Set just a bit further from the small village of Inglesham than you expect, up a small lane that ends in a farmyard, sits the church of St John the Baptist. Now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, this small (and to external view unremarkable) building is well renowned as being a gem in the history of the country church.
Fortunate indeed in its champions, beloved by William Morris and Betjeman, this church must owe in part its preservation to the failure of the village of Inglesham (now a mile or so further west) to prosper. Although on the site of a Saxon church the current structure is largely 13'th century and effectively unaltered since the 16'th century. So here we have a small country church free from Victorian improvement, its interior fittings just that bit ramshackle and haphazard.
So we have the box pews, in glorious assortment. Wall paintings from various centuries, with surviving 13'th century features peeking from behind later adornment. The uneven slab floor featuring many inscriptions and memorials. Here we have caught the English church in its resting state, loved but largely unregarded.
Photographed in February 2011, for theChurchPhotographer by Nick Temple-Fry. This church is usually open.
