Church of St John the Baptist

About

St John the Baptist's Church is the parish church of Pockley, a village in North Yorkshire, in England. Until the late 19th century, residents of Pockley worshipped at All Saints' Church, Helmsley. In 1870, a church was built, to a design credited to either George Gilbert Scott or George Gilbert Scott Jr. The building was grade II listed in 1985.

The church is built of limestone with sandstone dressings and a Westmorland slate roof. It consists of a nave, a south porch, and a chancel with a north vestry. At the west end is a central buttress carrying a bellcote with four openings. Inside, there is a 13th-century font, which was moved from All Saints in Helmsley. The chancel screen and other furnishings were provided by Temple Moore in 1898-99 and rood beam figures by Lang of Oberammergau. The church's unusual heating system was based on a Roman hypocaust. Warm air came through underfloor ducts from a coke-fired stove beneath the church. Originally the fuel for the stove was carried through a 25-foot brick-lined tunnel on a miniature railway which is still in existence but rarely used. The hot air heating system was restored in 2012 and for the first time in over 60 years the church...