Description

STOCKTON HIGH STREET ST 93 NE (south side) 7/125 Church of St John the Baptist 11.9.68 GV I Anglican parish church. Late C12, C13, early C14, C15 and C17, 1879 restoration. Dressed limestone with some flint chequers, lead roofs with coped verges, Welsh slate chancel roof. Plan: west tower, nave with aisles and north porch, chancel with north vestry. Gabled C19 porch with chamfered pointed doorway, coped verge to tiled roof. North aisle has cusped ogee-headed lancet to right and chamfered lancet to west end, lean-to projection to left for monument within church, plain cornice and parapet, cast-iron rainwater goods dated 1879, east end of aisle has chamfered planked C19 door, stepped 3-light C17 window with round-arched lights and hoodmould. Chancel has segmental pointed north door with C19 ribbed door, diagonal buttresses and C19 plate tracery east window with C14 mask terminals to hoodmould, heraldic crest and date 1840 over, south side has two C13 lancets. South aisle has C14 two- light square-headed window with cusped ogee lights to east and west ends, buttresses with offsets and two 2-light C14 windows to south side, central 6-panelled door in pointed arch. Two stone memorial tablets dated 1669 to Melior Benett of Pythouse (q.v. West Tisbury CP) set in wall, 1622 tablet to Joahne(sic) Maton to left, cornice to plain parapet. Nave clerestory has three 2-light square-headed windows with cinquefoil cusping to north and south sides. Three- stage west tower with pilaster buttresses, C19 pointed south doorway, C19 west lancet, string course to second stage; pair of C19 lancets to west and blocked chamfered light to north, rebuilt bellstage with single lancet with wooden louvres to south, square chamfered window to north and pair of lancets to west, moulded string course with corner gargoyles to battlemented parapet. Interior: Porch has C19 double chamfered pointed inner door, arch- braced collar-rafter roof. Nave has 3-bay C19. king post roof with V struts. Three-bay arcades with 2 late C12 double chamfered pointed arches to west, on cylindrical piers with scalloped capitals, south ones with beading or zig-zag ornament, early C14 pointed arches to east. Low C13 tower arch on half-piers, lancet with splayed reveals above,looking into tower. North aisle has baptistry at west end with mosaic floor and dado in memory of John Barrington Yeatman died 1893, C12 cylindrical stone font with scallops and good C17 wooden cover. South aisle has pointed piscina incorporated into early C17 monument, C19 moulded compartmental ceiling on stone corbels with Signs of the Evangelists, restored moulded pointed C14 effigy niche in south wall containing effigy of a lady on her side. Solid wall between chancel and nave with central pointed low doorway, flanking chamfered pointed squints, 1910 wooden screen designed by Bodley, Garner and Hare and executed by Franklin of Oxford and Bridgeman of Lichfield, given by the Bishop Worcester of Stockton House (q.v.). One stone corbel from medieval rood retained to left of chancel archway. Chancel has C19 plaster ceiling with wooden ribs and one moulded tie-beam, painted frieze on foliated corbels, polychrome tiled floor. Fittings: chancel fittings included C19 wooden communion rail, C19 trefoiled piscina and tiled reredos, C17 communion table, good stained glass in east window to Corfe family, 1885. Nave fittings include C19 wooden pulpit with open arcaded panels to match communion rails, cast-iron light fittings, 1746 Royal Arms, painted on board, over tower arch. Stained glass in baptistry and east window of north aisle probably Flemish. South east aisle window to Richard Nelsome died 1888. Piece of roof timber on floor of south aisle inscribed with date 1757 and name M. Fleming to record restoration of roof. Monuments. Fine collection of C16, C17 and later memorials in aisles. South aisle: Jerome and Elizabeth Poticary died 1590; two-panelled chest tomb with strapwork cartouches and balusters, brass plates in moulded surrounds above. 1708 marble cartouche to Henry Greenhill with skull, putti, nautical instruments, urn and torch atop with cornice set into wall above, by either Thomas Davis or Nost. Early C19 classical marbles to Pinchard family. North aisle: Fine Elizabethan tomb to John Topp of Stockton House, died 1640 with 2- bay arched recess with strapwork and floral carving, composite coupled columns and cartouche and obelisk pinnacle over, containing effigies of man and woman and back panels with kneeling children and shell hoods. 1664 wall monument to Joannes(sic) Topp with black Ionic columns and entablature with broken segmental pediment and heralidic cartouche, good lettering. Gothic-style stone tablet to Henry Biggs died 1800 and other family members up to Henry Godolphin Biggs died 1877. White marble cartouche to Alexander Topp died 1732. Chancel: marble tablet to John Terry, died 1625 and coloured stone cartouche with drapery, dated 1703 on north wall. Large classical marble tablet with fluted pilasters, shaped apron and obelisk with urn to Rev David Price died 1771; smaller tablet to William Pinchard died 1815; C19 Gothic monuments to Rev Roger St Barbe died 1854 and to Rev Thomas Miles died 1858, by Osmond of Sarum. (N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Wiltshire, 1975; Church Guide)

Listing NGR: ST9819138220

External Links

• Wikidata Q17529530

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Recommended Books

• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)