Church of St John the Baptist, Cirencester

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Church of St John Baptist, Cirencester

Gloucestershire


St John Baptist, Cirencester
Church of England
Diocese of Gloucester
Location
Grid reference: SP02310209
Location: 51°43’3"N, 1°58’4"W
History
Information
Website: www.cirenparish.co.uk/

The Church of St. John Baptist, Cirencester is a grand, mediæval church in the heart of Cirencester, Gloucestershire. It is parish church, in the Church of England's Diocese of Gloucester, and is a Grade I listed building.[1]

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 around 1480 and only connected to the church in the 18th century.

The church is built of Cotswold stone and is one of the "largest parish churches in England". It contains various tombs and monuments with some fragments of mediæval stained glass and wall paintings.

History

A grand statement of Mediæval art, Cirencester's parish church is renowned for its perpendicular porch, fan vaults and merchants' tombs.

Before the Reformation

The chancel is the oldest part of the structure:[2] construction of the current church started in the 12th century on the site of an earlier Saxon church.[3] It was widened in about 1180. Around 1240 the nave was completely rebuilt.[4] 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'.[2][5] To the north of St. Catherine's Chapel is the Lady Chapel, first built in 1240 and extended in the 15th century.[6][7] The tower was built and supported by buttresses around 1400.[7]

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.[7] It contains a squint which enabled the priest to synchronise the celebration of mass with that at the high altar.[8] The nave was completely rebuilt between 1515 and 1530 and is a remarkable example of late Perpendicular Gothic architecture.[9][6]

The tower is fifteenth century and remarkable for the large buttresses which shore it up at its junction with the nave.[10]

The great south porch which adjoins the market place was built around 1500 at the expense of Alice Avening.[11] It is elaborately decorated. The porch was built by Cirencester Abbey around 1480, as an administrative centre and only connected to the church in the 18th century.

The nave was again rebuilt between 1516 and 1530.[4]

Reform

Between the dissolution of the monasteries and its connection to the church, the south porch was used as the town hall.[3][2]

In 1642 the church was used to imprison local citizens overnight after the skirmishes in the town during the Civil War.[6]

During the 1860s George Gilbert Scott led a team undertaking a Victorian restoration to strengthen the church, which included moving many of the bodies interred under the nave to the Lady Chapel.[5] 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.[12]

The Communion table
The tomb of Thomas Master (d:1680) in the Lady Chapel
The north aisle

Architecture and fittings

The church is built of honey-coloured Cotswold stone. It is 180 feet long and 104 feet wide. The three-stage buttressed tower is 134 feet high.[13] This makes it one of the "largest parish churches in England".[10]

The layout of the church includes a three-bay chancel and three-bay aisled nave.[1] The nave includes arcades of tall piers with carved angels at the tops supporting arches and windows.[10] The west tower houses bells which have been added to and recast, mostly by Rudhall of Gloucester, over the centuries.[7][14]

The three-storey south porch has carved oriel windows and crenellated parapets topped by decorative pinnacles.[13] The interior is a profusion of panelling in the chambers.[15]

The pulpit dates from the 15th century.[3] 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.[2] The brass chandeliers were made in Bristol in 1701.[7]

There are several stained glass windows.[2] Some of these include fragments of mediæval glass but are largely 18th century by Hardman & Co.[1][4] The east windows of the chancel and south chapel were built around 1300.[7]

There are some surviving fragments of wall paintings particularly in St Catherines chapel,[2] and a wide variety of tombs and monuments.[13][4] The silver gilt "Boleyn Cup" was made in 1535 for Anne Boleyn and given to the church by Elizabeth I.[5]

Organ

The church possesses a pipe organ built by Henry Willis & Sons in 1895 with a case by George Gilbert Scott.[16] It was renovated by Rushworth and Dreaper in 1955[17] and rebuilt by Harrison & Harrison in 2009.[18]

  • The font
    The font
  • Monument to George Monax (d:1638)
    Monument to George Monax (d:1638)
  • Stained glass in the east window
    Stained glass in the east window
  • Fan vaulting of St Nicholas's & St Katherine's Chapel
    Fan vaulting of St Nicholas's & St Katherine's Chapel

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Church of St John the Baptist, Cirencester)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 National Heritage List 1206356: Church of St John the Baptist (Grade I listing)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Church of St John the Baptist, Cirencester, Gloucestershire". Wasleys. http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/churches/england/cotswolds/gloucestershire/gloucestershire_one/cirencester/index.html. Retrieved 16 October 2020. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ross, David. "St John the Baptist church, Cirencester". Britain Express. https://www.britainexpress.com/counties/glouces/churches/Cirencester.htm. Retrieved 16 October 2020. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Verey, David (1979). Gloucestershire 1: Cotswolds. Penguin. pp. 161–171. ISBN 978-0140710403. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Church of St John Baptist, Cirencester". Sacred destinations. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/cirencester-church. Retrieved 16 October 2020. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "St John the Baptist". Explore Churches. https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-john-baptist-cirencester. Retrieved 16 October 2020. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Verey, David (2007). Cotswold Churches. The History Press. pp. 71–74. ISBN 978-1845880286. 
  8. ↑ Church guide. Free issue.
  9. ↑ Cirencester Parish Church. Canon Rowland E. Hill.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Cirencester, St. John the Baptist". English Church Architecture. http://www.english-church-architecture.net/gloucestershire/cirencester/cirencester.htm. Retrieved 16 October 2020. 
  11. ↑ "Find out about the parish church history". The Parish of Cirencester. https://cirenparish.co.uk/visit-the-parish/the-parish-church-of-st-john-baptist/parish-church-history/. Retrieved 16 October 2020. 
  12. ↑ Davenport, Peter (2013). "Archaeological Investigations at the Parish Church of St John Baptist, Cirencester, 2008 and 2009". Trans. Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 131: 147–178. http://www.bgas.org.uk/tbgas_bg/v131/bg131147.pdf. Retrieved 2020-10-16. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Church of St John Baptist, Cirencester, Gloucestershire". UK Southwest. https://www.uksouthwest.net/gloucestershire/church-of-st-john-baptist-cirencester/. Retrieved 16 October 2020. 
  14. ↑ "Cirencester S John Bapt". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. https://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?DoveID=CIRENCST. Retrieved 16 October 2020. 
  15. ↑ Moriarty, Denis (1989). Buildings of the Cotswolds. Gollancz. pp. 71–74. ISBN 978-0575040595. 
  16. ↑ "The Organ in Cirencester Parish Church". Archived from the original on 2008-08-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20080826234543/http://www.harrison-organs.co.uk/cirencesterspec.html. Retrieved 2008-11-03. 
  17. ↑ "Gloucestershire Cirencester, St. John the Baptist, Market Place". The National Pipe Organ Register. https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=A00728. Retrieved 15 October 2020. 
  18. ↑ Harrison & Harrison Template:Webarchive
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