St John

St John's Church stands on the banks of the Esk on a Celtic burial ground. It adjoins an SSSI and the Drigg Coast Special Area of Conservation, is in one World Heritage Site and adjacent to a second. Its foundation is 13C with 14C additions. Dendrochronology shows that roof timbers at the west end were felled in 1537. Trusses at the east end date to 1675-1700, suggesting a later extension. It's a simple rectangular building with additions of a bellcote (1796), porch (rebuilt 1870) and vestry. When the porch was rebuilt two substantialcross fragments were discovered in use as the threshold and lintel. The larger of these, a Viking cross, was refitted into its existing socket. The smaller piece (the older Anglian cross) has been cleaned and is in storage at the moment. At the time of their rediscovery many ornate stone fragments were found in the churchyard suggesting an earlier, more ornate building. Two of these pieces were added to the building – a smallcross above the porch, and some window tracery on the roof. There are two listed monuments in the churchyard: the Viking cross and a sundial. The sandstone font is Norman, believed to be carved from a Roman pillar, Two 15th century bells are dedicated to St James and King Henry V1 and were given to the church around the time that King Henry took refuge at Muncaster Castle. A report describes the pulpit (1630) as “probably a fragment of a three-decker pulpit...of great significance from a furniture history point of view...”In 1807 the Vestry meeting agreed to flag and ceil the church and to fit box pews. The Georgian Group describe it as “a remarkably complete c1800 interior.....of considerable regional, if not national significance”.An entry in John Wesley's diary links the site to the Methodism. The church is described in John Betjeman's Guide to English Churches as “the strangest, remote little church” and categorised as “worth bicycling 12 miles against the wind to see.”