St John the Baptist Church in

Inglesham Inglesham is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, Wiltshire, England, notable for the Grade-I listed St John the Baptist Church. The village is just off the A361 road about south-west of Lechlade in Gloucestershire. Mos ...

, near Swindon,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England, has Anglo-Saxon origins but most of the current structure was built around 1205. Much of the church has not changed since the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

era. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as 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 ...

, and is now a

redundant church A redundant church, now referred to as a "closed church", is a church building that is no longer used for Christian worship. The term most frequently refers to former Anglican churches in the United Kingdom, but may also be used for disused church ...

in the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. It was declared redundant on 1 April 1980 and was

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...

in the Trust on 28 October 1981. The church stands above the

water meadows A water-meadow (also water meadow or watermeadow) is an area of grassland subject to controlled irrigation to increase agricultural productivity. Water-meadows were mainly used in Europe from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Working water-m ...

next to the confluence of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

River Coln The River Coln is a river in Gloucestershire, England. It rises to the north of Brockhampton, a village to the east of Cheltenham, and flows in a south/south-easterly direction through the Cotswold Hills via Andoversford, Withington, Fosseb ...

and the

Thames and Severn Canal The Thames and Severn Canal is a canal in Gloucestershire in the south-west of England, which was completed in 1789. It was conceived as part of a cargo route from Bristol and the Midlands to London, linking England's two largest rivers for bett ...

. St John's was a particular favourite of John Betjeman, the poet, writer and broadcaster who was a founding member of the

Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...

. Richard Taylor, presenter of BBC Four's ''Churches: How To Read Them'', picked Inglesham as his favourite of the hundreds of churches he visited for the television programme, saying "It was a totally unassuming building, sat in the middle of the countryside. But, despite its humble appearance, inside, this church told the story of over 1,000 years of religious history – from Anglo-Saxon carvings on one wall, to medieval wall paintings on another and then passages from the Bible etched elsewhere from the Reformation". The programme also presented resistance by a local artist,

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

, a founder of the

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) (also known as Anti-Scrape) is an amenity society founded by William Morris, Philip Webb, and others in 1877 to oppose the destructive 'restoration' of ancient buildings occurring in ...

, against Victorian redevelopment as a story of local campaigning in the 1880s. Much of the fabric of the building is from the 13th century, but includes remains of an earlier church on the site. The interior has wall paintings spanning over 600 years, often one on top of the other, up to seven layers thick. There is also a carving of the Mother and Child which dates from the Anglo-Saxon era; until 1910 the carving was on the outside of the church attached to the south wall and used as a sundial. There are also historic

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in ch ...

s, pulpit and memorials.

History

In 1205 King John gave the church to the Cistercian monks of Beaulieu Abbey. In 1231

Pope Gregory IX Pope Gregory IX ( la, Gregorius IX; born Ugolino di Conti; c. 1145 or before 1170 – 22 August 1241) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 March 1227 until his death in 1241. He is known for issuing the '' Decre ...

granted a licence, appropriating the church at Inglesham, amongst others, to the abbey of Beaulieu at the request of Henry III. In 1355, Inglesham manor and church were granted to a Leicester hospital, the College of the Annunciation of St. Mary. In the 1880s a major restoration of the church was planned.

, an English textile designer, artist, writer, and

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Arts and Crafts Movement, who lived away at

Kelmscott Kelmscott is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in West Oxfordshire, about east of Lechlade in neighbouring Gloucestershire. Since 2001 it has absorbed Little Faringdon, which had been a separate civil parish. The 2011 Census reco ...

in Oxfordshire, campaigned to save the building without unsympathetic alterations. This resulted not just in support but also and unusually a fund-raising campaign by the

(SPAB). The Society was established in 1877 and its manifesto, which Morris wrote, set out its principles "to stave off decay by daily care … and otherwise to resist all tampering with either the fabric or ornament of the building as it stands". They employed J.T. Micklethwaite to oversee the work during 1888 and 1889. Oswald Birchall undertook a survey of the church which enabled Morris and John Henry Middleton to prepare a report for SPAB in 1885, suggesting the repairs be funded, as the rector George Woodbury Spooner said that it was beyond the means of the parishioners. Further restoration by Percival Hartland Thomas was carried out in 1933 to replace the remains of the reredos from around 1330 in the chancel. The church was declared redundant in 1979 and vested in the Redundant Churches Fund (which has since become the

) in 1981.

