St John the Baptist Claines

The church of ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST consists of a chancel 23 ft. 8 in. by 17 ft. 2 in., north and south chapels 9 ft. 2 in. and 9 ft. 3 in. wide respectively, of the same length with the chancel, a modern north vestry on the north side of the north chapel, nave 43 ft. 10 in. by 15 ft. 10 in., north and south aisles 8 ft. 10 in. wide, a modern additional north aisle, west tower 10 ft. 7 in. square and a modern south porch. These measurements are all internal.The present church appears to have been entirely rebuilt in the early 15th century upon the site of an older building, some fragments of which, dating from the late 12th century, and consisting of the moulded base and capital with a few of the drum stones of an arcade pier and some arch stones of a doorway, with an embattled moulding, were discovered beneath the north wall of the north aisle on its demolition for the modern extension. The north and south chapels were added early in the 16th century, and a rood gallery constructed or enlarged at the same period. In 1887–8 a new north aisle was added to the existing aisle, the north wall of the which was moved outwards and rebuilt practically stone for stone. The walling throughout the church is of large squared sandstone, laid in more or less regular courses.
The east window of the chancel is of three trefoiled ogee lights with vertical tracery within a two-centred head. At the south-east is a plain piscina recess with a square basin, originally projecting, but now cut back flush with the wall. The north and south walls are occupied by the chapel arcades, each of two bays with two-centred arches. Those of the north arcade are of two orders, the outer hollow-chamfered and the inner wave-moulded, and interesting example of the reversion to type charateristic of early 16th-century work. The column and responds continue the orders, which are interrupted by bell capitals of a clumsy section. The south arcade has arches of one order only, moulded with a plain chamfer, set back a little from the wall face and supported by an octagonal column, with responds of the same form. The two-centred chancel arch is of a single chamfered order, with semi-octagonal responds having moulded capitals and bases, of the same plain section as those of the nave arcades. Externally there were originally diagonal buttresses at both the eastern angles, but that at the south-east appears to have been taken down and set square with the east, wall on the addition of the south chapel. This is shown both by the disturbance of the facing here and by a short portion of the original return of the plinth mould, which surrounds the whole of the early 15th-century building.The east window of the north chapel has a straight-sided four-centred head, and is of three trefoiled lights with vertical tracery over. The mullions are hollow-chamfered, and the tracery is set near the middle of the wall with a wide external casement. The square-headed window of three trefoiled ogee lights at the north-east is one of the original north windows of the chancel reset, and is of the same general type as those used throughout the church in the work of the earlier period. The remainder of the north wall is occupied by an arch opening into the modern vestry. At the north-west is a doorway with an elliptical head opening into the rood stairs, which are contemporary with the chapel. A two-centred arch of two chamfered orders, with responds of the same form as those of the chancel arcade, opens into the north aisle. The wall at the south-west angle is said to have been cut away and two squints cut from the aisle to the chapel, and from the chapel to the chancel, in the first half of the 19th century, when a small font was placed here. A portion of the plinth mould of the north wall of the chancel is visible at the south-east. Both here and in the case of the south chapel the whole of the length of chancel wall occupied by the arcade has been cut away and rebuilt. Externally the east wall has a plainly moulded cornice, now surmounted by a gable, which is evidently of later date, the present high-pitched roof being an addition. A piece of quatrefoil panelling at the north-east shows that there was originally a panelled parapet, similar in type to that which crowns the walls of the south chapel. The pinnacles which surmounted it have been reset at the angles of the tower parapet. At the eastern angle is a diagonal buttress of two offsets, and at the west end of the north wall a buttress of a similar number of offsets is visible inside the modern vestry, one of the east windows of which, removed originally from the north wall of the chancel to the chapel, has again been removed to its present position. The plinth of the chapel is of the same section as that of the chancel, the stones having probably been re-used. Over the north-east window is a large grotesque gargoyle.The south chapel has one east window similar to that of the north chapel, but the tracery is more symmetrically set out, and generally shows traces of a slightly earlier date. The two square-headed windows in the south wall, of three and two lights respectively, are the reset south windows of the chancel, and are similar in detail to the reset north windows. Between them is a blocked doorway. An acute two-centred arch with semi-octagonal responds opens into the south