St. John’s is a Grade 2 Listed building. Below is the description of the church on www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk.
WHITCHURCH URBAN C.P. SAINT JOHN’S STREET
SJ 5441
(north-west side)
8/112 Saint John’s Methodist
– Church and adjoining
– church hall
Grade II
Methodist Church and church hall. 1879. Snecked rock-faced yellow/brown sandstone with ashlar dressings. Plain tile roof. 4-bay nave with 3-bay (liturgical) north aisle and south porch, apsidal chancel, north and south transepts, organ chamber to south-east, north-west steeple, and vestry and church hall adjoining to the north-east. In a late C13 or early C14 Gothic style. Steeple: 3 stages. Chamfered plinth, angle buttresses to top of second stage with chamfered offsets, second-stage cill string, and belfry with rope-moulded nook shafts at corners. Coving to stone broach spire with lucarnes on cardinal faces, each with chamfered trefoil arch and small quatrefoil in apex, and circular clock at base to west with gabled surround. Triple-chamfered louvred belfry openings, divided by shafts with moulded capitals and bases and supporting hollow-chamfered arches with continuous hoodmould.
Second-stage north and west windows of 2 trefoil-headed lights with quatrefoil in tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals and continuous hoodmould. North doorway with moulded arch, 2 orders of shafts with carved foliated capitals and moulded bases, hoodmould, and half-glazed door with decorative ironwork. 4 steps up to door.
Nave: chamfered plinth, chamfered cill string, continuous hoodmould, parapeted gable end with trefoil-gabled kneelers and cross at apex, and ridge cresting. Windows of 2 trefoil-headed lights with cusped Geometrical tracery and hollow-chamfered reveals. Large west window of 4 trefoil-headed lights with cusped Y-tracery, hollow-chamfered and moulded reveals, and returned hoodmould.
South-west porch with low angle buttresses and parapeted gable. Moulded arch, one order of shafts with carved foliated capitals and moulded bases,hoodmould, and pair of half-glazed boarded doors with decorative wrought ironwork. 3 steps up to doorway.
North aisle: plinth and cill string. Pairs of chamfered trefoil-headed windows.
Chancel:, plinth and cill string. 3 trefoil-headed windows with hollow-chamfered reveals and nook shafts with carved foliated capitals and moulded bases.
South transept: plinth, cill string, interrupted string course with carved stops, and parapeted gable end with trefoil-gabled kneelers and cross at apex.
South window of 4 trefoil-headed lights with cusped tracery,hollow-chamfered reveals, and hoodmould with carved stops.
North transept: cill string, stepped up to south window of 3 lights with cusped Geometrical tracery and returned hoodmould. Bank circular quatrefoil panel in apex of gable above.
Organ chamber: hipped roof. Pair of chamfered lancets to south, and boarded door to east with strap hinges, chamfered reveals, moulded arch and cill string carried over as hood-mould.
Church Hall: 2-span roof. Chamfered plinth. Ashlar stack to rear ridge with brick top stage. 2-windows to west paired chamfered trefoil-headed lights. Central porch with low angle buttresses, continuous hoodmould, returned to sides, and parapeted gable. Boarded door with decorative strap hinges, chamfered jambs, and continuously-moulded arch. Left-hand return front: window to right of triple stepped chamfered lancets and 2 windows to left of paired chamfered trefoil-headed lights. Right-hand gable end: triple stepped chamfered lancets, with cill string, stepped-up, and continuous hoodmould over all. Rear with windows of paired chamfered trefoil-headed lights to left andsingle light to right. Boarded door to right with decorative strap hinges and chamfered reveals.
Vestry linking church and hall, with brick stack to valley between it and transept, east window consisting of a pair of chamfered trefoil-headed lights and boarded door to left with decorative strap hinges and chamfered reveals.
Interior: trussed-rafter roofs with moulded wall plates. 3-bay aisle arcade consisting of circular piers with moulded bases and capitals, chamfered and moulded arches, and continuous hoodmould. Moulded and chamfered transept arches with half-round piers and hoodmoulds with carved stops. Chamfered arch to organ chamber in south transept. Chamfered and moulded rear arches. Aisle windows with moulded wooden lintels, chamfered cills and splayed reveals. Strainer buttress at east end of aisle. Continuously-moulded arch to vestry with boarded door.
Fittings: mainly c.1879. Wrought-iron and wooden altar rails. Wooden choir stalls. Circular stone pulpit with moulded base and top, ogee trefoil-arcaded side with marble inlay, short circular stem, and steps with wrought-iron balustrade. Plain wooden pews. C19 organ. Encaustic tiles to chancel. Stained glass in transepts and east windows. Vestry and church hall with stone corner fireplaces. Hall has trussed-rafter roof with moulded wooden wall plate and moulded wooden lintels to windows. This church cost over £5000 to build in 1879. The church is not aligned east-west but this description refers only to liturgical east, west etc. Kelly’s Directory of Herefordshire and Shropshire (1900), p. 279.
Listing NGR: SJ5432841734
