Rudmore: St John the Baptist
Overview
Grid reference: SU 644 20
The church is built in the north Italian style of the Ravenna churches and, although Rudmore lacks a campanile, the first impression of it is not unlike, for example, St. Apollinare in Classe. The severe brick walls were doubtless intentionally built thus to suit the character of the area which the church was provided to serve. The main vessel of the building is the long rectangular nave, five bays in all with two pairs of round-headed clerestory lights in each bay, the bays marked by rectangular recessed areas of brickwork. The parapet runs straight without interruption from west to east and there are not even crosses on the low-pitched gables.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Five-bay aisled nave with clerestory and small apsidal baptistery at the west; apsidal chancel with north sacristy and vestry and south Lady Chapel; the church is connected by a passage to the Vicarage.
Description of Archaeology and History
The parish began as a missionary district in the early years of the 20th century, and was adopted by the Winchester College Mission in 1907. Work originally began in a room in a house, then moved to a "tin tabernacle", until plans were drawn up in 1914 for a fine new church in Gothic style by John Duke Coleridge; because of the outbreak of war, new and less expensive plans were called for from the architect. Funds were raised almost entirely by the College and Old Wykehamists.
The foundation stone was laid on 30th October 1915 and the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Winchester on 14th October 1916, and the church received a parish in 1917. Coleridge (1879-1934) was articled to Walter Cave and then spent two years in Lutyen's office. Most of his work was domestic and consists of houses in the area of Godalming , Bletchingley and Hindhead. He also designed King's School, Ottery St. Mary, and his only other church seems to have been St. Alban, Hindhead.
Exterior Description
The church is built in the north Italian style of the Ravenna churches and, although Rudmore lacks a campanile, the first impression of it is not unlike, for example, St. Apollinare in Classe. The severe brick walls were doubtless intentionally built thus to suit the character of the area which the church was provided to serve. The main vessel of the building is the long rectangular nave, five bays in all with two pairs of round-headed clerestory lights in each bay, the bays marked by rectangular recessed areas of brickwork. The parapet runs straight without interruption from west to east and there are not even crosses on the low-pitched gables.
Round this are grouped the lower roofs of the aisles, chapels and vestries. On the south side, the aisle has bays divided by pilaster strips, each with a single round-headed window of larger dimensions than the clerestory lights. In the west bay is a cross-gable to draw attention to a doorway, and complementary to this at the east end is another cross gable in the position of a transept, but hardly higher than the aisle roof, which forms the transition between aisle and Lady Chapel. The latter has three round-headed windows in the south wall, the central one slightly wider than the others.
The east end of the church is somewhat untidily arranged, the apse of the chancel being set behind a rectangular ambulatory, and the passage to the Vicarage awkwardly fitted in at this point without any special care for its appearance. On the north side of the apse are the ample two-storeyed vestries, housed under a gabled structure virtually to identical to the Lady Chapel with which they are symmetrically placed. The upper floor over the sacristy has a cross gable like the south transeptal projection, and the rest of the north flank of the church is symmetrical to the south. The west wall of the nave rises sheer from the ground to the gable, pierced by three tall graded lights set hightened in the wall surface to allow for the small apsidal baptistery below; this has one window in the western side; the only buttresses in the church rise at the corners of the west nave wall, terminating at eaves level with a shallow gablet after one off-set rather less than halfway up.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1918
East window: The Virgin and Child. By Karl Parsons.
Stained Glass
1950s
South wall I: Three Magi. By Edward Woore.
Stained Glass
1928
South Wall II: Flight into Egypt, with The Massacre of the Innocents below. By Karl Parsons.
Stained Glass
1928
South wall III: The Shepherds. By Karl Parsons.
Stained Glass
c.1950
West window: single small light in beptistery of Baptism of Christ by A.K. Nicholson.
Interior
Interior Description
If the exterior of the church is perhaps rather forbidding, the interior is spacious, cool and restful, again reminiscent of the Italian churches from which it is derived. The architectural details are carried out in brick against a background of plastered and whitened walls which serve to clarify the bones of the structure. Again, all arches and openings are round-headed, and the arches of the arcades and the chancel arch are of three receding orders of brickwork. The capitals of the nave pillars (save for one) remain uncut ; that which is carved shows typical post-Ravennate foliage interlacing in an almost Celtic manner. The nave roof was renewed after the war, and is panelled with unpainted timber, the middle flat and the sides slightly sloping. In the western bay of each aisle are internal porches with small spaces above, of which one is used as a Chapel in connection with St. Agatha, Lendport, and preserves some fittings from that church. The arcades and the clerestory are unified by half-round brick shafts which rise from the floor past the capitals of the arcade right up to the wall-plate.
Dominating the east end of the church is a large mosaic in the semi-circular vault above the chancel apse. The marble paved floor comes forward into the nave, and the sanctuary is spaciously laid out with a wide stone altar within the apse. Behind this is a series of narrow round-headed arches on brick piers with carved stone capitals which open to an ambulatory. The door to the passage linking church and Vicarage comes, oddly, directly behind the altar so that a curtain must be hung in the central arch to conceal it. In the walls each side are small windows which shed light through each of the other arches. The south Lady Chapel is used for the reservation of the sacrament, and was refurnished in thin classical style in 1960. The organ stands in the eastern bay of the north aisle, at higher level, with a detached console on the floor nearby; the sacristy and vestries are entered below the organ.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
The high altar is of stone, quite plain.
Pulpit
1902
The pulpit is a fine piece, in oak but after the pattern of an Italian pulpit in marble. It is basically square with four columns at the corners rising from the floor to the cornice round the top. Each is a decorated with a spiral of leaf-trail; between the upper part of the pulpit has slightly curved sides each with three vertical panels of pierced decoration representing grapes and so forth. Moved from St. Agatha Landport, for which it was made in 1902 by J.H. Ball; it fits admirably here also. It was carved by Hoare of Southsea.
Lectern
The lectern is a big oak eagle on a short stem, and looks older than the church.
Font (object)
The font is hexagonal, with tapering sides carved with six winged cherubs on the west and east, bunches of grapes and anchors on the other sides.
Altar
Late 19th Century
The altar in the south chapel is a late nineteenth-century altar in the Gothic style from elsewhere.
Organ (object)
The organ has two manuals, electric action and twenty speaking stops. Rebuilt 1974-6.
Churchyard
Grid reference: SU 644 20
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | N/A |
| Solar Thermal Panels | N/A |
| Biomass | N/A |
| Wind Turbine | N/A |
| Air Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ev Charging | N/A |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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