Church of St John the Baptist

About Church of St John the Baptist

St John the Baptist stands on the corner of Grainger Street and Westgate Road, listed Grade I, and is mostly 14th and 15th century with a chancel largely rebuilt in 1848. Its statutory heritage address is Westgate Road while the parish, the diocese and the National Churches Trust all give Grainger Street, which is the form to use for a map pin. The reason to go in is the medieval stained glass, which the listing does not mention at all: a north chancel window of 1375 to 1400 carries the oldest known depiction of Newcastle's coat of arms, the three silver castles on a red shield, and a second window of about 1381 in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel marks the marriage of Henry Percy, first Earl of Northumberland, to Maude Lucy, showing the Percy lion alongside the Lucy pikes.

Elsewhere there are heraldic shields running along the hood-mould of the north arcade, a 17th-century octagonal font with a cover in 15th-century style, and the upper part of a small round-headed Norman window surviving in the north chancel wall. Thomas Bewick, the engraver, was married here in 1786. The churchyard is one of the very few patches of green in this part of the city centre. The congregation worships in the Anglo-Catholic tradition. Opening has been restricted in recent years and sources disagree about the current pattern, so check the church's A Church Near You listing before travelling rather than relying on older published hours.

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