St John the Baptist's Church, Hope Bagot facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St John the Baptist's Church, Hope Bagot |
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St John the Baptist's Church, Hope Bagot, from the south
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| OS grid reference | SO 589 741 |
| Location | Hope Bagot, Shropshire |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Website | Tenbury Team Ministry |
| History | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade I |
| Designated | 12 November 1954 |
| Architect(s) | W. D. Caroe (restoration) |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Norman, Gothic |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Stone, tile roofs |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Hope Bagot |
| Deanery | Ludlow |
| Archdeaconry | Ludlow |
| Diocese | Hereford |
| Province | Canterbury |
St John the Baptist's Church is in the small village of Hope Bagot, Shropshire, England. It's a special church that's still used today by the Anglican faith. It's part of a group of eleven other local churches. This church is so old and important that it's officially protected as a Grade I listed building. This means it's a very important historic building.
A Long History
This church is very old! It was first built way back in the 1100s. Over the years, parts of it were changed or added in the 1200s, 1300s, and 1600s.
A family called the Hill family, from nearby Court of Hill, looked after the church from the 1200s to the mid-1500s.
The church was fixed up and made new again in 1868. It had another big restoration in 1911. A famous architect named W. D. Caroe led this later work.
Church Design
St John's is a small church. Most of its design is in the old Norman style. It's built from stone, with some parts covered in a smooth plaster. The roof is made of tiles.
The church has a main room called the nave. There's a porch on the south side. It also has a special area near the altar called the chancel. At the west end, there's a tower.
The Tower
The tower has two levels. Its walls lean inwards a bit, and it has a pointy, pyramid-shaped roof on top. You can see tall, narrow windows, called lancet windows, on the west and south sides of the tower.
Inside and Out
The north side of the church is completely Norman in style. It has one window in the nave and one in the chancel. The main entrance on the south side is also Norman. It has a plain, rounded stone panel above the door called a tympanum. The windows on the south side of the church were added in the 1300s. The south porch is made of wood. The window at the east end of the church has two sections and seems to be from the early 1500s.
Inside, the church still looks mostly Norman. However, the chancel roof was rebuilt during the 1911 restoration. In the chancel, you'll find a piscina, which is a stone basin for washing sacred vessels. There's also a stepped sedilia, which are seats for the clergy.
The plain stone font, used for baptisms, is from the 1100s. The wooden pulpit, where sermons are given, is from the 1600s. Behind the pulpit, there's an old wall painting with a date of 1681. The beautiful stained glass in the east window was put in around 1900.
Outside the Church
In the churchyard, to the south of the church, there are four old memorials. Each of these is also a Grade II listed building, meaning they are important historical items. They are all headstones from the early 1700s.
- One memorial is for Clara and William Giles. It has carvings of a heart and laurel leaves.
- Another is for Jane Walker, who passed away in 1728. It's decorated with plants and leaves.
- The memorial for John Penny, who died in 1729, also has leaf decorations.
- The last one is for Thomas Giles (died 1739) and his wife (died 1729). It shows a carving of two hands clasped together.
There's also a very old yew tree growing in the churchyard.
See also
- Grade I listed churches in Shropshire
- Listed buildings in Hope Bagot
