Description

SO 9003 CHALFORD KEEBLE ROAD, France Lynch
(east side)

11/53 Church of St John the Baptist

GV II*

Former chapel of ease, now parish church. 1855-7 by G.F. Bodley
for Rev Thomas Keble. Ashlar limestone; concrete tile roof
(original stone slate retained on porch). Nave with north aisle,
south porch and chancel with 2-storey north vestry. Very massive
effect to nave walls reinforced by small window areas and large
buttresses. Parapet gabled porch with pointed arch and hoodmould
with carved floral stops. High chamfered plinth with round
moulding. Unequally-spaced south nave windows, two with 3-light
geometrical tracery. Large offset buttress with gabled top at
junction with chancel. Simple pointed bellcote at east end of
nave. Three tall gabled offset buttresses to west end of nave with
two 2-light narrow geometrical traceried windows between. Long low
lean-to roof to north aisle with small lancet windows; tall 2-
storey vestry with east and west gables each with high traceried
windows, circular with 3 trefoils to east. Buttress and tall
projecting chimney stack on north side, paired octagonal shafts cut
down. Three plain buttresses to east end taken up from high
plinth; fine 5-light geometrical traceried east window which,
together with vestry and bellcote gives a very bold effect.
Interior: limewashed with ashlar dressings. Fine 4-bay north
arcade with alternating octagonal and cylindrical piers, each with
individually carved capitals of stiff-leaf type by Thomas Earp.
High cusped collar truss roof with arched bracing; stone corbels
in variety of designs. Floral roundels on inner order of pointed
chancel arch supported on paired detached Purbeck marble shafts
with delicately carved capitals and corbel bases. Stone choir
screen with lapis lazuli and malachite inlay in recessed quatrefoil
panels. Stepped chancel floor with Minton encaustic tiles. Marble
and coloured tile inlay to large reredos of bold original design,
the large central roundel with inlayed cross. Rere arches to
chancel windows with attached marble jamb shafts. Fine octagonal
marble pulpit with further stone inlay in matching style, the whole
effect being very rich but sensitive and most original. Octagonal
font of Devonshire marble with good ironwork to cover. Stained
glass mostly by N.W. Lavers except large c1878 east window by
Hardman. This is Bodley's first complete church.
(D. Verey, article in country Life, 20th May 1971; 'George
Frederick Bodley' in ed. J. Fawcett, Seven Victorian Architects,
1976; and Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1979)

Listing NGR: SO9014103114

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17538277

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

• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)