St John the Baptist's Church is a
redundant Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
church in the village of
Stanton,
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, England. It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
,
and is under the care of the
Churches Conservation Trust.
Only the tower is intact, the body of the church being roofless.
[ The remains of the church stand to the west of the village.
]
History
The church dates from the 14th century, with additions and alterations during the following century. It was restored in 1616.[ Its ]parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
was united with the adjacent parish of All Saints in 1756, and St John's became derelict and roofless.nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
and chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ove ...
to their full height.[
]
Architecture
St John's is constructed in flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...
and some red brick, with freestone dressings. Parts of the walls are rendered. Its plan consists of a three-bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
nave, a chancel, a south porch and a west tower. The tower is in four stages. Its west wall is built against the boundary of the churchyard and the lowest stage is open, providing a way for processions around the church.[ There are diagonal ]buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
es at the west end, and a stair turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
at the southeast angle. In the top stage are two-light bell openings. The parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
is battlemented, and decorated with chequerwork. The nave has 13th-century doorways and two two-light windows in both north and south walls. The porch dates from the 14th century. It was originally gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
d, and has a blocked niche
Niche may refer to:
Science
*Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development
*Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species
*Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...
above its doorway. The chancel has a two-light window in each of the north, south and east walls.[
]
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John the Baptists Church Stanton
Grade II* listed churches in Suffolk
Church of England church buildings in Suffolk
English Gothic architecture in Suffolk
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust
Church ruins in England
Former Church of England church buildings