page_title: Church of St John the Baptist, Frome
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Church of St John the Baptist, Frome / History
caption_attribution_description: English: William James Early Bennett (1804-1886)
context_page_description: The Church of St John the Baptist, Frome is a parish church in the Church of England located at Frome within the English county of Somerset. It is a Grade II* listed building.
  The first church on the site was built by Aldhelm in the late 7th century. Major building work was undertaken in the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries with little remaining of the Norman and Saxon structures. In 1852 the controversial priest William James Early Bennett was appointed as the vicar and undertook major changes both in the organisation of the parish and the fabric of the church.
  The restoration by Charles Edmund Giles included stained glass by Charles Eamer Kempe and statuary by James Forsyth. The entrance to the church passes a holy well and stone-sculptured Via Crucis depicting seven scenes from the Stations of the Cross. It is unique in the Anglican church in England.
context_section_description: The parish church of St John the Baptist, with its tower and spire, was built between the late 12th century and early 15th century replacing a Saxon building that had stood since 685 AD. The first church of St John the Baptist ('in honorem sancti Johannis Baptista') had been established when Aldhelm obtained a grant from Pope Sergius I to establish a foundation of mission priests to spread the faith in Selwood Forest.  William of Malmesbury stated that the church was still there in 1125. By the second half of the 11th century the church was under the control of Regenbald. Nothing remains of the original church apart from some fragments of masonry; these are fragments, close to the entrance of St Andrew's Chapel, of what may have been crosses.  The location of the first Saxon church is unknown, though it is likely to have shared the same rocky platform as the present church, located between two streams running down the hill on either side, what are now Blindhouse Lane and Gentle Street. When the church was being restored from the 1850s, foundations of arcades and possible Saxon interments were found, but these were quickly covered so the rebuilding was not delayed. The fabric of the current church was built in the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries but largely rebuilt in the 19th.
  Around 1418 William Starke was the vicar. In the 1540s separate chantry chapels to St Andrew, St Nicholas and Our Lady were established.
  The controversial priest William James Early Bennett was appointed as the vicar in 1852. Bennett is celebrated for having provoked the decision that the doctrine of the Real Presence is a dogma not inconsistent with the creed of the Church of England. As a leading member of the Oxford Movement he had served as vicar to various churches in London but resigned in 1851, following doctrinal complaints and a theological dispute with his bishop, Charles Blomfield - after being accused of ritualism. His publication The Old Church Porch (1854–1862), issued at Frome, is sometimes cited as being in effect the first parish magazine, although this claim has been disputed.
  Within a few years of Bennett's arrival the system of pew privilege, by which the wealthy bought their pews was abandoned and many of the pews and the galleries were removed. He also divided the parish into 12 districts and established schools, classes, a dispensary and other charities for the population. He set up a choir school for 12 boys and creches for the children of the town's factory workers. He bought some of the properties surrounding the church for the school, which is now used as the church hall and known as the Bennett Centre.
  The chancel was restored in 1844 and further restored in the 1850s and 1860s by C. E. Giles, which entailed almost total rebuilding. Bennett employed the sculptor James Forsyth to carve statues of saints, the reredos and 18 medallions. Forsyth was also responsible for the carving of the Via Crucis alongside the steps on the north side of the church.
  It was designated as a Grade II* listed building in 1983.
  The parish and benefice of Frome (St John the Baptist) is within the archdeaconry of Wells and the Diocese of Bath and Wells.
caption: William James Early Bennett (1804-1886)
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