The north aisle is a strange place. North aisles got the least sun, and their shadowy nature suited them to memorials and monuments to the departed. Amongst several on the walls, the most prominent is the huge bronze war memorial by Richard Goulden RA, listing the men of Bromsgrove who lost their lives in WW1. The stained glass windows are also memorials to local men and women, some of them made locally by the Bromsgrove Guild.

Take a close look at the wall itself. It’s a real hodge-podge of different stones and styles. Like the south aisle, it has been bashed about quite a bit. The three flat headed eastern windows and the protruding stone plinth at the bottom of the wall show the extent of the Stafford Chantry Chapel, but only the easternmost window is original: the others are Victorian restorations copied from it. The chapel stonework itself reused the older stonework of the lost transept. The other windows are also Victorian restorations, and the newer stonework over the outside door blocked-in a round window punched through the wall in the 18th century. Frankly, it’s all a bit of a mess!

The Victorian font of 1849 was moved here many years ago, but the old wooden chest next to it is rather more interesting. It’s a parish chest, possibly 17th century, built to hold the church’s legal documents and cash. Those locks show just how valuable the contents were, as both churchwardens and the vicar had to be present with their respective keys.

We’re nearly done now, but there’s one more part of the story to tell before we leave St John’s. And we need to be back in the nave to tell it.