St John the Baptist
Kinlet, Shropshire
Kinlet church no longer has a village around it, but stands in a rather remote location in the grounds of Kinlet Hall.
St Mary's church is Grade I listed and built of local stone. It blends perfectly with the peace and quiet of the Shropshire Hills, with the nearby Clee Hill (as seen on Hereford’s ‘Mappa Mundi’) silently standing guard over the tranquil churchyard and the Rea valley beyond.
The crudely carved hunting scene on the tympanum above the Saxon west door, protected from the elements by the later Norman tower, is the earliest clue in the history of sacred buildings here. The Domesday Book (1086) has the first written record of this parish church, which largely dates from the period 1060-1270 and reflects the Norman and early English styles of architecture. The intricately carved stone font is a unique treasure, created around 1138, by the legendary Hereford School of Romanesque Sculpture.
More recently, around 1620, the Jacobeans added a splendidly carved wooden pulpit and, more recently still, the Arts & Crafts rood screen was added to the chancel arch in 1901.
Other features include medieval floor tiles and some wonderful stained glass. The tower contains four bells recast in 1752 by Abel Rudhall of Gloucester and a turret clock from 1855 by Joyce of Whitchurch.