St John the Baptist Church, Frome

St John the Baptist Church in Frome is well worth a visit, as it contains a large number of interesting features.

The first church on the site was a Saxon one made of wood and founded by St Aldhelm in 685AD.  His mission was to bring Christianity to the wild and barbaric tribes who inhabited Selwood Forest. His church was replaced by a stone one, which was then in turn replaced by a Norman church in the 12th century. The Norman church was extended several times until it reached its current footprint in around 1420.  

By the mid 1800s the church had become very dilapidated and it was extensively modernised in the Anglo-Catholic style in the Victorian period by WJE Bennett, who was Vicar of St John's from 1852 to 1886.  The stained glass windows in the Lady Chapel and the north and south aisles date from this time and were the work of C.E. Kempe & Co.

The St Nicholas Chapel was built in 1408 as a Chantry Chapel.  It is now the baptistry.  The font dates from the 13th century and the tall wooden cover was made for it in 1884. The Seven Virtues and Seven Deadly sins are depicted in marble on the floor around the font.

A Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) was designed and sculpted by James Forsyth as a processional way from the street up to the north porch of St John's Church.  It was erected in 1866 and features scenes from the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.

Thomas Ken was appointed Bishop of Bath and Wells by King Charles II in 1684.  He lived a holy and austere life and wrote manuals of prayers and several hymns.  He cared for the poor and regularly shared his Sunday lunch with 12 poor men and women. After the death of Charles II, Bishop Ken swore allegiance to James II.  He then set up charity schools in the larger towns in the diocese with Lord Weymouth.  After the Monmouth Rebellion he remonstrated with Judge Jeffries about the treatment of the captured rebels.  He was sent to the Tower of London in 1688 for seditious libel because he had preached against James II's Declaration of Indulgence, which suspended the laws against Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters. When James II fled from England, Bishop Ken refused to swear an oath of allegiance to William, as he felt that he could not break his existing oath to James II.  He had to leave his job and spent the rest of his life living at Longleat with Lord Weymouth.  He was buried at St John's Church in Frome because at that time it was the closest parish church to Longleat that was in the Diocese of Bath and Wells.

Font with the Seven Virtues around it

Zeal - the Wise Virgins

Contentment - Barzillai & David

Greed - the Rich Man

St John the Baptist Church, Frome

St John the Baptist Church, Frome

In 1990 stained glass artist, Mark Angus was commissioned to make a stained-glass window of a historical timeline commemorating important events in Britain since 597. The events illustrated are from bottom to top:

• 597 St Augustine lands in Kent
• 685 St Aldhelm establishes the first church in Frome (the town is depicted with as a red heart with the River Frome running through it).
• 1066 Norman Conquest of Britain
• 1349 The Black Death
• 1536 Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII
• 1914-1918 First World War
• 1939-1945 Second World War
• 1945 The Atom Bomb (mushroom cloud)
• 1985  After 1300 years St Aldhelm's Church is still shining the light of the Gospel

It was manufactured by Derix Studios in London and Taunusstein in Germany.  It is stunning.

 

Frome 1300 Window

Decorative floor tile

Saxon stones built into the wall of the tower

The upper stone is believed to be part of the shaft of a Saxon cross. The lower stone is of an animal.  They are made of different rocks and in a different style, so probably weren't originally together.  The upper stone probably dates from the 8th century and the lower one from the 9th century.

High altar and reredos

The reredos was carved by James Forsyth

Medallion - Man healed at the Pool of Bethesda

There are 18 medallions high up on the walls of the nave.  17 of them were given to the church at the time of the Victorian restoration and were carved by James Forsyth.  The 18th one was given in memory of George Ashby (Sacristan) in 1903. The depict the miracles and parables of Jesus and were meant to be teaching aids.

Font cover

Ken Window in St Andrew's Chapel

Bishop Ken seated at table with the poor of the city

Steps up to the North Porch

Statues of St Adhelm (left) and St Alban (right)

These were carved by James Forsyth c1866-1876

O God, make the door of

this church wide enough to

receive all who need human 

love and fellowship and

narrow enough to shut out

all envy, pride and strife.

Make its threshold smooth

 enough to be no stumbling 

block to children, nor to

straying feet, but rugged

and strong enough to turn

back the tempter's power.

God - make the door of this

church the gateway to your eternal kingdom

Nave

Grave of Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath and Wells

Plaque on Bishop Ken's grave

Pulpit

The pulpit is decorated with sculptures of The Eight Preachers - Noah, Moses, Elijah, St John the Baptist, St Peter, St Paul, St Chrysostom and St Ambrose.

Nave altar and rood screen

The rood screen was erected in 1892.  It was designed by the Kempe company.  The cross and figures were made by Holzmeister Zwink of Oberammergau and the screen was made by Norman & Burt of Burgess Hill.

Lady Chapel

This contains a reredos, statue of Madonna and Child, a Pieta, Norman piscina, Norman doorway, 14th century table tomb of the Leversedge family, roof bosses with images of the crucifixion of Jesus and stained glass windows by Kempe and  O'Connor Jr.