The Church of St. John Baptist, Cirencester is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England. It is a Grade I

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 ...

. The building reflects architectural styles since the 12th century. The chancel and attached chapel represent the oldest part with the nave having been rebuilt twice and the tower added in the 15th century. The south porch was built by

Cirencester Abbey Cirencester Abbey or St Mary's Abbey, Cirencester in Gloucestershire was founded as an Augustinian monastery in 1117 on the site of an earlier church, the oldest-known Saxon church in England, which had itself been built on the site of a Roman str ...

around 1480 and only connected to the church in the 18th century. It is built of

Cotswold stone The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...

and is one of the "largest parish churches in England". It contains various tombs and monuments with some fragments of medieval stained glass and wall paintings.

History

The church is medieval. It is renowned for its perpendicular porch, fan vaults and merchants' tombs. The chancel is the oldest part of the structure, and construction of the current church started in the 12th century on the site of an earlier Saxon one. It was widened in about 1180. Around 1240 the nave was completely rebuilt. The east window dates from around 1300. The original stained glass of the east window has long since disappeared and it is now filled with fifteenth century glass from other parts of the church. To the north of the chancel is St. Catherine's Chapel which dates from around 1150. It contains a wall painting of St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child, and vaulting given by Abbot John Hakebourne in 1508 when major reconstruction took place funded by the wool trade making it an example of a

Wool church A wool church is an English church financed primarily by donations from rich merchants and farmers who had benefitted from the medieval wool trade, hoping to ensure a place in heaven due to their largesse. Wool churches are common in the Cotswold ...

. To the north of St. Catherine's Chapel is the Lady Chapel, first built in 1240 and extended in the 15th century. The tower was built and supported by

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 ( ...

es around 1400. The Trinity Chapel dates from 1430 to 1460 and was endowed for a priest of the nearby Abbey to say masses for the souls of Kings and Queens. It contains a squint which enabled the priest to synchronise the celebration of mass with that at the high altar. The nave was completely rebuilt between 1515 and 1530 and is a remarkable example of late Perpendicular Gothic architecture. The tower is fifteenth century and remarkable for the large buttresses which shore it up at its junction with the nave. The great south porch which adjoins the market place was built around 1500 at the expense of Alice Avening. It is elaborately decorated. It was built by

around 1480, as an administrative centre and only connected to the church in the 18th century. Between the dissolution of the monasteries and its connection to the church it was used as the town hall. The nave was again rebuilt between 1516 and 1530. In 1642 the church was used to imprison local citizens overnight after the skirmishes in the town during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. During the 1860s George Gilbert Scott lead a team undertaing a

Victorian restoration The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria. It was not the same proc ...

to strengthen the church, which included moving many of the bodies interred under the nave to the Lady Chapel. This reduced the level of the floor and introduced sub floor voids. These were investigated during alterations carried out in 2008 and 2009, which discovered evidence of the various periods of the church's construction. In 2019 a design competition was started to commission statues for niches on the church wall, to replace those removed and lost in 1963.

Architecture and fittings

The

church is long and wide. The three-stage

ed tower is high. This makes it one of the "largest parish churches in England". The layout of the church includes a three- bay

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. Ov ...

and three-bay

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

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 ...

. The nave includes arcades of tall piers with carved angels at the tops supporting arches and windows. The west tower houses bells which have been added to and recast, mostly by

Rudhall of Gloucester Rudhall of Gloucester was a family business of bell founders in the city of Gloucester, England, who between 1684 and 1835 cast more than 5,000 bells. History There had been a tradition of bell casting in Gloucester since before the 14th century. ...

, over the centuries. The three-storey south porch has carved oriel windows and crenellated parapets topped by decorative pinnacles. The interior is a profusion of panelling in the chambers. The pulpit dates from the 15th century. The octagonal font was carved in the 14th century. It was returned to the church in the 19th century after it had been discovered in the abbey grounds. The brass chandeliers were made in Bristol in 1701. There are several stained glass windows. Some of these include fragments of medieval glass but are largely 18th century by Hardman & Co. The east windows of the chancel and south chapel were built around 1300. There are some surviving fragments of wall paintings particularly in St Catherines chapel, and a wide variety of tombs and monuments. The silver gilt "Boleyn Cup" was made in 1535 for

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

and given to the church by

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

Organ

The church possesses a pipe organ built by

Father Willis Henry Willis (27 April 1821 – 11 February 1901), also known as "Father" Willis, was an English organ player and builder, who is regarded as the foremost organ builder of the Victorian era. His company Henry Willis & Sons remains in busin ...

in 1895 with a case by George Gilbert Scott. It was renovated by

Rushworth and Dreaper Rushworth and Dreaper was a firm of organ builders, and later general instrument suppliers associated with Paul McCartney based in Liverpool. The manufacturer was founded in 1828 by William Rushworth, operating until 2002. Upon its liquidation, ...

in 1955 and rebuilt by

Harrison & Harrison Harrison & Harrison Ltd is a British company that makes and restores pipe organs, based in Durham and established in Rochdale in 1861. It is well known for its work on instruments such as King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and the ...

in 2009.

Parish status

The church is in the combined parish which includes: Holy Trinity Church, Watermoor and St. Lawrence, Chesterton.

Record of incumbents

*Thomas Marshall 1558 *Thomas Perpointe 1562 *William Aldsworth 1574 *Thomas Woodlande 1578 *John Mortimer 1580 *John Stone 1581 *Philip Jones 1586 *Henry Bishop 1587 *Robert Butler 1592 *Heymo Leigh 1594 *Richard Dyer 1610 *John Burgoyne 1616 *Alexander Gregory 1632 *Thomas Carles 1663–1675† *Jeremiah Gregory 1675–1690 (son of Alexander Gregory) *Joseph Harrison 1690–1753† *Samuel Johnson 1753–1778 *Martin Stafford Smith 1778–1789 *William Shippen Willes 1789–1806 *Henry Anthony Pye 1806–1839† *William Frederick Powell 1839–1868 *James Ogilvy Millar 1869–1881 * Henry Rudge Hayward 1881–1898 (as Archdeacon of Cirencester from 1883) * John Stewart Sinclair 1898–1908 (appointed Archdeacon of Cirencester) * William Aubrey Robins 1909–1922 (later Archdeacon of Bedford) *Lewis Westmacott 1922–1940 *

Ronald Huntley Sutch Ronald Huntley Sutch (5 March 1890 – 22 February 1975) was Archdeacon of Cheltenham from 1951 to 1965. Sutch was educated at Batley Grammar School and Merton College, Oxford and ordained as a priest in 1915. After a curacy at Christ Church, Glas ...

1941–1962 (as Archdeacon of Cheltenham from 1951) *Rowland Edward Hill 1962–1978 * John Arthur Lewis 1978–1988 (appointed Archdeacon of Cheltenham) *

Hedley Ringrose Hedley Sidney Ringrose (29 June 1942 – 15 April 2021) was the Archdeacon of Cheltenham from 1998 to 2009. Ringrose studied for ordination at Salisbury Theological College and was ordained in 1969. After curacies at Bishopston, Bristol and E ...

1988–1998 (appointed Archdeacon of Cheltenham) *Michael St. John-Channell 1999–2006 *James Butterworth 2006–2008 *Leonard Doolan 2008–2017 *Graham Morris 2018–

References

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Cirencester Saint John

Cirencester