The Church of St John the Baptist in

Yeovil Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

. The church was built in the late 14th century, but was reconstructed in the 1850s. It has been designated as a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The tower, which was built around 1480, is high, in four stages with set-back offset corner buttresses. It is thought that the work was supervised by

William Wynford William Wynford or William of Wynford (flourished 1360–1405) was one of the most successful English master masons of the 14th century, using the new Perpendicular Gothic style. Life and career He is first mentioned in 1360 when at work at Winds ...

, master mason of

Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England, dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, whose cathedra it holds as mother church of the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Built as a ...

. To meet the growing size of Yeovil and the increased population, work on a second church, Holy Trinity, began on 24 June 1843, and this relieved the pressures on St John's. In 1863, shortage of space in the graveyard was alleviated by the opening of the Preston Road cemetery. The church is capped by

openwork Openwork or open-work is a term in art history, architecture and related fields for any technique that produces decoration by creating holes, piercings, or gaps that go right through a solid material such as metal, wood, stone, pottery, cloth, l ...

balustrading A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its co ...

matching the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

s which are from the 19th century, when major reconstruction work was undertaken from 1851 to 1860. The tower has two-light late 14th century windows on all sides at bell-ringing and bell-chamber levels, the latter having fine pierced stonework grilles. There is a stair turret to the north-west corner, with a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

termination. Among the fourteen bells are two dating from 1728 and made by Thomas Bilbie of the

Bilbie family The Bilbie family were bell founders and clockmakers based initially in Chew Stoke, Somerset and later at Cullompton, Devon in south-west England from the late 17th century to the early 19th century. Their importance to the local economy and ...

Chew Stoke Chew Stoke is a small village and civil parish in the affluent Chew Valley, in Somerset, England, about south of Bristol and 10 miles north of Wells. It is at the northern edge of the Mendip Hills, a region designated by the United Kingdom ...

. Another from the same date, the "Great Bell", was recast in 2013, from to . Because of the state of some of the external masonry the church has been added to the

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

Judas Iscariot in Stained Glass Depiction

Unusually, the stained glass windows include a depiction of a lone

Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...

with a dark halo. Inside the church is a brass reading desk originally made in East Anglia. The parish is part of a benefice with St Andrew, Yeovil, in the

Diocese of Bath and Wells The Diocese of Bath and Wells is a diocese in the Church of England Province of Canterbury in England. The diocese covers the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is located in the ...

. A Member of the South West Gospel Partnership, it has an evangelical character.

The Chantry

St John the Baptist Church, Yeovil, with Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin, c

In 1573, the Chantry of St Mary the Virgin in the churchyard of the parish church was fitted out as a schoolroom by the parish. This developed into a

charity school Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...

. In 1855, the schoolroom was demolished and replaced by a new building next to the churchyard, also called the Chantry,Daniel Vickery, ''A Sketch of the Town of Yeovil'' (1856)
pp. 35–40
/ref> which had feoffees who appointed a

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled afte ...

. When the old schoolroom was demolished, it was estimated to date from the reign of Richard III, and some of its features, including two chimneypieces, were salvaged and built into the new Chantry, while the roof structure was copied. By stages, the charity school morphed into

Yeovil Grammar School Yeovil Grammar School was a grammar school in Yeovil, Somerset, which was founded or refounded about 1860 and closed in 1906 when its only headmaster, Henry Monk, retired. The 19th-century grammar school grew out of a long-established charity sc ...

, which closed in 1907 with the retirement of its schoolmaster.L. C. Hayward
THE YEOVIL CHARITY SCHOOL – (PART 3 OF 3)
in ''Chronicle: Yeovil Archaeological and Local History Society'', April 1987, pp. 134-136

References

External links

St John's, Yeovil
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeovil, John the Baptist 14th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in South Somerset Grade I listed churches in Somerset

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

Structures on the Heritage at Risk register in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset

The Chantry

See also

References

External links