St John the Baptist, Little Somerford

St John the Baptist is a Grade I parish church on The Street in Little Somerford, Wiltshire, in the Diocese of Bristol. The first record of a church here is 1251; the present building is of about 1300 with a fifteenth-century tower.

Overview

Historic England describes an Anglican parish church of about 1300 with a fifteenth-century west tower, restored about 1860, in rubble stone with a stone slate roof and coped gables. Nave and chancel stand in one range, with a south porch and a thin west tower. The late fifteenth-century porch is ashlar-fronted, with a sundial and a four-centred arched entry. The chancel has a three-light east window with reticulated tracery.

The listing calls the fifteenth-century boarded tympanum exceptional: concealed until 1983, it is painted with two censing angels and the Ten Commandments on a deep red ground. A large royal coat of arms dated 1602, formerly over the screen, now fills the tower arch. The timber chancel screen is basically fourteenth-century. The pulpit is dated 1626; nave pews are cut-down seventeenth-century box pews. A 1928 tower screen is by Sir Robert Lorimer. The three bells were recast in the eighteenth century.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1300525
• Wikipedia: Church of St John the Baptist, Little Somerford