St. John the Baptist, Feckenham, Worcestershire

Description

The church of St. John the Baptist is a building of stone, in the Geometric Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch and a low embattled western tower with 4 pinnacles, containing a clock and 8 bells: the tower was restored in 1903, at a cost of £251 by Mr. Ford Whitcombe A.R.I.B.A.; the chancel was rebuilt about 1853, under the direction of Mr. Butterfield, and the south wall and nave roof and porch were reconstructed in 1866-7: the stained east window in the chancel is a memorial to George Webb esq. of Astwood Court, and there are others to Mrs. Lucy Haywood, Miss Clara M. Gutch and Mrs. E. W. Haywood, of Sillins: there was formerly in the chancel an altar-tomb with recumbent effigies of a knight and his lady and figures of three children, erected by Lady Joyce Culpeper, and inscribed to Sir Martin Culpeper, of Deane, in the parish of Spelsbury, county Oxon, her husband, who died 26th June, 1604; this monument, it is stated, was, on the rebuilding of the chancel, buried beneath the floor: the interior of the church was thoroughly restored in 1904, when the old gallery was taken down, the total cost being about £1,000: a new organ loft and organ were erected in 1907 at a cost of about £220: there are sittings for 261 persons.

Church Records

The register dates from the year 1538.