St John the Baptist, Tunstall

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St John the Baptist, Tunstall, Lancashire

St John the Baptist, Tunstall

Where is it – England, North West England

Who looks after it –  Church authorities 

What is it –  Church, Free access 

When is it from – Medieval

I’d give St John the Baptist, Tunstall, a prize for one of the best-kept churchyards I’ve ever seen.

The tiny village of Tunstall has had a church since at least the 11th century, though its current one dates from the 13th and was largely rebuilt around 1415 by Sir Thomas Tunstall, of nearby Thurland Castle, with further restorations in the 16th and 20th centuries. A mutilated effigy in the church is thought to be of Sir Thomas. The Bronte sisters attended Tunstall church in the 1820s whilst at the nearby Clergy Daughters’ School in Cowan Bridge – it appears as Brocklebridge Church in Jane Eyre. In 2015, a painting which had hung in the church for 200 years was found to be a masterpiece by 16th century Venetian artist Francesco Montemezzano, worth more than £100,000. In the inner jamb of a window in the north aisle is a Roman votive stone, believed to be an altar to the god Asclepius, Greek god of medicine, reused from the nearby fort of Calacum (Burrow).

Confusingly, there is also a St John the Baptist in Tunstall, Kent.

 


Address
Church Lane, Tunstall, Lancashire LA6 2RQ 

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