Denomination Anglican Consecrated 1866 Opened 1866 Architect John Douglas | Dedication St John the Baptist Address Chester CH3 6JE, UK Phone +44 1244 332106 | |
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Churchmanship Conservative Evangelical Website St John the Baptist, Aldford Associated people Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster Architectural style Gothic Revival architecture Similar St Mary's Church - Dodleston, St Mark's Church - Antrobus, St John the Evangelist's Church, All Saints Church - Scholar G, St John the Evangelist's Church - A | ||
St John the Baptist's Church is in the village of Aldford, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Malpas. Its benefice is combined with those of St Peter, Waverton and St Mary, Bruera. It is described by the authors of the Buildings of England series as "expensive" and "stiffly conventional".
Contents
History
The church was built in 1866 on the site of a previous church to a design by John Douglas at the expense of Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster. The vestry was converted into a chapel, and a new vestry was added in 1902 by Douglas and Minshull.
Exterior
The church is constructed in red sandstone with a grey-green slate roof and a shingled spire. The architectural style is that of the late 13th century. Its plan consists of a west tower, a four-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a chancel with a north chapel, and a south vestry, and a south porch. The tower is in three stages with a recessed octagonal spire, and at its southwest is an octagonal stair turret with a small stone spire. Lancet windows are in the first and second stages of the tower, above which are paired bell-openings. At the top is a corbelled open parapet. A rose window is in the north wall of the chapel. Over the south doorway is the damaged dedication stone from the former church. The porch is in striped stone, and has a pointed barrel vault.
Interior
The interior of the church is in ashlar stone, the walls of the tower and chancel being diapered. The arcades are carried on polished limestone monolithic columns. Both the pulpit and the font are in marble. The reredos contains five panels of mosaics by Salviati. The stained glass in the east window of the chapel dates from the 19th century and was made by Morris & Co. to a design by Burne-Jones. In the church are memorials, some of which have come from the previous church. These include a monument to the memory of Lieut. Job Watson Royle who was killed in 1812 at the Battle of Badajoz. Another memorial is a wooden tablet to Frances Jones who died in 1719. In the vestry is a benefaction board covering the period 1682–1723. At the base of the tower is a list of rectors going back to about 1300. The organ was made by William Hill and later modified by Robert Hope-Jones. A further modification was carried out in about 1997 by David Wells. There is a ring of six bells. Four of these were cast in 1865 by Mears & Stainbank at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, and the other two are by John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough.