Church Micro 6917...Rugby - St John the Baptist Traditional Geocache

A Church Micro located on a public footpath leading to the Church.

We would like to dedicate this Church Micro to my wife’s Great Grandmother, Lois Watson who died February 1953 and her son Albert ‘Bert’ Watson who died of TB in 1917. On a recent canal boat trip in the area she discovered the headstone of these two long lost relatives.

An historic 12^th Century church with many interesting features further details can be found at the following website. (http://goo.gl/m3JSqF)  Early records suggest there has been a church on this site since the 12^th century the original endowed by the De Astley Family.  Nothing of the original church remains above ground although some of the original stone may have been used in the later rebuilding. The oldest existing parts are the nave and chancel dating from about 1240.  The church was then extensively altered in 1342.

The organ is a Grade 2 listed pipe organ made by Bishops of London specifically for the church. Originally fitted internally, a barrel enabled 10 hymn tunes to be played in the absence of an organist in much the same way as a musical box.

The effigy of a recumbent knight is thought to be Sir Thomas de Astley d.1265. It was severely cut about when the box pews were installed in the 1770s, and previous to that it had been badly defaced, possibly in the Civil War, when parliamentary troops may have been billeted in the church before the Battle of Naseby in 1642. They did not care for ‘graven images’ and sometimes used them as sharpening stones for their swords as well as breaking off pieces. There are several ‘charity boards’ in the church. Adjacent to the main entrance is the Astley charity board. Sir Edward provided for two shillings each week to purchase twelve two penny loaves. These were placed on the rack beneath and were distributed after Divine Service to such poor of the parish that had attended (or were prevented ‘by sickness from attending) as the Vicar and Churchwardens should think fit. This charity is now incorporated in the Hillmorton civil charities and is no longer administered by the church. On your way out through the porch, see the bay of lead  framed on the wall. This served as a reminder of the date 1719 when the church was re-roofed and as a check that the lead used was of good quality. And, maybe, as an advert for the plumber! There is another from 1810 in the vestry.  On the lead of the porch roof (unfortunately stolen in 2010) were the ‘marks’ of two of the plumbers who installed the lead when the porch was roofed. The outline of a square-toed boot is incised into the lead, together with their initials.

Once outside, you will notice that the church is built on higher ground rising out of what was, at one time, marshland – the ‘moor’ of ‘Hill-moor-town’. The footpath from the main entrance porch leading under the railway foot tunnel, led directly to the site of the former Hillmorton Manor House, located where Constable Road and Brindley Road now meet. In bygone days, the Lord of the Manor was ‘responsible, as ‘Lay Rector’, for the upkeep of the Chancel. The tower was built about 1565 and a set of five bells, by Thomas Russell of Bedford, were hung in 1731. The old wooden bell frame was replaced in 1972 by a new steel frame made by apprentices from GEC. Another bell, by Taylors of Loughborough, was added at that time to make a ring of six. GEC apprentices also made the weathervane atop the tower, which faithfully follows the design of the original mid-1700s wrought ironwork. On an outside buttress on the south wall, east of the porch, you can just make out the markings of an old vertical sundial.

The churchyard is no longer used for burials and the gravestones that once were all across it have been moved to the outside edge so that the grass can more easily be mowed. The unmown area to the north of the church is now a managed Nature Conservation Area.