the church of st john baptist
Orientation of St John's church
not strictly east-west
Liturgical east and west is a concept in the orientation of churches, referring to the fact that the end of a church which has the altar, for symbolic religious reasons, is traditionally on the east side of the church. Conventionally, churches are oriented so that the priest and congregation face towards the rising sun, a symbol of Christ and the Second Coming, during the celebration of the morning liturgy.
Until relatively recently, construction was a seasonal trade. Poor winter weather would result in unsuitable ground conditions, bringing a halt to any building works. At the same time, a break during the winter months would allow the works of the previous season to settle.
Customarily, churches are aligned in an east-west direction and it was thought that St John's church was aligned with sunrise on 24 June, the feast day of St John the Baptist. However, St John’s church is actually aligned to the south of east, on a bearing of 106 degrees. This is almost certainly due to using sunrise on the day they started laying out the works being in that direction. It has been calculated that this was at 7am on 4 March – the start of the mud-free building season. St John’s church is aligned with Tilly's Hill, just to the southeast of Babylon Hill.
It is
believed that
the present
fabric of St
John’s church
was built while
the former
church remained
in the centre of
what had been
the large
churchyard.
Indeed, some
materials from
the former may
well have been
used in the
latter. In any
event, it is
thought that
this is the
reason why
today’s church
is built towards
the very eastern
edge of what had
once been a
large
churchyard.
Map
This
map
features in my
book 'The Church of St John the Baptist, Yeovil - a History and Guide'.
This map, based on the 1811 Ordnance Survey, shows a line projected due east from St John’s church on a line towards Babylon Hill (note: this is the old road layout before the present ascent to Babylon Hill). Below this line, a line projected towards Tilly’s Hill on a bearing of 106 degrees. This latter line shows the orientation of St John’s church.
