St John the Baptist Church, Devizes
Long Street, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 1NP
The church of St. John the Baptist Church, Devizes is built of ashlar and has a chancel with north and south chapels, a crossing tower, transepts, an aisled nave, and north and south porches. The later-12th-century cruciform church was of considerable size and quality. The chancel was covered by a quadripartite vault of two bays and the walls were decorated internally by intersecting arcading. The oblong tower, more than 65 ft. high, was richly ornamented both inside and out. It had a circular stair turret of still greater height at its north-west corner. Visible above the crossing arches on the inside there was a blind arcade with triple intersecting arches, perhaps the only example of this in England. The transepts, like the chancel, had an eaves course decorated with carved corbels, and in each gable three windows arranged one over two.
Contrary to expectation in a church of this period, the nave seems to have been unaisled; it terminated in a decorated west front. The evidence for changes in the next two centuries is slight but implies that the church was considerably enlarged. Parts of weathering courses on the east walls of both transepts imply that there were chapels or apses before those of the 15th century, and it is unlikely that they were original apses in a church of later12th-century design.
Guides and quizzes will be available.
Timings & Tours
- Saturday 14 September:
- 1000-1600
Location & directions
Long Street, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 1NP
- Contact on day:
- Philippa Morgan
- Telephone number:
- +447801971591
Booking information
- Pre-booking requirement:
- Pre-booking not required
Accessibility details
The guided tours are of the tower only, not of the church, although of course there are plenty of leaflets and information available about the church. Groups will be limited to 6 people at a time for safety reasons. Only children aged 7 and over, plus one adult per child, will be permitted, also for safety reasons
