St John's Church, Colston Bassett is an English

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 ...

of 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, ...

Colston Bassett Colston Bassett is an English village in the Vale of Belvoir, in the Rushcliffe district of southeast Nottinghamshire, close to its border with Leicestershire. It lies by the River Smite. The population in 2001 of 225, including Wiverton Hall ...

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 ...

. It 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 ...

as a building of special architectural or historic interest.

History

St John's Church, Colston Bassett, was built in 1892 by the architect

Arthur Brewill Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur William Lancelot Brewill (17 May 1861 – 18 February 1923) was an architect based in Nottingham. Background and family He was the son of William Rastall Brewill (1804–1897) and Sophia (1820–1886). He was educated ...

at the behest of Robert Millington Knowles of Colston Bassett Hall,

High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Nottinghamshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centu ...

. The contractors were Bell and Sons. Five bells were removed from the old church and installed in the tower with a chiming apparatus. The east window was filled with stained glass by

Heaton, Butler and Bayne Heaton, Butler and Bayne was a British firm that produced stained-glass windows from 1862 to 1953. History Clement Heaton (1824–1882) Fleming, John & Hugh Honour. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London: Allen Lane, p. 371 ...

. The pulpit was presented by Major Day of Kingussie (formerly of Colston Bassett Hall), with an upper portion in oak and the lower portion in Cosham Down Bath stone. It was designed by the architect and constructed by Oldham and Knight of Nottingham. The font was the gift of W.K. Marriott, of the Manor House, Barking, Essex, in memory of his parents. The lectern was funded by subscriptions from the parishioners and obtained from Whippel and Co. However, the work of 1892 was of poor quality and the church soon needed restoration. This was begun in 1934 by

Charles Marriott Oldrid Scott Charles Marriott Oldrid Scott (1880–1952) was an English architect who is often best remembered for being the son of John Oldrid Scott and grandson of Sir Gilbert Scott (George Gilbert Scott), both of whom were architects, as was his uncle ...

. The work involved restoration of the spire which had become fractured by the corrosion of iron cramps at a cost of £280 (). The western side of the church which was in danger of collapsing owing to the dilapidated conditions of the foundations was restored by Sir Edward and Lady Le Merchant at a cost of £1,000 (). The building was reopened by the

Bishop of Southwell __NOTOC__ The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham in the Province of York.''Crockford's Clerical Directory'', 100th edition, (2007), Church House Publishing. . Th ...

, the Henry Mosley on 12 August 1936, while instituting a new vicar, the Rev. John Booth. St John's replaced an earlier parish church dedicated to St Mary, which had become ruined and was further from the village. Substantial remains of it can still be seen and are listed Grade 1 in the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historical Interest. They date from the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

, Gothic (the building's greatest size was reached in 1470), and Georgian periods. The churchyard remains in use.

War memorial cross

The churchyard contains a war memorial cross which is

It was created by

Farmer & Brindley Farmer & Brindley was a firm of architectural sculptors and ornamentalists based in London, founded by William Farmer (1825–1879) and William Brindley (1832–1919). The firm, located on Westminster Bridge Road in Lambeth, south London, flour ...

and dedicated by the

on 22 May 1920. The cross is of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

and is high. It bears the inscription:

To the memory of the men of Colston Bassett who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-1919. Arthur Anderson, Albert Birkin, Alfred Faulks, John Green, Albert Lane, Charles Newton, Ernest Parnham, Thomas Parnham, Alfred Richards, Robert Rogerson, Amos Shaw, Benjamin Sheppard, John Wagstaff, Edwin Westman.

Current parish status

St John's Church, Colston Bassett is in the Wiverton group of parishes, which also includes: *

St Andrew's Church, Langar St Andrew's Church, Langar-cum-Barnstone, is a parish church in the Church of England in Langar, Nottinghamshire. It is Grade I listed as a building of outstanding architectural or historic interest. History The church is often called the "C ...

St Giles's Church, Cropwell Bishop St Giles' Church, Cropwell Bishop, is a Church of England parish church in the village of Cropwell Bishop, Nottinghamshire, England. The building is Grade I listed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as of outstanding arch ...

All Saints' Church, Granby All Saints', Granby is a Church of England parish church in Granby, Nottinghamshire, England. The building is Grade I listed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for outstanding architectural or historic interest. History ...

Holy Trinity Church, Tythby Holy Trinity Church, Tythby is a parish church in the Church of England in the English village of Tithby, Nottinghamshire. The building is Grade I listed. History Holy Trinity is a medieval church built in the 13th century in Early English ...

* St Mary's Church, Barnstone (no longer in use) *

St Michael and All Angels' Church, Elton on the Hill St Michael and All Angels' Church, Elton on the Hill is a parish church in the Church of England in Elton on the Hill, Nottinghamshire. It is Grade II listed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as a building of special ar ...

Notable memorials

* Henry Martin (Kinsale MP) (d. 1839) and his wife Maria Elizabeth *Revd. Joshua Brooke (d. 1888) *Alice Catherine Knowles (d. 1892) *John Haslam Knowles (d. 1890) and Lieut. Alfred Millington Knowles (d. 1900) *Robert Millington Knowles (d. 1924) *Brigadier General Sir Edward Thomas LeMarchant (d. 1953) and his wife Evelyn Brooks Knowles (d. 1957)

Old Rectory

The Old Rectory dates from 1834 and was designed by Henry Moses Wood.

Sources