St John the Baptist's Church, Mongewell

St John the Baptist’s Church stands partly in ruins beside the River Thames in Oxfordshire. It lies east of the river, near the former Carmel College and Mongewell Park, about four kilometres south of Wallingford. The church is on the long-distance Ridgeway path and belongs to the parish of North Stoke. The Churches Conservation Trust now cares for the Grade II listed building. It was once a working Anglican church but closed in 1981. The church began in the 12th century and was remodelled in the late 18th century for Bishop Shute Barrington. Barrington, a Prince-Bishop of Durham, was buried here in 1826. In 1880 the architect Lewis Wyatt restored the building. The church was made redundant in 1981 and passed to the Churches Conservation Trust four years later. Its flint walls and brick tower still stand today. Visitors see a nave without a roof and a tiled chancel in Norman style. The tower has a round lower part and a hexagonal upper section with battlements. Inside the chancel are two 18th-century monuments, one showing a man in Eastern dress with a turban. The brick buttresses support the nave walls, and the riverbank setting adds to the quiet atmosphere. The ruins remain open to those who call on the nearby keyholder.