St John the Baptist's Church, Tunstall

St John the Baptist’s Church stands on a quiet rise north-east of Tunstall village in Lancashire’s Lune valley. Built of local sandstone with a slate roof, it has a west tower, nave and chancel under one roof, north and south aisles, and a two-storey south porch. The tower’s diagonal buttresses and embattled parapet carry carved angel tablets above small bell openings. A pointed west door is topped by a three-light Perpendicular window, while the aisles and porch share embattled parapets. Above the porch door a niche holds a sundial plate and a small one-light window above it. The church is Grade I listed and dates back to at least the 13th century, though much was rebuilt around 1415 by Sir Thomas Tunstal. In the 1820s the Brontë sisters attended services here while pupils at the nearby Clergy Daughters’ School. A 1907 restoration by Lancaster architects Austin and Paley renewed the roof, enlarged the organ chamber and added a vestry. Inside, early 13th-century capitals survive on the north arcade, and a Roman votive stone is built into a north aisle window surround. The east window contains late 15th- and 16th-century Netherlandish glass donated in 1810 by Richard Toulmin North of Thurland Castle. Visitors find the Chapel of the Holy Trinity at the east end of the south aisle, housing a damaged effigy said to be of Sir Thomas Tunstal. Under the tower arch sits an 18th-century marble font on a sandstone baluster base. The two-manual organ was installed by Harrison and Harrison in 1923. A 16th-century Venetian painting of the Lamentation of Christ, once shrouded in mystery, now hangs in the church after restoration. Nearby, an 18th-century sandstone sundial stands in the churchyard, which also holds four Commonwealth war graves.