Description

DARTMOUTH

SX874510 NEWCOMEN ROAD
673-1/8/183 (West side)
Church of St John the Baptist

GV II

Roman Catholic church. Nave 1868-9, chancel 1873-6 by JA
Hansom, architect. Local limestone rubble laid to rough
courses, Bathstone dressings (some replaced with concrete in
the late C20); slate roof.
PLAN: Church was built with No.20 (qv), the priest's house,
with a linking block making an overall U-plan. Nave is end
onto the street with apsidal western chancel. Gallery at
street end. Doorway into right (north) side from the link
block which runs along the street.
EXTERIOR: Minimal early Decorated style. Tall gable end on
chamfered plinth to street. 2-window front. Paired
trefoil-headed lancets to the lower level, taller lancets
above and roundel above them, all with tracery based on
trefoils. Image niche between the upper lancets with Gothic
canopy and pinnacles. Bathstone quoins and bands at window
sill and arch level although most replaced with concrete.
Front of the link block to right in same style. Doorway a
2-centred arch with hoodmould containing plank door with
Gothic-style ferramenta. Small lancet above lighting the steps
inside and presumably secondary gabled dormer above that.
Chancel has 2 arched, almost triangular-headed, windows with
tracery making 3 quatrefoils.
INTERIOR: Door into nave similar to external one. Nave has
plastered walls, floor of C20 plastic tiles and 4-bay roof of
open scissor-braced trusses. Tall chancel arch springing from
slender columns standing on corbels, and similar columns to
the ribbed roof of the chancel. Trefoil-headed arch to
piscina. Stone altar with blind Gothic arcade to marble
panels. Ornate Gothic-style reredos with carved figures in
niches either side of taller central niche with tall canopy
for the cross. Another similar, but less ornate, reredos
against south wall behind a plainer stone altar. C20 communion
rail. Plain joinery to the gallery and benches.
This modest church adds variety to an attractive street of
predominantly C19 architecture.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: P.324).

Listing NGR: SX8778651095

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26504891

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

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)