Description

LOWER SHUCKBURGH
SP46SE
2/46 Church of St. John the
Baptist

GV II

Church. 1864 by John Croft. Squared coursed ironstone, limestone quoins,
dressings and tracery, and some lias. Old-tile roofs have moulded coped gable
parapets. Aisled cruciform plan with south-west porch tower. Highly
idiosyncratic High Victorian Gothic style. 2-bay chancel, 3-bay nave. Splayed
plinth and cornice throughout. Lias bands throughout; windows have lias
voussoirs stepped down and continued as bands. Chancel has diagonal buttresses
combined with angle buttresses, merging into angle piers with moulded cornices
and pinnacles. East window is a triplet of stepped lancets with unusual
chamfered and notched tracery of no definite style. Buttress below. Single sharp
north and south lancets. North side has 2 weatherboarded gablets; south side has
stone gablet with blind trefoil. North and south projections have buttresses
rising to pinnacles. North projection has catslide roof and half-dormer with
lancet and scooped-out shaped gable with finial. Small trefoil to east. South
projection has window of 3 graduated lancets and star. Gable has star finial.
East window has arch only, with tracery containing a mouchette wheel. North and
south transepts have flanking buttresses, of 2 offsets to north. Windows of
triple stepped lancets and piercings. Small trefoiled circle opening above.
Gables have moulded kneelers and openwork cross finials. Octagonal south-west
porch tower of 2 stages. Angle buttresses. Moulded string course. South portal
has large gable with finial on chamfered and notched piers. Chamfered arches.
Recessed plank door with elaborately scrolled hinges. Left and right sides have
lancets and relieving arches. Projecting sills. Bell stage has paired bar
stop-chamfered and shaped lancets. Arcaded cornice. Gable to each face has
stepped lancets and fleur-de-lys finial. Tower gables, window relieving arches
and portal gable faced with purple chippings. Spire with roll-moulded ribs has
small quatrefoil and trefoil openings. Weather vane. Outer south aisle window of
4 lancets. 2-bay aisle has angle arid single south buttresses. 2-light windows of
unusual notched and bar stop-chamfered tracery, the eastern with sexfoil, the
western with quatrefoils. Aisles have run-out chamfered trefoiled west lancets.
Continuous roofs from nave. West front has narthex of contrasting orange stone
between 2 large buttresses of 2 offsets with gablet finials. Large wide gable
with star finial. Large chamfered arch. Within it are 2 entirely separate
chamfered arched doorways, and cusped lozenge opening. Wrought iron gates.
Polychromatic brick vaults. Shouldered doorways have plank doors with
elaborately scrolled hinges. 5 cusped elliptical openings to left and right and
behind gable. Rose window. Interior: polychromatic, with plastered walls and
piers, arches and bands of red terracotta with white joints, limestone and blue
brick. Notched saw-toothed arches to all openings throughout. Chancel has blind
arcading flanking windows. Unglazed north triple lancet window opening to
vestry. South arch to organ chamber. Western half-bay has trefoiled arches with
segmental-pointed relieving arches to north and south. 2 bays of quadripartite
rib vaulting with limestone ribs and carved bosses, and terracotta coffering of
various patterns. Wide chancel arch with limestone responds. Nave has 3-bay
arcades of diagonally-set chamfered square piers with simply-moulded capitals.
Inner order of limestone. Unusual hammer-beam roof has 2 hammer-beam trusses
with applied decoration and saw-toothed paired collars to each bay, with
subsidiary rafters arid collars, and purlins. Trefoiled openwork above wallplate.
Transepts have recesses below windows. Hammer-beam roofs with shaped braces.
Narrow aisles. 2-bay arcade to outer south aisle. South and outer aisles have
arches to entrance vestibule. Vestibule has octagonal vault with notched
limestone ribs and patterned terracotta coffering, and trap door. Fittings: C13
tapering cylindrical font has simple arcading. Reredos has intersecting
arcading. Pulpit, pews and benches with carved ends, and altar rails, all of
1864. A complete and highly original example of High Victorian 'rogue
architecture'.
(V.C.H.: Warwickshire: Vol. VI, pp.218-218. Buildings of England: Warwickshire:
p.345)

Listing NGR: SP4892662669

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26638213

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

• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)