The church of St. John Baptist has a history quite different from that of the other parish churches and is specially interesting as a building belonging to a very limited class, namely, Collegiate Churches owned by a Gild Though Dugdale says that the “first and most antient of the Gilds here was founded in the 14th Ed III (1340) it is probable that, as in other places, religious gilds had for long existed here and that the royal license or Charter of this date was like that of Stratford-on-Avon in 1332, really a reconstitution or confirmation of the Gilds rights, privileges and possessions.

This earliest one was known as the Merchant or St. Mary’s Gild and its first ordinances provided that “the brethren and sisteren of the gild shall find as many chaplains as the means of the gild can well afford” Then in 1342 that of St. John Baptist and in 1343 that of St. Katharine was founded The former at once founded a chantry of six priests to sing mass daily in the churches of St. Michael and the Trinity for “the souls of the King’s progenitors and for the good estate of the King, Queen Isabella his mother, Queen Philippa his Consort and their children” and others, besides the members of the Gild In 1344 this Gild, desiring to have a building for its exclusive use, received from Queen Isabella a small piece of land called Babbelak on which to build a chapel in honour of God and St. John, two priests being required to sing masses daily for the souls “of her dear lord Edward,” John, Earl of Cornwall and others. Did she seek to satisfy her conscience thus for the woes she had brought upon her dear lord? The site thus given measured 117 feet from north to south and about 40 feet from east to west giving room for the chancel only of the present church, this being dedicated in 1350. But in 1357 William Walsheman, valet to the Queen and now her sub-bailiff in Coventry gave further land, added a new aisle and increased the number of priests while the Black Prince in 1359 gave a small plot on which, perhaps, the tower and transept now stand Within the next ten years Walsheman and Christiana his wife gave to the Gild certain tenements, called the “Drapery,” in the city to build a chapel in honour of the Holy Trinity, St. Mary, St. John, and St. Katharine “within the Chapel of Bablake.” William Wolfe, mayor in 1375, is mentioned as a “great helper” in the work at the church, the original nave and aisles being probably built at this time, and some reconstruction of the choir. Records are wanting of the subsequent alterations which gave it its present form. The north clearstory of the nave shows the original design while that of the choir and the south side of the nave belong to the fifteenth century as do the tower and the cruciform arrangement of the building. Leland’s “Itinerary” gives the following description: “There is also a Collegiate Church at Bablake, hard within the West Gate (Spon Gate) alias Bablake Gate, dedicated to St. John.... It is of the foundation of the Burgesses and there is a great Privilege, Gild or Fraternity. In this College is now a Master and eight ministers and lately twelve ministers.” Stowe adds that there were twelve singing men and extant deeds mention “Babbelake Hall in which the warden and priests lived

Many interesting entries of expenditure are to be found in the gild accounts showing how the Eve of St. John (Midsummer Eve) and other festivals were celebrated before the suppression of the gilds by Edward VI. In 1541 we have the following (the spelling is somewhat modernized):

Expenses on Midsummer Even and on the day, Item, 2 doz. & a half cakes, 2d; spice cakes, 12d; a cest ale and 4 gals. 4s.; 2 gals, claret wine 16d; 2 gals. malmsey, 2d; 2 gals. muskedell 2d; to Mr. Mayor 3d; the Mayor to offer, 8d; to priests, clerks and children, 2d; the waits, 6d; to poor people 6d; to the cross-bearers and torch-bearers, 8d; the bellman, 4d; the hire of pots, 4d; boughs, rushes and sweeping, 8d; a woman 2 days to cleanse the house, 4d; half a hundred 3d nails, 11/2d; half a pound of sugar, 41/2d; to the crossbearer and torchbearer for St. George Day, Holy Rood Day, Shire Thursday and Whit Sunday, 12d; to 2 children for the same days, 6d Summa (total) 38d

