This brick church was built in 1856-7 by the 'rogue' architect Samuel Sanders Teulon.

St. John the Baptist, Burringham, has his trademark style of multi-coloured bricks; red and black outside, yellow, red and black on the inside.

It is now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.

An Edwardian postcard indicates some of the changes to the building that have occurred over the twentieth century. The lucarnes (bell openings) on each face of the tower roof have been removed.

The pattern of coloured tiles on the porch roof have also been replaced. Perhaps surprisingly, the original black pigment on bricks around the windows had already been lost within sixty years of opening.

This Edwardian post card view shows that the turret or chimney at the north-west corner of the building was originally capped with a ‘pepper pot’ cowl.

The churchyard appears to be carpeted with flowers but there is little evidence of the trees which have grown in the past century and obscure this view today.

The architect, Samuel Sanders Teulon made this simple pen-and-ink sketch of his design for the church.

Additional decorative features such as the Celtic crosses on the chancel and nave, and the roundels high on the tower wall were not implemented.

The lucarnes with bell opening in the tower roof were part of the building completed in 1857 – as confirmed by Edwardian postcard views – but they were removed as part of a re-roofing scheme in the twentieth century.

The general form of the church is apparent in this view across the churchyard from the south. The tower is relatively wide, though low; the roofs are broad and high.

The original prominent decoration of black bricks around the windows and above the porch entrance was eroded away within a few years and has now almost completely disappeared.

The design and materials of the altar table and panels forming the reredos differ from the other wooden furnishings of the church.

This assembly is likely to date from the first half of the twentieth century.

The substantial oak altar rail, with pierced quatrefoil decoration in the lower cross-rail, is an original furnishing which may have been designed by Teulon, the building's architect.

There is a rail in similar style in the Teulon’s other Lincolnshire brick church, St Peter’s at New Bolingbroke.

The interior walls of the chancel are covered in a diaper pattern of red and cream bricks with alternating red and black bricks in the arches above the windows.

The raised sanctuary area is paved with red and black tiles in chequerboard design and lit by three two-light windows with quatrefoil lights above.

The backs of the choir stalls have a double row of pierced trefoils.

Panels of the ceiling above the altar are painted pale blue and decorated with an imaginative ‘constellation’ of gold stars.

This decoration was created to mark the church’s centenary in 1957.

The small limestone blocks decorating the window heads remain fresh and bright, but the original pattern of black bricks is no longer apparent.

This photograph has been ‘touched up’ to indicate how it once would have appeared. The black bricks were the same red bricks used in the rest of the building which had been given a superficial painted treatment.

The shaft dividing the two lights is constructed of limestone with an 8-shaped section to accommodate the glazing.

There are two two-light windows in the chancel glazed in small diamond panes of opaque coloured glass, a style common to many churches and chapels of this period.

The surrounds of the window carry the red-and-black brick decoration that is used internally for all the windows both internally and externally, though the black colouration has been eroded away on the external bricks.

The stained-glass window at the centre of the apse was inserted in 1857 when the church was completed. It is dedicated to Mary Elizabeth Healey (d. 1856) and was provided by Henry Healey, her husband.

Henry Healey donated the site - an orchard - on which the church was built and also provided the bricks from his brickyard 600 yards to the south.

Entrance to the church through the now enclosed porch is through a simple arched doorway with black brick decoration.

A photo of the upper part of the two-light nave window has been touched up to indicate how it first appeared.

Additional black bricks probably surrounded the roundel beneath the surrounding arch.

The font at St John’s is known to have been designed by Teulon. As an architect he was often responsible for the design of all the furnishings of a building as well as its structure.

In this instance he also designed the eight ceramic tiles – each one different – on the faces of the octagonal bowl. The brick plinth is elaborate and unusual.

A wide-angle view looking east gives a good overall impression of the nave, chancel and sanctuary.

The lower supports of the tower arch are corbelled in so that they intrude very little on the space at ground level.

The walls of the tower carry a polychrome decoration of horizontal bands and repeated cross decoration in red brick.

KR, April 2024

A view looking east from the NW corner of the area under the tower shows the general layout of the interior.

The short nave has relatively plain decoration compared with the chancel, though all window heads are treated in similar fashion.

The roof timbers are quite slender because they had to carry a relatively lightweight slated roof.

The tower arch in the foreground carries a complex decoration of red and cream brick.

The capacity of the church is about 200.

Both the tower area and the chancel are larger than the remarkably short nave. The polychrome brick decoration is less elaborate here than elsewhere in the interior.

The tower arch, seen to the left, is supported by a rank of corbels so that at ground level is creates very little division between the tower area and the nave.

KR, April 2024

This two-light window on the south wall of the nave is in pointed Early English style.

The positions of the original black bricks in the window head and arch can just be discerned, though the black pigment has long since disappeared.

This small pipe organ, still in working good order, has a relatively modern case.

