The Nave

The nave with its pine roof, iron tie-girders and wooden arcade belongs to the original church of 1858.  At the west end is a stone font for baptisms.  Around the top are carved the words ‘we acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins’ from the Creed.  The oak font cover was carved by a parishioner, Kate Clarke, in 1898 and paid for by the children of the Sunday School.

The two stained-glass windows in the nave are by Caroline Benyon.  The more westerly was put up in 2000 to celebrate the millennium and depicts Jesus after the resurrection.  At the bottom Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James are shown discovering the empty tomb.  At the top is a phoenix, an ancient Christian symbol of the resurrection.  The second window was put up in 2005, in memory of  Marjorie Bolton, a former parishioner, and depicts the harrowing of hell. Christ is shown descending into hell after his crucifixion and drawing up souls from the clutches of devils.  There are plans under way to add two more windows by Caroline Benyon, depicting the Ascension and Pentecost, one to commemorate Father Donald Pharoah, a priest and benefactor with a long association with the parish, and one to celebrate the 150th anniversary of St John’s in 2008.

The fourteen stations of the cross in the nave and north aisle were bought by members of the congregation in 1963 and are by Vanpoule of London.  Depicting episodes from the suffering and death of Christ, the stations are a focus for prayer and devotion, especially during Lent.

The simple pulpit at the front of the nave was made by a parishioner, Cecil Miller, from Japanese oak in 1963.