruvian scrollwork and corbels in the
form of human heads below. C19 stained glass in the chancel east
window. C20 stained glass in the nave west window.
(V.C.H., Vol VI, p 105; and David Verey, The Buildings of England,
Gloucestershire, The Cotswolds, 1979)

Listing NGR: SP1951817152

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536404

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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  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
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  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)