St John the Baptist, Upton Bishop

St John the Baptist is a Grade I parish church in Upton Bishop, Herefordshire, in the Diocese of Hereford.

Overview

Historic England describes a parish church of sandstone rubble with a stone slate roof: twelfth-century nave and south arcade, thirteenth-century chancel, fourteenth-century south porch and rebuilding of the south aisle, and a west tower of about 1400. The church was restored in 1862 and a south vestry added in 1880. The three-stage west tower has stepped diagonal buttresses, two string courses and a plain parapet, with a trefoil-headed second-stage light and two trefoil-headed belfry lights with a quatrefoil. The south aisle has ogee-headed windows and a cinquefoil-headed east window. The gabled south porch has a two-centred outer doorway of two chamfered orders. The chancel east window pairs early thirteenth-century lancets with a later inserted light. Fragments thought to be from a Roman tombstone are built into the chancel wall.

Herefordshire HER records a blocked Early Norman north doorway, a late Norman three-bay south arcade, an early thirteenth-century chancel rebuild and a large Perpendicular west tower. A priest is mentioned in Domesday. Restoration is attributed to George Gilbert Scott in 1862. The octagonal vestry of 1880 is a memorial addition.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1166738
• British Listed Buildings: Church of St John the Baptist
• Herefordshire HER monument 6835