aisle. Externally the walls are crowned by a heavily-moulded cornice and a pinnacled parapet panelled with quatrefoils. The pinnacles are crocketed, gabled and panelled; on each is carved a blank shield below a rose. The parapet is unpanelled on the east, and appears to have been disturbed, the coping being set at a less inclination than the cornice, which follows the slope of the low-pitched lean-to roof. There is a diagonal buttress at the south-east, one between the two windows of the south wall and one at the junction of the chapel with the aisle, all of two offsets. A plain chamfered plinth runs round the wallsThe nave arcades are each of four bays with acute two-centred arches of a single chamfered order, supported by octagonal columns and responds having moulded capitals and bases, similar in section to those of the chancel arch. In the apex of the east gable is a single cinquefoiled light. The north wall of the north aisle has been taken down and re-erected as the north wall of the additional aisle, added in 1887. Its three-light square-headed windows, three in number, are reset in this wall, with the original buttresses between them, and a diagonal buttress at the north-west angle, all of two offsets. The west window, which occupies its original position, is of similar design. All correspond in type to those of the chapels described above. An arcade of four-centred arches divides the two aisles. The south aisle has a west and three south windows of the same pattern as those of the north aisle, with buttresses between them and at the south-west angle. Between the two western windows is the south doorway, which has a plain chamfered two-centred head and segmental rear arch.The tower is of three stages with an embattled parapet, at the angles of which are placed the four pinnacles of the north chapel. At the west are diagonal buttresses of four offsets. The tower arch is of a single acute two-centred order, and the west window of the ground stage is a square-headed three-light window of the type prevailing throughout the building. In the north and south walls are blocked doorways. The ringing chamber is lighted on the north, west and south by single ogee-headed lights, and the belfry by square-headed windows of three trefoiled ogee lights. The plinth mould of the chancel, nave and aisles is continued round the base of the tower.The roofs of the chancel and chapels are modern; the ceiling of the north chapel conceals internally its later high-pitched roof. The nave has its original trussed rafter roof, and some of the timbers of the aisle roofs are also of original date. Externally the roofs of chancel, nave and aisles are tiled, those of the chapels being leaded.
In the north porch are preserved some fragments of encaustic tiles of the 15th century, including the four-tile Talbot design so common in the neighbourhood. In the vestry is some early 17th-century panelling.In the east bay of the south chancel arcade, moved here from the churchyard, where it had been for many years, is the elaborate table tomb of John Porter, who died in 1577. It is now very imperfect, part only of the panelled sides remaining. Upon the top is his recumbent effigy. Of the inscription only the fragment— 'IOHN PORTER WHICH WAS A LAWYER 1577' — survives. The panels of the sides have semicircular heads with shells in their tympana and blank shields inclosed in smaller trefoiled panels below, the whole exhibiting a curious and characteristic mixture of Gothic and Renaissance. Above the three shields on the north side are the initials 'I.,' 'I.P.' and 'P.' Below is decipherable 'Anno Domini 1577.' That this tomb has always been a cenotaph is shown by a tablet now in the north chapel inscribed as follows: 'Subtus requiescit sed in erectissima | spe resurrectionis Iohannes Porter | Iurisconsultus qui Obiit Anno Do[mini] | 1577 | Omnia transibunt, nos ibimus, ibitis, ibunt | Ignari, gnari, conditione pari.' |In the floor at the west end of the nave is a slab with a Passion cross having a shield in the centre and the arms crossed at the ends incised in outline upon it. The slab is probably of the 13th century. Upon the east wall of the north aisle is an elaborate mural tablet to Mary Porter, widow of John Porter, who died in 1668. Other mural tablets include those to Henry Wynne 'of Clifford's Inn,' who died in 1693; to Elizabeth wife of Phincas Jackson, who died in 1714, and several of her children who died young; and to George Porter, who died in 1709, and his wife Elizabeth, who died in 1720. In the nave floor are many slabs, none earlier than the late 17th century.
There is a ring of five bells inscribed as follows: treble, 'Francis Wythes, William Reynolds, Churchwardens 1686'; second, recast by Warner of London in 1886 from a bell said to have been of the late 14th century; third, 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo 1622'; fourth, 'Jesus be oure spede 1623'; tenor, 'God bless oure Nobell King 1623.'The plate consists of an Elizabethan cup, the foot gone and the rim renewed, the hall-mark of which has disappeared; a cover paten, which doubtless belonged to it, inscribed on the foot 1571, with the mark of 1570; two silver cups, a flagon, and a paten of 1846, a chalice and paten of silver-gilt of 1902, a silver paten, a silver chalice and paten formerly used at the mission room at Fernhill Heath, three mounted cruets and a silver bread box, all modern.