Description

WITHERIDGE CHURCH STREET (north side),
SS 81 SW Witheridge
9/73 Church of St John the
20.2.67 Baptist
GV I
Anglican parish church. Circa 1500, restored 1841 and 1884. Coursed local rubble,
freestone dressings, slated roofs, coped verges, some lead-sheeting roofs.
Plan: nave, chancel, north and south aisles, south porch, small south porch to
chancel, 1884 north vestry, west tower of 1841. Mostly Perpendicular style,
Victorian work of Gothic style.
Exterior: lofty 3-stage Perpendicular tower with set-back buttresses rising to the
third stage, this rebuilt in 1841, embattleu parapet, large corner pinnacles on
square bases, small semi-circular head bell-chamber windows with louvres, labels,
similar windows to the ringing-chamber stage, small semi-circular headed 3-light
west window, semi-circular heads to the lights, semi-circular head west doorway,
blocked with small 2-light windows inserted in 1884. 4-bay south aisle, all 3-light
Perpendicular windows with tracery replaced 1841, parapets to the main body of the
building replaced also at this time; polygonal stair-turret to the east giving
access to the former rood loft, tiny foiled stairlight. South porch with diagonal
buttresses, embattled parapet with 3 large pinnacles (C19). 4-bay north aisle is
Perpendicular. Simple vestry with chimney dated:- "1884", reused C13 2-light
window. Single bay chancel, C13 2-light window reset to the south, large 3-light
C19 east window with reticulated tracery. Scratch dial on south wall; priest's
door to south with a neo-Perpendicular type porch, probably 1841. Main entrance to
interior with a good 4-centred arch head with carved ornamental spandrels, ribbed
and studded door.
Interior: plastered walls with colourwash, nave and 2 aisles with 4-bay quite tall
arcades; the piers of Pevsners B-type with "standard capitals". Squint from the
south aisle chancel arch. Ceiled wagon roof in the nave. Perpendicular font,
octagonal, richly decorated with quatrefoils. Perpendicular-stone pulpit with
figures in narrow panels under ogee canopies. In one panel a Crucifixion. C19 pews
with plain bench ends. Some windows with C19 stained glass. Some plain C19
monuments.

Listing NGR: SS8032714568

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526756

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide