---
title: "St John the Baptist, Axbridge"
description: "Located in Axbridge, Somerset. Built c.1400, on an earlier 13th-century site; restored 1888. Diocese of Bath and Wells. Grade I. Perpendicular style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Somerset","Axbridge","Grade I","Perpendicular","J. D. Sedding"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-john-baptist-axbridge"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T01:13:44.048Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-07T20:33:08.407Z"
location: "Axbridge, Somerset"
country: "England"
county: "Somerset"
town: "Axbridge"
address: "The Suqare, Axbridge, Somerset, BS26 2AP"
postcode: "BS26 2AP"
built: "c.1400, on an earlier 13th-century site; restored 1888"
architect: "J. D. Sedding (1888 restoration)"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["John the Baptist"]
diocese: "Bath and Wells"
grade: "I"
style: "Perpendicular"
materials: "Coursed and squared rubble with freestone dressings; gabled lead roofs"
website: "http://www.stjohnthebaptistaxbridge.org.uk/"
openingHours: "It is always a delight to show visitors around our beautiful church."
parish: "Axbridge"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1173117"
gridReference: "ST 431 546"
accessNotes: "Level access to the main areas"
---

# St John the Baptist, Axbridge

St John the Baptist is a Grade I parish church on The Square in Axbridge, Somerset, in the Diocese of Bath and Wells, a large Perpendicular town church of about 1400.

## Overview

Historic England dates the present building as a whole to about 1400, restored in 1888 by J. D. Sedding. Work grew from an earlier church of about 1230. The listing describes coursed and squared rubble with freestone dressings and gabled lead roofs. The plan is nave and chancel with aisles, a crossing tower with transepts, a broad west porch incorporating two rooms, and a further south porch. The tower has set-back buttresses rising to pinnacles, a quatrefoil-pierced parapet, a stair turret, and figures of St John and Henry VIII on the east and west sides.

Windows are restored Perpendicular work except aisle east windows altered in the seventeenth century for monuments. The nave has a ribbed plaster ceiling dated 1636 with pendants; the crossing has a fan vault; aisle roofs are Perpendicular panelled lean-tos. Four-bay nave arcades differ only in leaf decoration on the south capitals. Fittings include an octagonal Perpendicular font, a chandelier of 1730, a 1493 brass to Roger Harper and his wife, and a much-restored painting of Christ showing his wounds, probably fifteenth-century.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1173117](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1173117)
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_John_the_Baptist,_Axbridge)