There is record of the church receiving an organ dating from 1849 which was moved from St Andrew’s church at Epworth.

Edwardian photographs show an elaborate Gothic timber organ case but it is not known when this was installed and when removed.

The arched opening behind the organ backs on to the vestry.

This short colonnade – repeated on the other side – was open when first built but was probably modified after a relatively short time.

The bricks used for create the single brick thickness infilling are laid in stretcher bond; they appear to have come from the same local brickyard.

Both the trefoil headed porch entrance and the limestone dressings are in keeping with the design features seen elsewhere on the building.

It is also apparent that, when built, there were decorative black bricks - now almost indistinguishable - in the gable above the entrance.

Little in known about the octagonal pulpit and its date. It is a poor match with the pews and other furniture in both colour and style, and is very unlikely to have been designed by Teulon, the architect.

The eaves of the tower are decorated by a prominent brickwork frieze in the Lombard (Italian) style.

Small recessed crosses formed from three bricks, originally blackened, are positioned between the arches of the frieze.

This internal corner of the tower was used in recent times as a curtained off choir robing space. The timber batten which carried pegs can be seen to the left.

It is also clear that a stove or some form of heating apparatus, which blackened the brickwork, was located here at some time in the past.

Modifications to the brickwork may indicate the position of an external flue.

Crossed braces in each corner of the tower - an unusual feature - support the principal timbers of the roof.

 Detail of the decoration in the interior walls of the tower, seen here on the south wall next to the church entrance. The bricks are laid in Flemish Bond.

Red bricks are surrounded by black pointing. The black bricks in the door arch have retained their original colour, in contrast to those used externally.

This shot of the interior of the north wall of tower shows the bands of red brick forming a polychrome decoration which differs from that in the nave and chancel.

Each wall beneath the tower carries two Seals of Solomon (six-pointed Stars of David enclosed in circles) above window height.

This motif was also used by Teulon on the east gable of his brick church, St Peter's, at New Bolingbroke.

The window in the south wall of the tower and over the porch is composed of three large trefoil openings.

Decorative features – limestone blocks, black bricks - are similar to those in the more conventional windows elsewhere

This remarkable construction is supported by corbelled brickwork from the north-west corner of the tower.

At one time there was a stove in the church close to this position, but it is by no means certain that this brick structure ever served as a chimney.

The opinion of an experienced modern student of Teulon’s work is that this was merely a decorative feature created by an eccentric architect.

In the recent past the original ‘pepper pot’ cowl has been replaced by a concrete slab. The vertical openings close to the top of the structure were probably infilled many years ago.

A list of village men who served in the First World War created in an elaborate fretwork panel hangs on the south wall of the nave. This was created by a local craftsman, Arthur Glover.

The names are ordered by length of name, not alphabetically.

A small title sheet, also created in fretwork, hangs beneath the war memorial.

The largest window in the church is this three-light in the west wall of the tower.

Like the two-light windows in the chancel, small blocks of limestone provide decorative highlights.

As with other widows, there would have been extensive use of black bricks in simple patterns around the window head.

This single-light window on the north side of the nave is sheltered from the sun and prevailing westerly wind.

This is the only location on the outer walls of the church where the original black pigment used for creating contrasting bricks has survived.

A stained-glass window in the south wall of the nave was dedicated to members of the Thornton family in 1877.

The inscription on a brass plate below the window reads: To the Glory of God and in affectionate / memory of a loving Brother and a fond Mother / this window is erected by Mary Thornton Sep 1877

A stained-glass window in the south wall of the nave was dedicated to members of the Thornton family in 1869.

In the bottom right corner it carries the wording: ‘Alex Gibbs Bedford Sq London’

The inscription on a brass plate below the window reads: By his affectionate son William / in memory of William Thornton / born 7 Nov 1784 died 24 April 1869 / He was the first Churchwarden of this Church

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states "The Temperance Hall, erected in 1891, is now used as a parish hall"

More recently converted into a two bed detached house and being offered for sale September 2020 with an asking price of £195,000

Geoff Swain Collection 6 September 1993

"A List And Brief Details Of Chapels In The Scunthorpe Circuit Past And Present" prepared By Colin Shepherdson & Mervyn G White March 1997 (Revised August 1998) states :- 

"The Society was formed in 1781 and the first chapel erected in the High Street in 1804.

It was replaced on the same site by a second chapel in 1863.

The chapel was renovated and re-opened on the 27.10.1927.

A Sunday school was added to the rear in 1964.

The chapel closed on the 2.6.1991 and was sold in 1996. The chapel now stands boarded up and unused" 

Geoff Swain Collection 17 August 1993

This rather odd plaque, confirming the opening date of the chapel, is set above the centrally placed entrance.

The inscription once read 'WESLEYAN' and the blank circular upper section once carried additional writing or a symbol. 

September 2023