---
title: "St John the Baptist, Knaresborough"
description: "Located in Knaresborough, Yorkshire. Built Mainly mid C15; late C12 remains; restored c.1870. Diocese of Leeds. Grade I. Perpendicular, with Early English chapel detail style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Yorkshire","Knaresborough","Grade I","Perpendicular"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-john-baptist-knaresborough"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T01:58:44.878Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T16:00:15.810Z"
location: "Knaresborough, Yorkshire"
country: "England"
county: "Yorkshire"
town: "Knaresborough"
address: "Church Lane, Knaresborough, Yorkshire, HG5 9AR"
postcode: "HG5 9AR"
built: "Mainly mid C15; late C12 remains; restored c.1870"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["John the Baptist"]
diocese: "Leeds"
grade: "I"
style: "Perpendicular, with Early English chapel detail"
materials: "Coursed squared limestone with ashlar and gritstone dressings; graduated Westmorland slate and lead roofs"
website: "http://www.knaresboroughanglicans.org.uk/"
openingHours: "St John the Baptist is a greatly admired place of peace and beauty and is open every day."
parish: "Knaresborough"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1293930"
gridReference: "SE 347 571"
accessNotes: "Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby"
---

# St John the Baptist, Knaresborough

St John the Baptist is a Grade I parish church on Church Lane, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, the largest church in the town and the seat of the parish in the Diocese of Leeds.

## Overview

Historic England records a mainly mid-fifteenth-century parish church with late twelfth-century remains and a restoration of about 1870. Fabric is coursed squared limestone with ashlar and gritstone dressings, under graduated Westmorland slate and lead roofs. The plan is a four-bay nave with central tower, aisles continued past the line of former transepts, clerestory and south porch, and a three-bay chancel with north vestry. The four-stage tower rises over the former crossing; roof-lines of transepts demolished in the fifteenth century remain visible. A slender lead-covered spire is thought to be early sixteenth-century.

Nave arcades have tall octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches. St Edmund’s chapel in the south aisle has Early English nail-head and dog-tooth decoration, with crocketed sedilia, piscina and a tomb-recess or Easter sepulchre. The Slingsby chapel at the east end of the north aisle holds seventeenth-century and later family memorials. A fine octagonal fifteenth-century font has an elaborately carved cover of about 1700. Parish history records a church on the site by 1114, when Henry I granted the church at “Cnaresburgh” to the canons of Nostell; the dedication was changed from St Mary after the Reformation. The church is open every day.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1293930](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1293930)
- [British Listed Buildings: Church of Saint John the Baptist, Knaresborough](https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101293930-church-of-saint-john-the-baptist-knaresborough)