St John the Baptist's Church

St John the Baptist’s Church stands at the end of Arkholme village street, looking over the River Lune from within the old castle bailey. The church is built of sandstone rubble with a stone-slate roof and has a nave, south aisle, chancel, vestry and south porch. A bellcote crowns the west gable, and the west window shows Perpendicular tracery. The east window of the chancel holds four trefoiled lights, while the aisle’s east window has two round-headed lights. A medieval sandstone cross base, about three feet wide and two feet high, stands in the churchyard. The church began as a chapel of ease around 1450 and became a parish in 1866. In 1788 a bellcote, vestry and west door were added, and in 1899 Lancaster architects Austin and Paley restored it. They replaced the west door with a window, installed new pews and an east window, enlarged the vestry and rebuilt the porch. The 1899 work cost over two thousand pounds and introduced Perpendicular-style windows. Inside, a four-bay arcade of round arches rises on octagonal piers, one capital carved with a dog chasing a hare and a horn. Visitors find an 18th-century octagonal font beside an early 20th-century one, and a twin sedilia with piscina in the chancel. A 1965 stained-glass window by Shrigley and Hunt shows Saint Hilda and Bede. The two-manual organ, built in 1906 and rebuilt in 1950, still serves the church. A single bell, inscribed along its lower edge, is said to be among England’s oldest. The Grade II* listed building overlooks the river and the remains of the 11th-century motte to the northeast.