Description

SO 71 SE ELMORE -

4/18 Church of St. John the Baptist

10.1.55

GV I

Parish church. C13 with late C14 nave; restored by F. S. Waller
1879-80. Random rubble limestone, mostly with roughcast render;
ashlar tower; stone slate roof. Nave with north aisle; chancel;
west tower to aisle; north and south porches. Early English
pointed-arched north doorway with Cl9 plank door; C15 timber-framed
porch with cusped arched bracing'and splat balustrading to open
sides; coursed limestone base walls with internal stone seats.
Buttressed north aisle with two 3-light restored Decorated windows.
Pointed arch to south doorway with large medieval plank and batten
door; timber-framed porch with weatherboarding on coursed limestone
base walls. Nave window left is 3-light Perpendicular; right early
C16 5-light with low intersecting tracery head in square opening;
buttressed south nave wall. Perpendicular 3-light west nave window
in parapet gable. East end has 2 parapet gables of equal size and
of 1 build; restored C19 chancel window has brattished super-
transom; stops and panels in arcading below window are unfinished;
3-light aisle window with intersecting tracery; diagonal offset
buttresses to east end. Ogee-headed priest's doorway with medieval
door in south chancel wall; 2-light Early English lancet to left.
4-stage tower attached to west end of north aisle with angle
buttresses to lower 2 stages; tower is rendered except for top
stage which is C14 addition with 2-light belfry openings and slate
louvres; moulded crenellated parapet; except for east side, 2nd
stage has Early English lancets trefoil-headed west lancet below.
Interior is limewashed; 5-bay Early English arcade has attached
columns with moulded capitals and bases to inner pier faces; C19
restored 6-bay timber nave roof with arched braced collar trusses
on stone corbels; arched wind bracing. Early English pointed
chancel arch with attached columns to responds; tiled chancel floor
raised in C19; C19 restored timber panelled roof. Wide and low 4-
centred arch between chancel and east end of north aisle. C13
pointed tower arch; 5-bay arched braced collar truss aisle roof;
trusses doubled with crown post sandwiched and above tie beam at
junction between aisle and former chancel, now used as organ
chamber and vestry, with 3-bay roof and brattished wall plate.
Chancel contains monuments to Guise family of Elmore Court q.v.: on
north side chest tomb, to Johannes Gyse died 1472, has incised line
portrait of knight in armour with canopy over head and hound at
feet on plain chamfered top, and Gothic script in incised border.
Wall memorial above to William Guise, died 1716, by John Ricketts
of Gloucester, is Baroque with bolection mouldings to panel with
segmental headed pediment surmounted by mourning putti flanking
Guise arms. On south chancel wall memorial to Sir William Guise,
died 1642, by Joseph Reeve of Gloucester: Jacobean Baroque flanked
by twisted Composite columns supporting scrolled pediment,
surmounted by putti holding wreath over Guise arms. On south nave
wall: memorial to Daniel Ellis, died 1797, by William Stephens of
Worcester has scrolled pediment with crest; panel flanked by putti,
death's head and hour-glass; to left memorial to Richard Leighton,
died 1683, surmounted by broken pediment with central flaming
funereal urn. C17 box pews throughout nave and aisle have
linenfold panelling and are attached to matching wainscot. Plain
C18 panelled octagonal timber pulpit; in north aisle High Victorian
Gothic font by Waller with large architectural lid; C18 tall stone
vase-font. 3 Cl9 Guise hatchments on west nave wall. Stained
glass is mainly C19; large south nave window by Heaton, Butler and
Bayne, dated 1903. (R. Gunnis, Dictionary of British Sculptors
1660-1851, n.d.; D. Verey, Gloucestershire: The Vale and the Forest
of Dean, 1976.)

Listing NGR: SO7671514921

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526233

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

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)