Church of St John the Baptist, Yeovil

{{Short description|Parish church in Somerset, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}

{{EngvarB|date=January 2018}}

{{Infobox Historic Site

| name =Church of St John the Baptist

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| image =Church of St John the Baptist, Yeovil - Mike Smith.jpg|alt=Stone building with arched windows and square tower.

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| locmapin = Somerset

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| coordinates = {{coord|50|56|30|N|2|37|53|W|display=inline,title}}

| location = BA20 1HE, Yeovil, Somerset, England

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| built =Late 14th century

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| designation1 =Grade I Listed Building

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| designation1_date =19 March 1951

| designation1_number =261341

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The Church of St John the Baptist in Yeovil, Somerset, is a Church of England parish church.

The church was built between 1380 and 1405, but was renovated in the 1850s. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building.{{cite web|url=https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=1055713&resourceID=5|title=Church of St John The Baptist|work=Listed Buildings Online|publisher=English Heritage|access-date=5 December 2010}} The tower, which was built around 1480,{{cite book |last= Poyntz Wright|first= Peter|title= The Parish Church Towers of Somerset, Their construction, craftsmanship and chronology 1350 - 1550|year= 1981|publisher= Avebury Publishing Company|isbn= 0-86127-502-0}} is {{convert|92|ft|m|0}} high, in four stages with set-back offset corner buttresses. It is thought that the work was supervised by William Wynford, master mason of Wells Cathedral. To meet the growing size of Yeovil and the increased population, work on a second church, Holy Trinity, began on 24 June 1843,{{cite web|url=http://www.yeovil-history.org.uk/johnbaptist.html|title=St John the Baptist Church|publisher=Yeovil History|access-date=10 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032523/http://www.yeovil-history.org.uk/johnbaptist.html|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}} and this relieved the pressures on St John's. In 1863, shortage of space in the graveyard was alleviated by the opening of the Preston Road cemetery.

The church is capped by openwork balustrading matching the parapets which are from the 17th century. Major reconstruction work was undertaken from 1851 to 1860. The tower has two-light late 14th century windows on all sides at bell-ringing and bell-chamber levels, the latter having fine pierced stonework grilles. There is a stair turret to the north-west corner, with a weather vane termination. Among the fourteen bells are two dating from 1728 and made by Thomas Bilbie of the Bilbie family in Chew Stoke.{{cite web|url=http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?DoveID=YEOVIL|title=Yeovil, S John Bapt|website=Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers|access-date=25 December 2017}} Another from the same date, the "Great Bell", was recast in 2013, from {{convert|4502|lb|kg st}} to {{convert|4992|lb|kg st|abbr=on}}.{{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=James |first2=Roy |last2=Rice |first3= Ernest |last3=Hucker |title=Bilbie and the Chew Valley clock makers |year=1995 |publisher=The authors |isbn=0-9526702-0-8 }}

Because of the state of some of the external masonry the church has been added to the Heritage at Risk Register.{{cite web|title=Church of St John the Baptist, Church Path, Yeovil — South Somerset|url=http://risk.english-heritage.org.uk/register.aspx?id=19315|work=Heritage at Risk|publisher=English Heritage|access-date=19 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022175527/http://risk.english-heritage.org.uk/register.aspx?id=19315|archive-date=22 October 2013|url-status=dead}}

File:Judas Iscariot in Stained Glass Depiction.jpg

Unusually, the stained glass windows include a depiction of a lone Judas Iscariot with a dark halo.{{cite web|title=The Church of St John Baptist|url=http://www.yeovilhistory.info/stjohn.htm|publisher=Yeovil History|access-date=8 October 2015}} Inside the church is a brass reading desk originally made in East Anglia.{{cite book|last1=Dunning|first1=Robert|title=Fifty Somerset Churches|date=1996|publisher=Somerset Books|isbn=978-0861833092|pages=54–58}}

The parish is part of a benefice with St Andrew, Yeovil, in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.{{cite web|title=St John the Baptist, Yeovil|url=http://www.achurchnearyou.com/yeovil-st-john-the-baptist/|website=A Church Near You|publisher=Church of England|access-date=10 February 2016}} A Member of the South West Gospel Partnership, it has an evangelical character. [https://www.swgp.org.uk/churches/ South West Gospel Partnership: churches], swgp.org.uk