St.John The Baptist (Anglican) Church
Apart from the Norman chancel arch, and the lower stages of the 13th Century tower, the church was generally rebuilt in the 14th Century, when the south aisle was added. The chancel was rebuilt from the bases of the windows upwards by E.Christian, who restored the church in 1882. The upper stage of the tower is 14th Century with a small spire. The blue lias stone on the north of the nave has so deteriorated that it has been patched up with brick. The chancel arch is probably early 12th Century, but of unusual design.
The arch is enriched with intersecting zigzag moulding, with a grotesque keystone - almost certainly the Devil’s face - under a double row of billet moulding, and supported on jamb shafts with scalloped capitals.
The tower arch is 15th Century with concave mouldings. The south arcade is most striking; it has four bays, octagonal piers, and a good series of corbel heads, mostly of men with hair curled in the fashion of the time of Edward II and III.
(There are more faces outside and within the porch.)
The aisle has a 14th Century wagon roof and a 14th Century piscina with a crocketed canopy. The walls of the aisle and chancel are scraped. The chancel has a piscina with a cinquefoil head and a double 14th Century decorated aumbry.
In the north east corner of the sanctuary a few medieval tiles remain.
The octagonal font is 13th or early 14th Century with bowl and stem cut out of one block of stone. The pew ends are copies of 15th Century panels. In the east window the crucifixion is 14th Century glass and there are fragments of glass dating from that time in the south aisle, east window.
The drum, part of the orchestra before the church had an organ, has the Royal Arms of 1817.
Also here are (surprisingly) the displaced village stocks!
The chalice dates from 1696. In the chancel are three tablets by W & J Stephens of Worcester: Sarah Carne died 1807, Susanna Buckle, 1816 and Thomas White, 1771.
There are slate tablets with incised lines and Rococco ornament to William Buckle, 1803 by Cooke, William White, 1807 by Millard & Cooke and Noah Buckle, 1834 by Cooke.
Severnside Benefice
Chaceley parish church is part of the Severnside Benefice which also includes Apperley, Forthampton, Tredington, Stoke Orchard and Hardwicke.
Church Services
Chaceley: services held on the 1st, 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month.
Please check for details on:
‘Severnsider’ parishes magazine (monthly)
Church Notice Board
St John The Baptist - Chaceley
War Memorial
WW1 Gravestone