St John the Baptist's Church, Barnack

St John the Baptist, Barnack
St John the Baptist's Church, Barnack
St John the Baptist, Barnack Location in Cambridgeshire
52°37′57″N0°24′25″W / 52.6326°N 0.407°W / 52.6326; -0.407
Location	Barnack, Cambridgeshire
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Broad
Website	https://parishnews-online.co.uk/st-john-the-baptist-church-barnack/
History
Dedication	John the Baptist
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	19 March 1962
Specifications
Spire height	114 feet (35 metres)
Administration
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	Peterborough
Archdeaconry	Oakham
Deanery	Peterborough
Parish	Barnack with Ufford
Clergy
Rector	Reverend Gary Alderson

The Church of St John the Baptist, Barnack is a Church of England parish church in the village of Barnack, now in the City of Peterborough unitary authority area of the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England.

Description

Barnack was part of the Soke of Peterborough, a historic area that was traditionally part of Northamptonshire. Barnack is 3.5 miles (6 km) south-east of Stamford in Lincolnshire. The church is a Grade I listed building. ^[1]

The church, dedicated to John the Baptist, is noted in particular for its Anglo-Saxon tower to which was added a spire of circa 1200, possibly one of the earliest spires in England. ^[2]

In the north aisle is a large Romanesque sculpture of a seated Christ in Majesty that was discovered under the floor in 1931. Estimates of the date of the Christ vary widely, from the latter part of the 10th century to circa 1200; the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland settles on the late 12th century. ^[3]

Simon Jenkins gives the church four stars in his England's Thousand Best Churches (1999) and highlights as features the tower, the stiff-leaf font and the Christ in Majesty.

The height of the surviving Anglo-Saxon work in the tower is 55 feet (17 metres), topped by an octagon and spire of 59 feet high (18 metres), giving a total height to the base of the weathervane of 114 feet (35 metres). ^[4]

Gallery

• 
  St John from the southeast showing the Lady Chapel at left
• 
  The square Anglo-Saxon tower; the top is later
• 
  Anglo-Saxon south doorway in the tower
• 
  Gravestones in the Churchyard
• 
  Distant view from the north
• 
  Porch and south aisle, photographed in 1926 by Berit Wallenberg

References

1. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1126844)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 10 July 2015.
2. Barnack Church Hidden Heritage (retrieved 19 December 2009)
3. Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland
4. Flannery, Julian (2016). Fifty English Steeples: The Finest Medieval Parish Church Towers and Spires in England. New York City, New York, United States: Thames and Hudson. pp. 64–69. ISBN   978-0-500-34314-2.

External links

• Church services information
• Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland
• Great English Churches website