St John the Baptist's Church, Avon Dassett

St John the Baptist’s Church stands in the quiet Warwickshire village of Avon Dassett. The present building was raised in 1868 by Charles Buckeridge on the foundations of a Norman church. It is now a Grade II* listed structure looked after by The Churches Conservation Trust. The church is built of Hornton sandstone with tiled roofs and a tall octagonal spire. Inside, a three-bay nave opens to a north aisle and a south porch, while a three-bay chancel holds an organ chamber. The west tower rises in three stages, its lowest stage still showing the four-light window that once lit the earlier church. The church is worth the journey for its rare survival of Norman fabric alongside 19th-century Gothic Revival work. A 13th-century stone coffin in the chancel’s recess carries the effigy of Hugh the rector, who died about 1240. Five bells cast by William Blews of Birmingham were silent for decades until a £700,000 spire restoration allowed them to ring again in 2009. Parish registers begin in 1559, and fragments of 15th-century glass remain in the west window. Occasional concerts and community events still take place in the building. Visitors find a nave measuring 44 by 17 feet, a north aisle 10 feet wide, and a chancel about 34 by 16 feet. The oak altar and choir stalls, the stone triple sedilia, and the grey Purbeck marble reredos stand within the sanctuary. Outside, six headstones and a 17th-century chest tomb in the churchyard are also listed. The churchyard’s oldest legible stone is dated 1681, while the most recent is from 1719.