St John the Baptist's Church, Blawith

St John the Baptist’s Church stands beside the A5084 east of Blawith, a small settlement south of Coniston Water in the Lake District. The present building was designed by Lancaster architect E. G. Paley and completed in 1863, replacing an earlier church on the same site. Built of whinstone with a slate roof, it follows Gothic Revival style with lancet windows and a small bellcote. The interior holds three stained glass windows in the chancel showing the Ascension, the Presentation in the Temple, and the Adoration of the Magi. In 1914 Paley’s successors rebuilt the chancel arch and east wall, and in 1926 they added buttresses to the nave’s south side. Nearby, across the road, lie the ruins of the older church built in the 16th century and rebuilt in 1749. By 1861 it was described as ruinous and too small for its congregation. Today only stone walls remain, rising between three and six metres, with a taller section at the west end. These remains are listed at Grade II on the National Heritage List for England. The contrast between the sturdy new church and the crumbling old one shows how the village’s needs changed over centuries. Visitors find a quiet churchyard beside the new building, where the lancet windows and slate roof stand against the Lakeland sky. Inside, the three chancel windows catch the light and tell their stories in coloured glass. A short walk across the road brings the older ruins into view, their broken walls rising from the grass. The site offers a clear picture of how worship in Blawith evolved from a modest 16th-century building to Paley’s confident 19th-century design.