Description

TQ 2693 CHURCH OF ST JOHN
(Also known as St John the Apostle)

31/16/10380 II

Parish church. 1832, said to be by a member of the Blomfield family of architects and clergymen, for Joseph Baxendale. Chancel and west porches added 1879-80 by James Brooks for William Passmore. Vestry 1897. Brick; slate roofs.
PLAN: aisleless nave with 2 west porches, chancel, sanctuary and vestry. EXTERIOR: nave with polygonal corner turrets formerly capped with ogee domes (south domes remain). 3 stepped lancet lights to west window. North and south flanks of 5 bays separated by flat plain buttresses with set-offs. 4 3-light plate tracery windows under hoods on label stops. Gabled porches to west bays, each with a doorway and a 3-light transomed window to the east faces; other sides without openings. Timber west bell turret demolished 1996.
3 lancets to chancel east end, with hoodmoulds; flat corner buttresses. Gabled north vestry lit through lancets. 2 stacks.
INTERIOR: string course runs under the side windows of nave and over the arched doorways into the porches. Nave roof of 10 trusses of scissor braces, principals and 2 tiers of purlins. Pointed chancel arch with undercut mouldings on corbels with stiff-leaf foliage. Chancel with arch into sanctuary on north side and a former external window looking into sanctuary. Organ to south of c. 1860 by G. M. Holdich, with the console reached through a shouldered doorway in the nave east wall. Balancing doorway to the north into sanctuary. Chancel roof of boarded scissor-braced trusses.
4-sided pulpit with trefoiled arched openings. 14 plaster Stations of the Cross. Drum font with fleur-de-lys to the base and a fluted bowl.
STAINED GLASS: east window with Crucifixion by William Morris & Co., 1880, the figure of Christ above a pelican by Philip Webb. West window with 9 scenes from the Life of Christ, 1883 by lavers and Westlake.
West end of church with family vault of Joseph Baxendale: iron spear-headed railings with square standards topped with urn finials. Inscription panel fixed to church wall.
Included as a good and complete example of an early nineteenth century Gothic design. Charles Blomfield, Bishop of London, was a supporter of the church's foundation, and is said by some sources to have been the architect.
Sources
John Heathfield, The Story of St John's Church and Whetstone, 1992
Bridget Cherry and-Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England, London 4, North, 1998, pp.191

Listing NGR: TQ2639393652

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St John official website
• Wikidata Q27086779

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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