Building record 864/2 - Church of St. John the Baptist, Tiffield

Church. C13 and C14. Restored, south aisle and porch added 1859 by E.F. Law; further restoration and rebuilding 1873 by H.C. Vernon.

{1} Church. C13 and C14. Restored, south aisle and porch added 1859 by E.F. Law; further restoration and rebuilding 1873 by H.C. Vernon. Coursed limestone rubble, slate roofs to nave and chancel, lead roofs to aisles and tower, plain-tile roof to porch. Chancel, aisled nave, south porch and west tower. Chancel has 3-light C19 Decorated east window and similar 2-light window to south-west. Original foliated east gable cross re-set in south wall. Nave has 3-bay clerestory with quatrefoil window to south flanked by trefoiled windows; arrangement reversed to north. Aisles has 2-light C19 Decorated-style windows. South door, re-set, has many moulded doorway, 6-panel double leaf doors with C19 ornamental hinges and hood mould. South porch has double hollow-chamfered doorway, small niche above with ogee hood mould and stone-coped gable with kneelers. West tower has 2-light west window with ogee-arched heads to lights and quatrefoil to head, similar bell-chamber openings and battlemented parapet with gargoyles north and south. Nave and aisles have stone-coped parapets, chamfered stone eaves to chancel and angle buttresses to chancel. All windows have hood moulds except those to clerestory, most with carved label stops, Interior: chancel has 2-seat sedilia with double roll-moulded arches, and encaustic-tiled floors. Nave has 3-bay arcades, C13 to north with circular piers and moulded bases and capitals, C19 to south with octagonal piers and polygonal responds. Norman font, circular with palmette ornament in beaded scalloped moulding on C19 base. C19 stain-glass windows to east end and west end of south aisle. Hanoverian Royal Arms, oil on canvas. Monuments: stone wall monument to Gerance James, d.1645, with inscription alluding to Civil War. Slate wall monument to Rev. John Gilbert, d.1730, and his wife Frances, d.1749. Horizontal oval white marble wall monument on polished slate background to Rev. Bartholemew Keeling, d.1779, and his wife May, erected, as inscription records, by their executers, the Rectors of Orlingbury and Maidford, April 1781. White marble wall monument signed by Whiting to Rhoda, wife of Rev. J.T. Flesher who died 1837 with tribute beginning "SHE WAS ZEALOUSLY PIOUS WITHOUT ENTHUSIASM". Similar monument to her youngest son James, d.1838. (Buildings of England, Northanptonshire, 1973, p431-2)

{9] Description of 12th century font. The font is a product of the workshop from St Peter's, Northampton, active in the 1140s and '50s. Other fonts by these sculptors are found in the county at Green's Norton, Paulerspury, Dodford, Harpole and Weedon Lois, and nearby at Maids' Moreton (Bucks).

{11} Undated photo, also two photos dated 10.12.1993.

{12} [Former list description] The church of St John the Baptist at Tiffield, a small limestone
building, dates from the 13th century. It was thoroughly restored in 1873, and little trace of early features survives.

{13} Drawing of font dated 1862;

Historic England, Undated, St John the Baptists Church, Tiffield, BF107425 (Archive). SNN115883.

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 3/190 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F10 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Glynne S., 1859, Church Notes of Sir Stephen Glynne, (unchecked) (Manuscript). SNN39492.

<4> DRAWINGS, (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN56530.

<5> Historic England, 2017, Heritage at Risk: East Midlands Register 2017, p. 63 (Report). SNN111090.

<6> Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society, 2011, TACS (Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society) Location Database (Gazetteer). SNN107648.

<7> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<8> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.271-72 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<9> King's College, London, 2017, A corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, Site 836 (Website). SNN110894.

<10> Historic England, 2018, Heritage at Risk: East Midlands Register 2018, p. 63 (Report). SNN111434.

<11> Photographs of buildings in Tiffield (Photographs). SNN113597.

<12> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, M H L G list, Towcester R D 1949, 32 (Report). SNN112993.

<13> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/272/1 (Archive). SNN115.

Record last edited

Dec 16 2024 3:54PM