St John the Baptist, Barnack
St John the Baptist, Barnack
St John the Baptist is a Grade I Church of England parish church on Main Street, Barnack, in the Diocese of Peterborough. The village lies in the historic Soke of Peterborough.
- Location
- Barnack, Cambridgeshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Cambridgeshire
- City / town
- Barnack
- Address
- Main Street, Barnack, Cambridgeshire, PE9 3DN
- Postcode
- PE9 3DN
- Built
- Early C11 tower; late C12 to early C14 nave, aisles and chancel
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- John the Baptist
- Diocese
- Peterborough
- Parish
- Barnack
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Anglo-Saxon tower; Romanesque and Gothic
- Materials
- Barnack stone with Collyweston stone and lead-clad roofs
- Grid reference
- TF 079 050
- Opening hours
- Open daily dawn to dusk.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
Historic England records an important church with Saxon work, built of Barnack stone with Collyweston stone and lead-clad roofs. The early eleventh-century west tower is the principal feature: the lower two storeys have long-and-short quoins, lesenes, triangular- and round-headed windows, carved decorative slabs, and a blocked south doorway. The third stage is octagonal, with large two-light bell-openings, and is surmounted by a squat stone spire, among the earliest broach spires in England.
The listing also notes a Saxon nave, a late twelfth-century north chapel and north aisle, an early thirteenth-century south aisle and a fine stone-vaulted south porch with stiff-leaf capitals, and an early fourteenth-century chancel with a five-light east window. The north aisle houses a Romanesque seated Christ in Majesty found under the floor in 1931.