St John, Terrington St John

St John’s is a Grade I parish church on Church Road, Terrington St John, Norfolk, in the East Marshland Benefice of the Diocese of Ely.

Overview

Historic England and British Listed Buildings describe an early fourteenth-century parish church remodelled in the fifteenth century, with a south-west tower of late thirteenth-century origin that was originally detached. The fabric is rendered Barnack stone with some brick, under slate and lead roofs. The three-stage tower has angle buttresses that become polygonal at the belfry, a crenellated parapet with corner turrets, and a unique three- or four-storey link to the south aisle comprising an undercroft, a room often identified as a priest’s house, and stacked passageways to the ringing chamber and nave roof.

The church was first rendered in 1835; the tower was restored in 1843 and the remainder in 1853. It became a parish church in its own right rather than a chapel of ease to Terrington St Clement. Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register notes the priest’s-house link and records serious damp from failed rainwater goods. The nave roof is dated in the listing description.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1264266
• British Listed Buildings: Church of Saint John
• East Marshland Benefice