That these anniversaries and wakes led to much unseemly revelling we have evidence that cannot be gainsaid The Trinity Gild decided in 1542

that no obite, drynkyng or com’en assemblie, from henceforth shall be had or used at Babalake, except onelie on Trinitie even and on the day, which shall be used as it hath been in tymes past. And that also the P’sts of Babelack shall say dirige on midsum’ even and likewise masse of requiem on the morrowe, as they have used to doo And that the Meire shall not come down thether to dirige ov(er) night for dyv’s considerac’ons and other great busynes they used And on the morowe thei to go thether to masse and brekefast, as thei have used to doo

Dugdale quotes from an old Ms. an interesting passage bearing on this question:

“And ye shall understond and know how the Evyns were furst found in old tyme. In the beginning of holi Chirche, it was so that the pepull cam to the Chirche with candellys brennyng and wold Wake and come with light toward nyght to the Chirch to their devocións; and afterwards they fell to lecherie and songs, daunces, harping, piping and also to glotony and sinne and so turned the holinesse to cursaydnesse; wherefore holi faders ordeined the pepull to lève that waking and to fast the Evyn. But it is called Vigilia, that is Waking in English and it is called the Evyn, for at Evyn they were wont to come to Chirche.”

In 1362 Queen Isabella helped to procure from the bishop a licence for one Robert de Worthin, priest, to become an anchorite and to inhabit a hermitage attached to the north aisle of the chancel. Traces of the foundations of this have been found on the site of the modern vestry.

When the college was suppressed in 1548 the King granted to the mayor, bailiffs and corporation, on their petition, the church and its appurtenances in Free Burgage for ever on payment of 1d, per annum and gave them “all the rents, revenues and profits of the said church.”

But these gifts were not sufficient to support the church and its services, so that the latter were irregular and repairs were neglected In 1608 Mayor Hancox procured the delivery of a Saturday lecture “for the better fitting of the people for the Sabbath.” In 1641 Simon Norton, alderman, left property to his son Thomas, on trust, the condition being that if at any time St. John’s should become a parish church, he or his heirs should pay L13 6d to the minister out of rents of lands in Coundon, and also the tithes of lands in Clifton.

Prisoners from the Scottish army being quartered on the city in 1647, many were confined in this church and wrought much damage and desecration. From this time services were only occasionally held, until 1734, when an Act of Parliament was obtained making it a Parish Church, appointing a district to it and enabling the Master and Usher of the Free Grammar School to be Rector and Lecturer of the church. The mayor, bailiffs, and commonalty were made patrons, but in 1835, these arrangements having failed to work satisfactorily, the patronage was transferred to trustees who acted as managers of the school and in 1864 the lectureship was abolished, the rectory was severed from the office of Head Master and the Trustees of the school were charged with a payment of L200 per annum towards the stipend of the Rector. In 1874 the advowson was sold to a private person. A great deal of restoration, justifiable and otherwise, has taken place, the decay of the local sandstone having made large repairs necessary. In 1861 much renewal of the external stone work was carried out. Unfortunately shortsighted ideas of economy led to the use of the same poor stone and much has recently had to be done over again, this time with the harder Runcorn stone used also at St. Michael’s. The interior was restored in 1875, galleries erected in 1735 and 1838, and high pews were removed, the floor, which had been raised three feet, lowered, the lantern stage of the tower opened up by removing a ringing floor and a light iron gallery above the tower arches provided for the ringers. The original groined ceiling has thus been made visible from below.

THE EXTERIOR

Although small in area compared with the other churches, both exterior and interior give an impression of size and dignity which does not belong to many much larger buildings. In the exterior this is no doubt due to the pseudo-cruciform arrangement, the bold central tower and the height of the main roof, which would have appeared even greater had the roadways not been so much raised

The tower is in two stages, a lofty lantern story having two transomed two-light windows on each face and a shorter upper one having smaller windows without transoms and a battlemented parapet. Large skeleton clock-dials disfigure the windows of this story. Narrow buttress strips on either side and between the windows run through and serve to connect the stories. The north-east angle has an octagonal stair turret carried up above the parapet. The other angles have narrow buttresses running up to circular bartizans boldly corbelled out from the battlements. This is an extremely unusual feature in ecclesiastical architecture but is common on fortified structures. Of the City gates, Gosford Gate had machicolated ones but not Spon Gate adjacent to the church.

