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St John's Church, Little Gidding

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St John
The Church of Saint John the Evangelist, erected in 1714 to replace an earlier church at the site
St John is located in Cambridgeshire
St John
St John
Location in Cambridgeshire
52°25′16″N 0°20′39″W / 52.4211°N 0.3441°W / 52.4211; -0.3441
LocationLittle Gidding
CountryUnited Kingdom
DenominationChurch of England
Websitewww.littlegiddingchurch.org.uk
Architecture
Heritage designationGrade I Listed
Designated28 January 1958[1]
Completed1714
Specifications
Capacity30
Length32.75 feet (9.98 m)
Nave width13.66 feet (4.16 m)
Administration
ProvinceProvince of Canterbury
DioceseDiocese of Ely
ArchdeaconryArchdeaconry of Huntingdon and Wisbech
DeaneryHuntingdon Deanery
ParishGreat with Little Steeple Gidding
Clergy
Vicar(s)Mary Patricia Jepp[2]
St John the Evangelist Church, East end

St John's Church is the Church of England parish church of the village of Little Gidding in Cambridgeshire. It is dedicated to St John the Evangelist and is a Grade I listed building.[3][1] It is brick with a Ketton stone (a form of limestone) facing and a Collyweston stone slate roof.

The earliest known building on the site was a medieval one with associations to the Knights Templar which was decaying by the 17th century but restored by Nicholas Ferrar and his family when they founded their religious community in the village at that date. Mary Ferrar had the church panelled with oak wainscoting, some of which survives on the south side of the present church's chancel. They installed an organ in March 1631-32 (now lost). Mrs Ferrar also donated the surviving brass font of c.1625 and the 15th-century brass lectern with eagle desk, were given by Mrs Ferrar, whilst the current cedar communion table also dates from the Ferrars' occupancy.[4]

That church was replaced by the present one in 1714 with a nave 8 feet shorter than its predecessor and removing the west gallery the Ferrars had installed.[5][4] It was in its turn and restored and altered in 1853.

The nave is 13.66 feet (4.16 m) wide and 32.75 feet (9.98 m) in length and fewer than 30 people can be accommodated in the stalls lining the wall of the nave. The chancel is 12 feet (3.7 m) wide and 22.75 feet (6.93 m) in width. On the south side of the chancel is a late 19th-century vestry which is a little larger than one half the width of the chancel.[6]

Although photographs taken during the 1900s show an organ within the church, a 1999 survey for the National Pipe Organ Register stated that as of 1999, there was no pipe organ in this church.[7]

Plaque commemorating the founding of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd in Little Gidding

An Order in Council published in the London Gazette on 13 March 1923, combined the United Benefice of Great Gidding with Little Gidding with the Benefice of Steeple Gidding.[8]

St John's is listed in Simon Jenkins' England's Thousand Best Churches.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Parish Church of St John the Evangelist, Little Gidding". Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  2. ^ "St John, Little Gidding". Church of England. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  3. ^ Historic England. "Parish Church of St John the Evangelist (1130115)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  4. ^ a b Maycock & 1938, pages 130, 140, 142–144
  5. ^ A History of the County of Huntingdon (Victoria County History, 1936) III:53–57
  6. ^ 'Gidding, Little', An inventory of the historical monuments in Huntingdonshire. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1926.
  7. ^ National Pipe Organ Register. Enter "Little Gidding" in the search box and press send.
  8. ^ "No. 32805". The London Gazette. 13 March 1923. pp. 1981–1982.
  9. ^ Jenkins, Simon (2000). England's Thousand Best Churches. Penguin. pp. 295–297. ISBN 0140297952.
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