Description

ST4354 AXBRIDGE THE SQUARE (north sidel

12/44 Church of St John The Baptist

9.2.61

GV I

Parish church. Whole of c1400, restored 1888 by J D Sedding. Coursed and squared rubble, freestone dressings, gabled
lead roofs with cruciform finials. Nave and chancel with aisles, crossing tower with transepts, broad west porch
incorporating 2 rooms, further porch to south. Elaborate tower with set-back buttresses rising to pinnacles, parapet
around top stage pierced with quatrefoils. Stair turret, 2-light bell-chamber windows with a repeating blank window
each side; on the east and west sides figures of St John and Henry VIII. Tower parapet repeats over the aisles and west
porch. All windows of restored Perpendicular type, except the east windows of the aisles altered C17 to provide for
monuments, east chancel window reputedly of l857. Stone panelled roof to south porch; to the nave a plaster ceiling
dated 1636, ribbed with pendants the tower with a fan-vault; the aisle roofs with Perpendicular panelled lean-to's; C19
wagon roofs to the transepts and chancel. 4-bay arcades to the nave differentiated only by the leaf decoration on the
south capitals. Identical arches leading to the chancel aisles and transcepts, some with leaf capitals, some with
angles. Richly furnished; octagonal Perpendicular font; chandelier of 1730; some remains of wall painting; brass in
north transept to Roger Harper and wife of 1493; C17 bier in south transept; painted C17 chest in south transept; many
large wall monuments, particularly to Prowse family who have connections with Compton House(qv), that to south chancel
aisle with a kneeling figure of Anne Prowse of 1668, in north chancel aisle William Prowse, depicted as a three-quarter
figure in an oval niche of 1670; further fine monuments to Thomas Welsh of 1678, J Andrews of 1720, Johns Tuthil of
1716 and Thomas Prowse of 1767; further C17 chest in north aisle; small C17 reading desk; painting to south transept of
Christ showing his wounds, probably C15 though much restored and over-painted; altar frontal to north aisle of 1720.
Many further lesser well monuments of C18 and C19. C19 pews and choir stalls. Stained glass to east window. (Pevsner,
Buildings of England, North Somerset and Bristol, 1958).

Listing NGR: ST4314854607

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St John the Baptist, Axbridge at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5117441

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)