The spacing of the windows and buttresses of the south aisle and the position of the large transept window show how the later changes were effected The three windows and the buttresses with niches and canopies almost certainly belong to the part built by Walsheman after 1357. The two in the chancel aisle are recent insertions. The doorway at the south-west corner occupies the position where indications showed that an original door had existed There is also a small priest’s doorway of which the jambs are ancient. The clearstory was restored in 1861 “from sufficiently clear indications” in the remains of the original windows. The whole of this part is worthy of careful study and should be compared with the corresponding parts of Trinity Church. Everywhere we see signs of individual thought and design mainly directed to softening the rigidity of the horizontal lines of the square-headed and transomed “Perpendicular” windows. The method of cusping the drop-arch and the varied treatment of these in nave, choir and transepts are noteworthy while the little quatrefoil at the intersection of mullion and transom is a really happy innovation. The flying buttress over the south aisle restores a feature of the old building which had disappeared Of the variously panelled and battlemented parapets, of nave, chancel and aisles a view of 1864 gives no visible hint. As the report of Sir (then Mr.) G.G. Scott in 1856 specifies as desirable the renewing all the parapets according to the portions of the original which remain, we can only hope (but with no sense of certainty) that these parts are faithfully reproduced

The limited site on which the chancel was built (only 40 feet deep) caused the builders to omit any buttresses or other projections at the east end The east window was renewed in 1861 but the proportions are not good and it is said that one light was suppressed although the old sill remained intact.

The west end has a large six-light window with two transoms. It was restored in 1841 and is said to be a precise reproduction of the original design. On the gable above it is a large niched pinnacle which appears to be an “unauthorized” addition.

While the north aisle is later than the south, the clearstory, as has been said is earlier, being of late Decorated date with large three-light windows of reticulated tracery. The north transept is more consistent in style than the south. The large four-light window is peculiar in design. It has one transom and the tracery is brought down much below the spring of the arch. The centre mullion is very solid, coming forward almost to the wall face both inside and out and running up to the apex of the arch. The clearstory windows in both transepts are similar in general design to those of the south clearstory of the nave but with variations suggesting a rather later date. A very effective view of the north side can be had from the quadrangle of Bonds Hospital, though here too it loses on account of the depressed site in which it lies.

THE INTERIOR

The interior is not less impressive for its size than the exterior, Sir G.G. Scott even saying that he knew of no interior more beautiful than St. Johns.

All at least will agree that there is something about it striking and dignified which is obviously not concerned with mere size, is largely independent of elaboration of detail and may therefore be safely attributed to its satisfactory proportions and broad effects of light and shade. Its plan is quite simple consisting of a nave and choir with north and south aisles, a transept not projecting beyond the aisles at either end and a central tower. Yet, although it is more or less oblong as a whole, there is hardly a right angle or two parallel walls throughout the church. In most cases these discrepancies are not apparent, nor do they appear likely to have been intended to produce a studied effect. Thus a diminution in width towards the east (as at Manchester) may be expected to add to the apparent length, but here the south aisles of both nave and chancel expand instead of contracting. By standing within either transept and looking up at the roof the want of parallelism of the walls and other irregularities are plainly seen. The nave has only three bays, the arches being rather lofty and the arch mouldings of the characteristic shallowness of the period The south-west pier had to be rebuilt on account of settlement and there are signs of it in the south-east arch next the tower. The name Bablake is said to have been derived from a pond or conduit near by and the site may have been swampy, thus affecting the foundations. The district is even now liable to flooding from the Sherborne (or Shireburn) stream and as late as January 1900 the waters rose over five feet within the church as a brass plate at the west end testifies.

