Clarborough
St John the Baptist

Archaeology

The church consists of west tower, nave, north and south aisles, chancel, and south porch. It was restored by Charles Fowler in 1873-4 when he rebuilt the nave, aisles and chancel.

Exterior

The two-stage west tower with a pair of diagonal buttresses and a crenellated parapet with four crocketed pinnacles is typical for this part of Nottinghamshire

Interior

The north arcade has circular piers and thin moulded capitals and dates from the 13th century

The south arcade has octagonal piers and is probably 14th century

The 14th century tower arch (restored in the 19th century) has double chamfer and rebate, moulded imposts and hood mould with foliate stops

Tower from the
north-west		 North arcade South arcade Tower arch Foliate stop on
tower arch

Medieval Cross Slabs

Drawing of
cross slabs by
Peter Ryder

(1) Slab now forming internal lintel of westernmost window in south wall of south aisle. Incised design; straight arm cross with terminals that have pointed buds, large round leaves and smaller secondary leaves set diagonally; ball near top of cross shaft.

(2) Slab re-used as internal lintel of south window of chamber below belfry in tower, badly eroded. Cross shaft with a ball or disc, and a sunken panel above which seems to have contained the head and praying hands of an effigy, although this is not really clear. On the l. of the shaft traces of a possible pair of shears, on the r. part of a crescent-shaped emblem (?) is visible. An interesting but puzzling piece.

Descriptions and drawings of the cross slabs courtesy of Peter Ryder.