Architecture

The small church has no tower, but does have a 13th-century double

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

, with pointed

trefoil A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with four ring ...

ed lights, on the west gable of the

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 ...

. It contains two bells dated 1717, which were made by Abraham Rudhall, the founder of

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. ...

. The masonry is limewashed, and surmounted by a

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'). ...

and head spouts. The walls are thick and high. The church has a

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 ...

d nave and an aisleless

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 ...

. The chancel replaced a previous one which was square and has a roof which includes tie beams which may date back to the 13th century. The nave has mediaeval

queen post A queen post is a tension member in a truss that can span longer openings than a king post truss. A king post uses one central supporting post, whereas the queen post truss uses two. Even though it is a tension member, rather than a compression m ...

and

wind brace In architecture, wind braces are diagonal braces to tie the rafters of a roof together and prevent racking. In medieval roofs they are arched, and run from the principal rafters to catch the purlin A purlin (or historically purline, purloyne, pur ...

roof, which is supported by two

respond A respond is a half-pier or half-pillar that is bonded into a wall and designed to carry the springer Springer or springers may refer to: Publishers * Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishi ...

s and a central

pier Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century.">England.html" ;"title="Brighton, England">Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th ...

. The 15th-century cross outside the church has three steps to a high plinth with a pyramid stop- chamfer surmounted by a tall shaft with pyramid stop-chamfer and crested capping. It is listed at Grade II*.

Interior

The interior of the church contains wall paintings dating from the 13th to the early 19th centuries, some of which are illustrated in Professor E. W. Tristram's ''English Wall Painting of the Fourteenth Century''. Tristram notes that fragments of a reredos survive with paintings of four saints on them, and he also comments on "crosses of rather elaborate design". Some wall paintings are on crumbling plaster behind painted post-

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

texts, in places the paint is up to seven layers thick. There are 15th-century angels above the

chancel arch 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 an early 14th-century

Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * ...

on the east wall of the north

. Victorian texts include the

Ten commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

, the

Apostles' Creed The Apostles' Creed (Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith". The creed most likely originated in 5th-century ...

and the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

. Restoration work on the paintings in 2010 led to access to the church being restricted. There is a carving of the Mother and Child in the south wall which dates from the time of the

Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

. Until 1910, the carving was on the outside of the church attached to the south wall and used as a sundial. An incised meridian and other lines were added along with a hole for the gnomon of a scratch dial. Its original position in the church is not known, but may have been above the altar. There are also parclose screens between the Carolean-style box pews that date from the Commonwealth era and a hanging

pyx A pyx or pix ( la, pyxis, transliteration of Greek: ''πυξίς'', boxwood receptacle, from ''πύξος'', box tree) is a small round container used in the Catholic, Old Catholic and Anglican Churches to carry the consecrated host (Eucharist) ...

. The font is from the 15th century while the Jacobean pulpit and tester are from around 1630. There is a Tournai

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

slab with a knight in the chancel which dates from around 1300. The

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman Ca ...

is from the 13th century with a

ed head, a shelf and a circular basin. On the floor of the chancel is a black marble slab that once held the

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

of a 14th-century knight with a basinet, sword and four shields.

Gallery

File:Inglesham box pews.jpg, Box pews File:St John the Baptist Church, Inglesham, Wiltshire - wall painting - geograph.org.uk - 243514.jpg, Wall painting File:Inglesham font.jpg, The font File:Inglesham ten commandments.jpg, Mural of the Ten Commandments File:Inglesham interior.jpg, The interior

References

Sources