Description

SJ 51 SE WITHINGTON C.P. WITHINGTON

4/121 Church of St John
the Baptist
02/07/71

GV II

Parish church. 1872-4, by G.E. Street on a site of C12 church. Dressed
rock-faced red sandstone with red and yellow sandstone ashlar dressings;
plain tile roofs. Late C13 Gothic Style; 3-bay nave, 2-bay chancel,
north porch and organ chamber, and west tower. Tower: 4 stages; chamfered
plinth, angle buttresses to first stage, string courses between stages,
second stage with weathering to nave roof; ballflower-ornamented corbel
table to short broach spire with weathervane. Louvred 2-light belfry openings
with chamfered reveals, plate tracery, and hoodmoulds with carved stops;
narrow slit openings in third stage to north and south; 2-light second
stage west window with chamfered reveals, quatrefoil plate-tracery, and
returned hoodmould; clock in third stage to west. Nave: plinth, west
buttresses, and truncated octagonal stack to east; coped parapeted
gable ends, formerly with cross to east. 2-light windows with chamfered
reveals, quatrefoil plate-tracery and hoodmoulds; chamfered-arched north-
west doorway with broach stops, hoodmould with carved stops, and boarded
door with decorative strap hinges; porch with plinth, low clasping buttresses,
and coped parapeted gable; moulded arch dying into responds with string
course carried over as hoodmould. Chancel: plinth, east buttresses, cill
string, coped parapeted gable end with cross at apex; 2-light windows to
south with chamfered reveals and plate-tracery; stepped triple east lancets;
lean-to organ chamber and shed to north with narrow slit window to right,
moulded-arched doorway to left, left-hand return front with 2-light window
with quatrefoil plate-tracery, and right-hand return front has boarded door
to shed. Interior: 3-bay nave roof with arched braced collars, chamfered
purlins and ashlar pieces; tall tower arch with triple chamfer dying into
responds; windows with chamfered rear arches and cills; chamfered rear
arch to north door; chancel arch with chamfer dying into responds and hood-
mould; 4-bay chancel roof with arch-braced collars; chamfered arch to
north organ chamber; south-east window extended to form sedile; trefoil-
headed arched piscina to north with hoodmould and moulded bowl. Fittings
are mainly circa 1872-4 by Street and they include: stone reredos of blind
trefoil-headed arches and central panel with relief of crucifixion; altar
rails with decorative wrought iron supports; low screen walls flanking
chancel steps with blind quatrefoil panels; octagonal stone pulpit with
open trefoil-headed arched arcading; octagonal stone font with 4 shafts
around stem, bowl with 2-light traceried panel to east, and steep crocketed
cover with lucarnes. Figure brasses: on south wall of nave to John Onley
(died 1512), his wife Joan and their 7 children; on north wall of chancel
to Adam Grafton (dated 1530), one-time vicar of the church and described in
the inscription as "the most worshipful prest lyvying in his days". The now
disused Shrewsbury canal passed to the south of the churchyard. D.H.S.
Cranage, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire, Vol.7,
Pp. 635-6; B.o.E., p.321.

Listing NGR: SJ5768412979

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26557824

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.

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