St John the Baptist's Church, Knutsford

St John the Baptist’s Church stands in the centre of Knutsford, a small town in Cheshire. It is a Grade II* listed building and an active Anglican parish church. The church was created a separate parish in 1741 after an Act of Parliament. The present building was erected between 1741 and 1744 to designs by J. Garlive. In 1879 Alfred Darbyshire extended and reordered the chancel. The church belongs to the Conservative Evangelical tradition of the Church of England. The church is built in brick with stone dressings and a slate roof in neoclassical style. Its west tower rises in four stages, with a clock and round-arched belfry windows. The nave has classical arcades of Tuscan columns carrying semicircular arches. Galleries line the north, west and south sides. Two fonts survive from different periods, and a two-tier brass candelabrum was donated in 1768. The stained glass is by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, and the three-manual organ was built in 1882 by Alex Young and Sons. Six bells hang in the tower, four cast in the 18th century and two in 1996. Outside, the churchyard contains a late-18th-century stone sundial on a baluster-like pedestal. Inside, recent reordering removed Victorian pews and installed an oak floor and glazed screens. Four Victorian stained glass windows were moved to the Church Hill facade, and the aisle windows now use clear leaded Georgian designs. The parish registers begin in 1581, and memorials include work by Richard Westmacott.