The Church of St John of Beverley, Whatton is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Whatton-in-the-Vale Whatton-in-the-Vale is a village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Belvoir, with the River Smite to the west and a subsidiary, the River Whipling to the east, mainly ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, dedicated to St John of Beverley. The church is

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

by the

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for culture and sport, and some aspects of the media throughout the UK, such as broadcasting. I ...

Building

The church is medieval, dating from the 14th century, but little of the original survived the restorations of 1846, 1866–1867 and 1870. It consists now of a chancel rebuilt in 1846, a central tower and steeple rebuilt in 1870, and a nave with north and south aisles and north and south porches. The only remaining Romanesque work is the former south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

arch of the tower, which was moved to the north side during the 19th-century restoration. The nave is in Early English style. There is also a chapel dedicated to the memory of Archbishop

Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a theologian, leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He is honoured as a Oxford Martyrs, martyr ...

, who was born and raised in

Aslockton Aslockton is an English village and civil parish east of Nottingham and east of Bingham, on the north bank of the River Smite opposite Whatton-in-the-Vale. The parish is also adjacent to Scarrington, Thoroton and Orston and within the Ru ...

, which was a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

of Whatton at that time. The two corbel heads in the chapel date from about 1300 and depict King

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

and an angel.''A Short Guide to the Parish Churches of the Bingham Rural Deanery'', ed. J. Pickworth-Hutchinson (Bingham: Bingham Deanery Chapter, 1963).

Effigies and features

Apart from interesting architectural detail (the lower part of a now redundant

newel A newel, also called a central pole or support column, is the central supporting pillar around which a helical staircase winds. It can also refer to an upright post that supports or terminates the handrail of a stair banister (the "newel post") ...

staircase, the Decorated recess containing a statue of a former incumbent 304–10 and a double

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. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

), there is a late 14th-century effigy of a Knight Templar in armour and another of a cross-legged knight of the early 14th century, and a tablet in memory of Thomas Cranmer, father of the archbishop, who was born in

in 1489. The font dates from 1662. One of the 19th-century stained-glass windows, depicting SS. Peter and John with Jesus, was designed by the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

. There is a peal of eight bells, of which five bells were cast by Henry Oldfield of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

in 1590 and 1618. An early clock was installed in 1683 by Richard Roe. This was replaced in 1910.

Parish status

The church belongs to the Cranmer Group of parishes, which consists of: * St Thomas's Church, Aslockton * Church of St Mary and All Saints, Hawksworth * Church of St John of Beverley, Scarrington * St Helena's Church, Thoroton *Church of St John of Beverley, Whatton *St Mary's Church, Orston

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whatton, St John Of Beverley Church of England church buildings in Nottinghamshire Grade II* listed churches in Nottinghamshire

Building

Effigies and features

Parish status

See also

References