St. John the Baptist Church is an Anglican

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 church in Beeston, Nottinghamshire

Beeston, Nottinghamshire

Beeston is a town in Nottinghamshire, England. It is southwest of Nottingham city centre. Although typically regarded as a suburb of the City of Nottingham, and officially designated as part of the Nottingham Urban Area, for local government purposes it is in the borough of Broxtowe, lying outside...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The church is Grade II listed by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport as it is a building of special architectural or historic interest.

History

The church is medieval and the chancel remains, but the remainder was heavily restored

Victorian restoration

Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...

 and rebuilt in 1842 by George Gilbert Scott

George Gilbert Scott

Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...

 and William Bonython Moffatt

William Bonython Moffatt

William Bonython Moffatt was an architect, who for many years was a partner with Sir George Gilbert Scott at Spring Gardens, London.Moffatt was the son of a small builder and pupil of James Edmeston...

. It was enlarged in 1876 by C. H. Thornton.

An £860,000 re-ordering and renovation in 2007 moved the main entrance to the west end, and cleaned the interior, with new heating, seating and a new organ.

The font dates from the reign of King Henry III

Henry III of England

Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...

.

List of incumbents

• 1267 John de Brademare
• 1275 Matthew de Leycestre
• 1327 William de Wyllesthorpe
• 1339 William de Beckford
• 1349 Thomas de Oxton
• 1376 William Askham
• 1384/5 Richard Mason of Chillwell
• 1401/2 Henry Serle
• 1405 Thomas Mareschall (or Marchall)
• 1420/1 John Thymelby (or Themelby)
• 1423 John Gynger
• 1431 John Ketul
• 1451 John Meyson
• 1455 Nicholas Bubwith
• 1456/7 William Taylor

• 1457 Richard Ellesley
• 1465 Nicholas Blakwall
• 1500/1 Richard Burton
• 1510 Christopher Twistfeld
• 1528 William Garford
• 1538 John Mottram
• 1557 Nicholas Holmes
• 1562 John Fisher
• 1592 William Jeffreys
• 1603/4 Walter Kynnersley or Kindersley.
• 1650 William Westoby
• 1661 William Crosse
• 1662/3 Henry Watkinson
• 1711 Thomas Trowell
• 1744 John Henson

• 1758 Timothy Wylde
• 1799 Thomas Bigsby
• 1822 John Francis Thomas Hurt
• 1854 Thomas John Oldrini
• 1885 Richard Davies Harries
• 1901 Arthur Curtis Beckton
• 1906 Miles Hammett Pitts- Tucker
• 1914 William Pakenham Cole-Sheane
• 1924 Leonard Norman Phillips
• 1936 George Hansford
• 1943 John Paul Henry Halet
• 1962 Frederic Norman Keen
• 1970 John Anthony Johnson
• 1986 Stephen Arthur Lowe
• 2000 George Bryan Barrodale
• 2006 Wayne Plimmer

Organ

The first known organ was installed in 1853 by Kirkland and Jardine of Manchester. It cost £300, raised by subscription and was installed on a gallery. Some extra stops were added in 1856 and in 1876 it was further enlarged and improved and moved to chancel following demolition of gallery. In 1903 and 1909 it was renovated by Charles Lloyd of Nottingham and underwent further renovation in 1946. It was removed and replaced with an electronic organ in 1983. This has subsequently been replaced by a new electronic organ in 2008.

List of organists

• Samuel Thornhill
• Frederick Kirkby ???? - 1862 - 1885 - ????
• Norman Frederick Byng Johnson 1900 - 1903
• Horace Vernon Kington, FRCO
  Royal College of Organists
  The Royal College of Organists or RCO, is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, but with members around the world...
  
  , LRAM
  LRAM
  LRAM is an abbreviation for Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music. This professional diploma was formerly open to both internal students of the Royal Academy of Music and external candidates in voice, keyboard and orchestral instruments and guitar, as well as conducting and other musical...
  
   1903 - 1912 - 1921 - ???? (formerly organist of St. George's Church, Derby)
• Stanley Nolan 1931? - ????
• (James) Harold Allton, ARCO(ChM), LRAM 1936 - 1949-50 - 1961 (formerly organist of Emmanuel Church, Woodborough Road
  Emmanuel Church, Woodborough Road
  Emmanuel Church, Nottingham was a Church of England church in Nottingham on Woodborough Road between 1883 and 1972.-History:It was built to designs by the local architect Watson Fothergill and consecrated on 27 January 1885. There were 600 free seats, and a parish of 6,000...
  
  )
• Arthur Smedley
• Michael Grantham ???? – 1986
• Chris Warren (Director of Music) and Philip Sherratt (organist) ca. 2010

External links

• See St. John's Church on Google Street View.