St John the Baptist's Church, Barnack

St John the Baptist, Barnack
St John the Baptist's Church, Barnack
St John the Baptist, Barnack Location in Cambridgeshire
Coordinates: 52°37′57″N 0°24′25″W / 52.6326°N 0.407°W / 52.6326; -0.407
Location	Barnack, Cambridgeshire
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	High Anglican
History
Dedication	John the Baptist
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	19 March 1962
Administration
Parish	Barnack
Diocese	Peterborough
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Priest(s)	Reverend David Maylor
Assistant	Sean Rowlands

The Church of St John the Baptist, Barnack is a Church of England parish church in the village of Barnack, now in the City of Peterborough in the county of Cambridgeshire. Barnack was formerly part of the Soke of Peterborough, an historic area that was traditionally associated with Northamptonshire. Barnack is 3.5 miles (6 km) south-east of Stamford in Lincolnshire. The church is a Grade I listed building.

The church, dedicated to John the Baptist, is noted in particular for its Anglo-Saxon tower to which was added a spire of circa 1200, possibly one of the earliest spires in England.

In the north aisle is a large Romanesque sculpture of a seated Christ in Majesty that was discovered under the floor in 1931. Estimates of the date of the Christ vary widely, from the latter part of the 10th century to circa 1200; the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland settles on the late 12th century.

Simon Jenkins gives the church four stars in his England's Thousand Best Churches (1999) and highlights as features the tower, the stiff-leaf font and the Christ in Majesty.

St John from the southeast showing the Lady Chapel

The Anglo-Saxon tower

Anglo-Saxon south doorway in the tower

Gravestones in the Churchyard

Distant view from the north