St John the Baptist, Wonersh
Quick
Guided Tour
Click on the name of each section to see
fuller details.
Jesus
has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses, just as the builder of a
house has greater honour than the house itself.
For every house is built
by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
The History of
Wonersh Church covers 10 centuries.
The church has been known as St
John the Baptist since Norman times, but the earlier Saxon church may have
also had this dedication.
You see a building much as it would have looked in
the 15th Century, especially the castellated north chapel, chancel
and lower two sections of the tower 13th century tower. Although the church appears old, the brick
parts of the nave is Georgian constructed in 1793 and much of the remaining
structure rebuilt by the Victorians in 1901.
The church is surrounded by the
graveyard which has been closed since 1861. The oldest gravestone is dated 1742 however
for every one you see there are probably several hundred unmarked burials.
Enter the church by the main entrance into the
porch.
The modern porch was added in 1995/6 and includes a
meeting room (named the Selwyn Room after our Patron, Selwyn College Cambridge)
and toilet facilities.
Enter the church through the
church west door. The main body of a church has elm pews for some 140 people, with a
maximum capacity of some 230 in all areas.
In front of you is the chancel arch which dates from the 13th
century and beyond that the altar and large east window. Our tower is somewhat unusually positioned to
the north of the nave, the base of which is part of the Lady Chapel. Many of the marks and scars on the stonework
have been retained as they reveal the development and changes that have
occurred over the years.
The nave was substantially rebuilt in brick in 1793
however the lower part of the left hand (north) wall and east wall of the nave
have significant parts of the original 11th century structure. Above
the 13th century chancel arch notice the old roof lines which
indicate the development of the nave between 11th and early 13th
centuries. The whole floor of the
church was until 1793 some 18ins lower than it is now.
Much of the nave was rebuilt again in the
restoration of 1901 however the brick Georgian structures were retained rather
than trying to recreate the lost medieval building. The15th C roof beams were reused
and the plastered ceiling removed to reveal the mortises cut in the roof
beams. Some of the old woodwork was
retained and formed into the dado rails and other parts.
In the 15th century it was the fashion to
divide the nave and chancel by a screen, called a Rood. Evidence of the screen and loft can be seen
on the underside of the chancel arch and by the
blocked up doorway adjacent to the chancel arch just above the tower arch. A modern (1930) reconstruction of the rood
screen was repositioned behind the altar in 1988.
All ancient glass was destroyed in 1793 and all
present stained glass is 20th
century.
There are four large 19th C burial hatchments of the Grantley family
high up on either side, and a large royal George III Achievement of Arms
hung on the east wall. On the west wall
is a charming wall tablet, the inscription and side columns of which are
missing (possibly that of John Caryll D1612).
There is a painted wooden panel onto which the names of all the
incumbents of the Parish have been recorded.
There are also two large reproduction religious paintings; The Madonna
on the Rocks and The Vision of St Helena.
The pulpit is early 20th C
carved walnut.
Lady Chapel (North Chapel) and Tower Base
Enter the Lady Chapel through the plain pointed arch cut cc
1180 in the original Norman nave north wall.
You are now standing in the tower base.
An empty 16th C tomb of an unknown person is against the west
wall. The stairway in the corner leads
to the ringing chamber where 8 bells are rung,
however look at the rope marks above the eastern arch to realise that
before1751 for many years they were rung from floor level.
The font is a reconstruction of the original Norman cup
shape bowl and earlier stem and base, based upon fragments found buried beneath
the floor in 1901. The band of ribbed
work on coarse grit stone may date to pre-conquest times being one of the
oldest surviving elements of our church.
The font canopy is a copy of the Madonna & Child in
Look above the arch to the nave
and see clear evidence of a 15th C passage to the rood loft.
