St John the Baptist's Church is a 'community' church in

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in ...

, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It is a Grade II

listed building 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, Hi ...

History

Burslem became a parish in 1809; before that it 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 ...

in the parish of Stoke-upon-Trent, but often regarded as a parish, having its own churchwardens from 1553."Burslem: Churches", in ''A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 8, ed. J G Jenkins'' (London, 1963), pp. 121-125
British History Online. Retrieved 27 September 2019. The stone tower of St John's was built in 1536. It is late perpendicular; the low west door has a Tudor arch. The body of the church is of brick, built in 1717, replacing an earlier timber-framed building destroyed in a fire. The sides have tall windows with round arches. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

was added in 1788; it has an

apsidal In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In Byzant ...

east end with a Venetian window. It is thought that

Enoch Wood Enoch Wood (1759–1840) was an English potter and businessman, from one of the major families in Staffordshire pottery. Starting as a modeller, he established a successful business in Burslem in the Staffordshire Potteries, from 1790-1818 tradi ...

, the churchwarden, instigated the building of the chancel.

Churchyard

The churchyard was extended in 1804 and again in 1847; the older part has around it brick walls of the late 18th or early 19th century. Among the graves in the churchyard are those of the potters William Adams (1746–1805) and

(1759–1840). It also contains the grave of Margaret (or Mollie) Leigh (died 1748), who was reputed to be a witch. Her tomb has its axis set north–south. It is thought that it was re-orientated by the rector of St John's (who had earlier officiated at the funeral) in order to lay her ghost to rest, after a rumour that she had been seen after her death."Molly Leigh – the witch of Burslem""
BBC Stoke and Staffordshire, 3 March 2006. Retrieved 28 September 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burslem, St John the Baptist's Church Grade II listed churches in Staffordshire Church of England church buildings in Staffordshire Diocese of Lichfield Churches in Stoke-on-Trent Churches dedicated to John the Baptist in England Anglican churches dedicated to John the Baptist

History

Churchyard

See also

References