St John's Church, Bath

St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church is located on the South Parade in the south-east section of Bath City Centre – the old Ham District where John Wood the Elder, the Georgian architect, had originally planned his gigantic "Forum".

The decorative Gothic-style spire dominates the city's skyline, which has irked some people, such as noted architectural critic Nikolaus Pevsner, who accuses the church of being "a demonstrative proof of how intensely the Gothicists hated the Georgians of Bath." Christopher Martin takes a more measured view in his work on English Catholic churches, commenting "the stately interior is a good reflection of mid-Victorian taste", and remarking on the colourful polished marble, the exquisite screen, the blazing and triumphant white tabernacle, the delicate communion rails, a series of references to St John, and the chapels, each with something to admire.^[2]

The structure was designed and built between 1861-3 by Charles Francis Hansom, who was the brother of J. A. Hansom, the creator of the Hansom cab, and had formerly done the village church at Hanley Swan. The brothers also prepared designs for Woodchester Mansion in Nympsfield, Gloucestershire, after A. W. N. Pugin had resigned from the project. For this reason, they are often quoted as the second-best Roman Catholic architects of their day, for their success in securing commissions that Pugin had passed over. They also designed the Woodchester Mansion's north service wing in the same Gothic style.

The walls are of Bath stone. The church's 222-foot (68 m) spire was added by Hansom in 1867. The baptistery, a shrine containing the relics of Saint Justina of Padua, was designed by Edward Joseph Hansom, his son, in 1871.

The brothers considered the church to be one of their best works. Pevsner's typical terse description describes the church as follows:

Torre alta con aguja y chapitels. Ambiciosa nave con naves laterales, claristorio, transeptos y amplio ábside poligonal con ábsides laterales. El exterior es de piedra labrada, y el interior presenta pilares circulares de granito rosa con elaborados capiteles foliados. – PANTALLA de hierro. – VIDRIERAS. En los rosetones, bastante buenas y brillantes. La pantalla y las vidrieras son de Hardman. – VESTIMENTAS. En St. John's se utilizan auténticas vestimentas del siglo XV.

La iglesia fue construida por los benedictinos de la abadía de Downside , lo que explica los considerables edificios anexos destinados a albergar a una pequeña comunidad de sacerdotes. Fue entregada a la diócesis de Clifton en 1932.

El edificio fue bombardeado en 1942: cuatro personas murieron y la nave sur quedó destruida, pero posteriormente fue reconstruida en un estilo gótico similar. La inscripción que conmemora este suceso está en latín: " Hostili incursione diruta... ". ^{[ 3 ]}

El campanario sirve de nido a una pareja reproductora de halcones peregrinos . El lugar de anidación es monitoreado por una cámara web de acceso público. ^{[ 4 ]}

La parroquia pertenece a la diócesis católica romana de Clifton y es una de las cuatro de la ciudad de Bath. Actualmente cuenta con tres sacerdotes, uno de ellos polaco, quien celebra misa en su lengua materna cada domingo para la comunidad polaca local. El párroco, el padre Christopher Whitehead, celebró veinte años de ministerio sacerdotal en 2019 y asumió el cargo en septiembre de ese mismo año.

• Nikolaus Pevsner, Los edificios de Inglaterra: North Somerset y Bristol , (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1958), 106.

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