Listed Building: CHURCH OF ST JOHN (284287)

TL 97 SE STANTON BARDWELL ROAD 3/24 Church of St. John 14.7.55 (Formerly listed as Remains of the Church of St. John under General) GV II* Former parish church, now a roofless shell. Nave, chancel, south porch and west tower. C13 and C14: since repairs in 1980 the walls are standing to their full height. In flint rubble, with remains of old render: some admixture of stone and red brick in the south wall of the nave; freestone dressings and facings to buttresses, and moulded stone string course running below the nave windows and along the chancel walls. Nave in 3 bays: the south buttresses have panels of black knapped flint, with a wide angle buttress at the south-east corner: a diagonal buttress at the north-east corner. On the south side, 2 3-light windows with intersecting tracery and one Y-window. On the north, 3 2-light windows, 2 with curvilinear tracery, one with no tracery remaining. C13 north and south doorways with continuous hollow chamfer mouldings. C14 porch, formerly gabled: 2 diagonal buttresses with chequerwork bases in stone and black knapped flint, and a blocked niche above the doorway. Chancel with a single 2-light window with decorated tracery in north and south walls, and a similar 2-light east window. A panel on the outside of the east gable has the dates 1616 and 1858 and initials GB for George Bidwell, Rector 1811-1865. The exterior of the east wall is rendered, and the slope of the gable finished in crow-stepped red brick: this was apparently part of the 1616 restoration work, which clearly did not involve the complete rebuilding of the chancel (as stated by Pevsner). The west wall of the tower is built up against the boundary of the churchyard, and the lowest stage is open to provide a processional way around the church. 4 stages, with a base of moulded stone blocks and a repaired embattled parapet with chequerwork patterns of black knapped flint and part red, part white, brick. Diagonal buttresses to the west: the west wall of the nave projects to form angle buttresses. A slightly later stair turret, interrupting the stonework of the south archway, is set externally into the south-east angle and rises to the top of the 2nd stage: entered by a small doorway in the west wall of the nave. High in the west gable is a small square window. For further details on the history and fittings of this church see David Dymond: The Churches of Stanton, Suffolk, a History and Guide. Listing NGR: TL9621373753