Description

SJ 73 NE LOGGERHEADS C.P CHURCH ROAD (south - e east side), Ashley


9/2 Church of St John the
Baptist
17/11/66
GV II*

Parish church. Medieval origins, totally re-built, except for the tower,
by J. Ashdown of London in the Decorated style between 1860 and 1862.
Pink sandstone ashlar and tiled roofs, with fish-scale bands, coped
verges to the gables; corbel table. Nave and chancel; west tower
engaged to aisles, that on north continuous, that on south with a
separate chapel at the east end; south porch, choir vestry to west of
tower and priest's vestry to east of south aisle chapel. Tower: circa
1350, re-modelled early C17 and restored c.1860. Tall in 3 stages with
set-back buttresses; 2-light cusped windows with quatrefoils above
(c.1350) to the belfry have hoodmoulds with grotesque labels (early C17);
battlemented top with corner pinnacles and gargoyles, C20 brass weather-
cock. The slightly splayed flat-headed window on the west face of the
second stage is probably C17, but the statue pedestal and the gabled
canopy above are C14 - the statue itself, however, is C19; the rather
high west window (c.1860) has the flat-roofed choir vestry (1909) beneath.
South aisle and chapel: buttressed aisle of 3 bays with rather unconven-
tional Flamboyant window tracery; gabled porch in its western bay; to
the east higher chapel of 2 bays with plainer window tracery; to the
east again is the gabled priest's vestry. Short chancel of 2 bays (the
western bay overlapped by the priest's vestry on the south and by the
nave aisle on the north), East window blocked (see below), although
2 stone angels remain to indicate its former dimensions. North aisle:
of 6 bays with window tracery again exhibiting a variety of Victorian
Decorated styles. Interior: architecturally, the most noteable features
are the pointed arches by which the tower opens to the nave on the east
and to the aisles on the north and south. More striking, however, are
the furnishings provided by Cecil Hare, a pupil of Bodley's, in 1910,
under the patronage of F.G. Lindley Meynell. Amongst much else, Hare
was responsible for the screens, gilded reredos (blocking the East
window), the organ gallery, choir stalls, marble flooring, pulpit, brass
chandeliers and the panelled and painted chancel roof; it was also under
his direction that the great majority of the present stained glass was
installed. Other points of interest include the font (1861) unusually
built into the north-east pillar of the tower and the C16 alms-dish on
a stand incorporating the inscriptions of 2 early C17 bells, which
formerly hung in the tower. Monuments: in the north aisle chapel
(divided from the aisle by one of Hare's screens), the Gerard monument
to Sir Gilbert (died 1592) and his wife (died 1608) - a large alabaste
rib-vaulted canopy with round arches at either end and obelisks abov
over 2 recumbent effigies, subsidiary figures at the head, foot and in
a panel behind; in a recess beneath is a much-worn medieval statue of
a shroud-wrapped figure, which, to judge from the weathering, was probably
originally in an external position; above the chancel arch (although this
is probably not its original position) is the memorial to William Chetwynd
of Maer Hall (died 1770) by Joseph Wedgwood - a basalt urn on a narrow
inscribed plinth with a fuller inscription on a panel beneath; on the
chancel-south wall a large tablet with mourning putto by Nollekens to
Hugo Meynell (died 1800) and on the north aisle chapel wall a tablet
with a standing putto by an urn to Elizabeth Ingram (died 1817); the
remainder of the principal monuments are all in the south aisle chapel
and are to members of the Kinnersley family, whose chapel this was:
William Shepherd (died 1823) by Ternouth, Thomas (died 1826) by
Chantrey, Anne (died 1843), Harriot (also died 1843), Thomas (died
1859) by Noble and Elizabeth (died 1865); all are good examples of
C19 funerary art. A C17 cauldron-shaped font, formerly inside the
church, is now outside, immediately to the east of the south porch.
The church is said to have been founded by Philip de Bromley, c. 1250,
and there is documentary evidence that it was re-built c.1350 by David
ap Cynwrig; the 1860-2 re-building was financed by the Kinnersleys,
and cost ?30,000. B.O.E., pp.62-3.

Listing NGR: SJ7629036437

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17544887

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: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)