The graceful treatment of the windows of the nave and choir clearstories is shown in the illustration. Comparing these with the clearstory of Trinity nave questions of priority arise. If not designed by the same mind the influence of one on the other is easily seen. On the whole the greater rigidity of treatment and the anxiety to increase the area of glass in the Trinity windows suggest that the date is rather later and that the designs did not spring from the same brain. The roof is very simple, the curved brackets springing from the shafts which run down to the arches below. The wall is deeply recessed beneath the windows. The north windows, however, are continued down in plain panels, but this only makes more apparent the fact that they are not placed centrally over the arches.

The north aisle has a doorway and two north windows. The windows are of good Perpendicular design, and the mullions are continued down the wall below, forming panels. The lowered sill and recess probably formed a convenient retable to an altar against the wall. The west window preserves some fragments of glass dated 1532. There is an obliterated inscription and small etched figures among them an acolyte carrying a cross, one of those whose services are mentioned in the accounts after this wise: “to the crosebeirer and torchebeirer, for Seynt George day, hollieroode day, shire thuresday and Whit Sunday, 12d; to 2 childern for the same dayes 6d”

The south aisle of the nave, including the lower part of the transept, is doubtless the aisle erected for the Gild by William Walsheman in 1357. The two windows are not central with the nave arches, and the third is not in the centre of the transept. Their tracery is somewhat peculiar in design and refined in detail, and has the transitional character one would expect from its date. There are signs on the face of each western tower pier of the altars which once stood there, probably those of the Trinity and St. Katharine, which are known to have existed

The eastern piers of the tower are later than the western, and very unlike them in plan. A bold and ingenious treatment of the vaulting shaft of the tower groining is used on these piers; on the western ones the shafts stop upon the ends of the hood moulding.

The choir is now closed by a screen carrying a large rood carved in oak. Like St. Michael’s, but to a smaller extent, the axis of the choir inclines to the north. Whether symbolic, or only a part of what may be described as the studied irregularity of the whole building it is hard to say. The column on each side of the choir is later than the east respond and also later than the west tower pier, but corresponds with the east tower pier. The deep panelling beneath the windows must have been carried out when the clearstories were constructed in the fifteenth century.

The south aisle of the choir, the original chapel of the patron saint, is now fitted up and used as a morning chapel. The piscina still remains in the south wall, and there is a trace of the old altar visible on the wall.

The east end of the north aisle is now the organ chamber, and was originally the Lady Chapel. The base of the altar still exists, and so does the piscina in the south wall.

In connection with these or other altars we hear of a payment of 22d, in 1474, for painting a cloth for the image of St. John Baptist, and in 1462 sums of 40s. and 7s. were paid to a sculptor of Burton-on-Trent for an alabaster statue of the Virgin and a base for it.

At the foot of the south-west tower-pier are some decayed but interesting ancient tiles. The new ones have been copied from them.

The vicissitudes in the church’s fortunes have left little for us to see that is not part and parcel of the structure.

That there were “orgaynes” as early as 1461 we know from entries in the city records giving the cost at different times of wire, glue, nails, thread, etc., for the reparation of them, while a payment of 2d for “a string” suggests that they were a combination of wind and string stops, similar to the 1733 organ of St. Michael’s as built by Thomas Swarbrick. In 1519 the Prior bought the “metell of ye old orgayns in bablake” for 9s 10d, but doubtless the new one disappeared in the troublous times that followed A new one has recently been set up.

The pulpit is of stone and quite new, and the font, erected in 1843, is a copy of that of St. Edward’s, Cambridge.

There are five bells, the inscriptions on them being as follows:

1st. Henrycus Bagley. M.C. Fecit 1676.
2nd Pack & Chapman. London 1778. Richard Eaton, Church-warden.
3rd Henric Dodenhale, Fecit. M.C.E.I.C.R.I.
4th. (Illegible.) Probably of the end of fifteenth century.
5th. I ring at six to let men know , When to and from their work to go

Neglect and decay it has been seen had provided only too plausible excuses for restoration. In 1858 the church had a narrow escape from a worse fate, for it was proposed to extend it in some direction, and the architect suggested the lengthening of the north transept and the addition of a new north aisle. Probably lack of funds alone prevented the carrying out of a proposal which would have completely spoilt the proportions of this beautiful interior.