Church Heritage Record 612072

Prior to reordering: 4-bay aisled nave with south-west tower and 2-bay chancel with organ chamber to north. Boiler house beneath north-east corner.

Post reordering: 4-bay nave with WCs, kitchen and vestry in north aisle, store rooms and chapel in south aisle, lobby south of chancel.

[Approximate] Nave 14m (46ft) x 6m (20ft), aisles 3.5m (11ft5in) wide, chancel 12m (39ft) long.

There is evidence for the early settlement of Ridgeway, visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs. Its boom years were in the 18th and 19th centuries, when Ridgeway was heavily involved in the industry of sickle and scythe manufacturing. The churchyard contains burials to families involved with the local business, such as the Hutton's whose memorial stands to the east of the church. Some of the buildings associated with the trade, some dating to the 18th century, survive in and around the village. The rise of the combine-harvester contributed to the eventual demise of the industry though some firms adapted and established side-lines in making cutlery and ice-skating blades.

The former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, built in 1801, stands to the south of St John.

St John's was built as a Chapel of Ease in 1838-40 when the population of Ridgeway was 1293. An ICBS grant for £200 was awarded towards the costs. A plan of the church was made by Woodhead and Hurst of Doncaster in 1838 but alterations to seating are shown on plans subsequently drafted by Hurst and Moffatt of Doncaster in 1840. The ground plans do not illustrate a chancel, vestry, or tower. Kelly's Directory notes that the church was restored in 1868. The east window was installed in 1867 so the chancel and north vestry could have been added at this time. A south-west tower was built 1883-4 and further restoration carried out. In 1984 the interior was altered to include a community space.

The archaeological potential of the site is low. The site has ecological value - it has a number of mature trees and is within a conservation area, as well as being designated as Greenbelt and as a Special Landscape Area.

A solidly built Gothic stone church which has little ornamentation. It is nestled amidst mature trees partially screening it from view. Due to its orientation with the road, the east elevation of St John’s is the most frequently viewed. A tall, pinnacled, south-west tower can be seen rising beyond the tall nave and its smaller chancel and their steeply-pitched roofs. The best view is from the south of the churchyard from where the building is elevated and the full drama of the tower can be appreciated against the plain design of the principle elevations. A vestry with a tall chimney extends to the north.

Within both the north and south elevations lancet windows are grouped in threes with the central light the tallest. In the nave walls, above the aisles, a clerestory is pierced by cinquefoil lights. There are additionally three lights in the west elevation and the east end of the south aisle. The chancel has two-light windows beneath hood-moulds and a four-light window in the east elevation. Two-tier buttresses extend the full height of the aisles between the bays. A plinth extends around the base of the church.

Crested tiles run along the ridge of the chancel roof. Prominent coping stones finish the east and west gables and carved kneelers in the form of green-men at each corner. Stone cross finials terminate both east gables.

Stone cobbles pave the ground around the south porch. The porch has a shallow gabled entrance on shafts, but is integrated within the base of the south-west tower. There are three lancets above the door and two-light louvred bell openings on each side above that. Pinnacles surmount each corner with a pyramidal roof and metal finial completing the construction. Gargoyles add detail. A small, blocked, pointed door on the west side leads to a spiral stair [access not possible]. A modern porch has been built at the east end of the south aisle with glazed timber doors and concrete slab steps.

Regular access to the interior is through the modern porch which opens into a small lobby inside. There are a further two steps up to the reordered worship area. A door to the west accesses the south chapel room.

Throughout the whole interior a lowered ceiling with ceiling tiles has been inserted, this is pitched in the nave and chancel. The ceiling curtails the window heights, hides the original roof structure, alters the sense of height and blocks light filtering down from the clerestory. Additional lighting is provided by spotlights in addition to the natural light which comes through plain diamond leaded glazing. Radiators are fixed to the walls with guards fixed over those in the former nave.

The nave is now a community space with a wooden floor marked up as a badminton court. Long curtains hang either side of the west window. The alternate octagonal and circular piers of the north and south arcades have been blocked. In the spaces to the north are WCs with a kitchen and a vestry at the east end. In the base of the tower there is a cloakroom area, and along the former south aisle are storage spaces and a chapel-like space which can also be entered from the lobby. There are glazed timber doors between the nave and the north and south aisles at the east end.

A solid wood partition, with long curtains either side, separates the nave and chancel but can be opened to extend the worship area. There are two steps between the different floor areas.

A flat chancel arch rests on attached stone shafts to the east end of the worship space, the rear most bay of the chancel would have previously been a part of the nave. A door in the north leads into the vestries and has a stained glass window next to it. The walls of the chancel are plastered and painted white with a continuous stone sill. The space is carpeted and seated with upholstered wood chairs. Quatrefoils above the south windows have been filled with extractor fans. An organ with simple wood case is placed to the north. The altar is raised by two steps at the east end. To its south a sedilia is set within the wall. Behind it net curtains hide decorative encaustic tiles fixed to the lower part of the east wall.