Looking towards the chapel altar approach through the
opening cut into the tower base when the chapel was built in the 15th
C, see also the pointed arch also cut at
this time into the chancel. Note the
small corbel carved as a face on the western side of the arch. The chapel has been known as the Lady Chapel
since 1901 but it has no traditional dedication, no burials have taken place in
it, and it was possibly a Guild Chapel for the weavers of Wonersh in the 15th
century.
The structure of the chapel and tower were substantially
repaired in 1901, including renewal of the ornamented roof with carved bosses,
reconstruction of the altar area and the windows. The altar is the old 18th century
altar from the chancel and is built across and above the old sacristry, part of
which has been filled in. The altar
incorporates the 18th century chancel altar. The small plain deal table, generally used
today as the altar table, was originally the chancel altar in the apse of the
1793 reconstruction.
The stained glass
windows are by Archibald Nicholson. The
east window is his earliest work dated 1902 and shows Christ with St George and St Alban. It has a military theme and there is a
connection the adjacent brass wall plaque on the north wall. There are two smaller windows also by
Nicholson in the north wall. There are
two large sombre paintings,
copies of sections of Virgin & Child from The Vision of St Jerome, and
Virgin & Child from Virgin with John the Baptist & Mary Magdalene.
Notice the graceful old perpendicular niche and image
bracket, which it is thought originally contained an image of the Virgin
Mary. In 1948 the existing statue,
Italian or southern French 18th C, of a Madonna as the “Second Eve” was placed in
the niche. The 13th C squint
gives site to the chancel altar however it pre-dates the chapel any would
originally have been a “Leper Squint”.
Enter the chancel along the altar rail. Immediately adjacent to the altar rail and on
either side, protected beneath carpet, are the 16th brasses with Effigies to the Elyot families. On
the right Thomas Elyot and his wife
Alice Date possibly 1407. He was Filacer (Keeper of the Files) for
Surrey and
In the central aisle
is a modern brass in memory of the first vicar whose Patron was Selwyn College
Cambridge.
The chancel was restored in 1901 to what was considered to
be its original size of the 13th C.
The roof was replaced on the lines indicated in the old Norman west
wall; the north and south walls are mainly original and note evidence of other
lancet windows high up in the structure.
The east wall was constructed in 1901 on the foundations of the old wall
and the window copied from old documents.
Remember that the floor was originally 18ins lower than at
present and note the passage to the old “sacristry or crypt” that leads through
the north wall. Note the “leper” squint
in the north wall and the squint to (what was) the south chapel on the south
wall. The three arch Sedilia and
Piscina date from 1901.
The stained glass
in the east window dated 1915 is by Archibald Nicholson and illustrates the Te
Deum.
The ceiling is elm, divided up in ribs with carved, painted
& gilded bosses at the
intersections. There is a single 15thC
mortised and grooved beam now part of the chancel roof that is thought to have
originally been part of the old rood loft.
The oak choir and clergy stalls date from 1906 and “the
motif of their design was to illustrate the Psalter”.
The screen against the east wall was placed between the
chancel and nave as a rood screen in 1930, but was repositioned behind the
altar in 1988. The crucifix, originally
on top of the screen, is now mounted on the west wall.
Cross the chancel into the vestry through the archway cut
in the 15th C. The wooden
screen is 15th C made up from remains of the two side screens in
1901.
This area is now used as a vestry, but was originally built
in the 13th or 14th C as a chapel or chantry. It became part of the south aisle from the
15th C when it was known as the Tangley Chapel (or Chancel). It was destroyed in 1793 and replaced by a
mausoleum for the Grantley family. The coffins
and tombs were cleared in 1901, the small arch to the nave cut through in 15th
C style, and it is now used as a vestry.
The pipe organ was built
1885. It was given to the church in
1901 and is positioned on top of the Grantley tomb; the main Grantley tomb was
moved outside and can be seen in the NE part of the churchyard. The oak partition was constructed from the
old Grantley Pew.
There is an altar tomb of Richard Gwynn dated 1701 in the
south corner of the vestry which is delicately carved with heraldry.