Description

SJ 51 SE WITHINGTON C.P. WITHINGTON

4/121 Church of St John the Baptist 02/07/71

GV II

Parish church. 1872-4, by G.E. Street on a site of C12 church. Dressed rock-faced red sandstone with red and yellow sandstone ashlar dressings; plain tile roofs. Late C13 Gothic Style; 3-bay nave, 2-bay chancel, north porch and organ chamber, and west tower. Tower: 4 stages; chamfered plinth, angle buttresses to first stage, string courses between stages, second stage with weathering to nave roof; ballflower-ornamented corbel table to short broach spire with weathervane. Louvred 2-light belfry openings with chamfered reveals, plate tracery, and hoodmoulds with carved stops; narrow slit openings in third stage to north and south; 2-light second stage west window with chamfered reveals, quatrefoil plate-tracery, and returned hoodmould; clock in third stage to west. Nave: plinth, west buttresses, and truncated octagonal stack to east; coped parapeted gable ends, formerly with cross to east. 2-light windows with chamfered reveals, quatrefoil plate-tracery and hoodmoulds; chamfered-arched north- west doorway with broach stops, hoodmould with carved stops, and boarded door with decorative strap hinges; porch with plinth, low clasping buttresses, and coped parapeted gable; moulded arch dying into responds with string course carried over as hoodmould. Chancel: plinth, east buttresses, cill string, coped parapeted gable end with cross at apex; 2-light windows to south with chamfered reveals and plate-tracery; stepped triple east lancets; lean-to organ chamber and shed to north with narrow slit window to right, moulded-arched doorway to left, left-hand return front with 2-light window with quatrefoil plate-tracery, and right-hand return front has boarded door to shed. Interior: 3-bay nave roof with arched braced collars, chamfered purlins and ashlar pieces; tall tower arch with triple chamfer dying into responds; windows with chamfered rear arches and cills; chamfered rear arch to north door; chancel arch with chamfer dying into responds and hood- mould; 4-bay chancel roof with arch-braced collars; chamfered arch to north organ chamber; south-east window extended to form sedile; trefoil- headed arched piscina to north with hoodmould and moulded bowl. Fittings are mainly circa 1872-4 by Street and they include: stone reredos of blind trefoil-headed arches and central panel with relief of crucifixion; altar rails with decorative wrought iron supports; low screen walls flanking chancel steps with blind quatrefoil panels; octagonal stone pulpit with open trefoil-headed arched arcading; octagonal stone font with 4 shafts around stem, bowl with 2-light traceried panel to east, and steep crocketed cover with lucarnes. Figure brasses: on south wall of nave to John Onley (died 1512), his wife Joan and their 7 children; on north wall of chancel to Adam Grafton (dated 1530), one-time vicar of the church and described in the inscription as "the most worshipful prest lyvying in his days". The now disused Shrewsbury canal passed to the south of the churchyard. D.H.S. Cranage, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire, Vol.7, Pp. 635-6; B.o.E., p.321.

Listing NGR: SJ5768412979

External Links

• Wikidata Q26557824

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Recommended Books

• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)